Day 30 of The 100 Day Project

Well, the bear is gone, for now. I ended up with an old man creator.   I actually had the face look a little more non descript earlier, as it had looked like it could be either a man or a woman and I liked that.   Somehow when I was messing with it, it transformed into a man's face.   I think it's the nose, so I may try to work it back to  either being a man or a woman.   Next I'll be working on the water, the staff, and some animals.   I'm not quite sure how that will shake out as i don't have the vision yet, but each 10 days is a journey, one step at a time.  Speaking of one step, this first pic I took I didn't notice that the one foot was askew.  While it's a little extreme, I may go with that.

The Singing Lights

Here is the Apache story of The Singing Lights, as told by Tony Duncan, an Apache flutist and hoop dancer..  It is a beautiful story of the creation of the stars.  Check out Tony's Native flute music and his hoop dancing at www.tonyduncanproductions.com

"There was just the Sun and the Moon and they were trading places. The Sun would come up, illuminating all the life, bringing light to all the earth.  And when it got tired, it would set to the west and Grandmother Moon would come up, Light of Beauty, Light of Wisdom and throw a beautiful light over Mother Earth.  At that time, they would go back and forth, trading responsibility for lighting the Earth.  Grandmother Moon became tired after many, many times until she was a small tiny sliver.  She was really tired and it was at that time when all the Earth was stark and  there was darkness.  All the little animals could just barely see and they started to bump into each other.  They started to lose their trail home. They got lost and they lost their arrows for the hunting for their families.  They would miss because they weren't able to see their target.  So this got all the animals very concerned.  They weren't able to provide for their families.   Many of them became lost and they lost their different family members.  They'd have to wait for the Sun to come up to find them.  

It was at that time, that all those little animals started to pray. They all met right next to a steam and they got down on their knees and prayed to the Creator.   And the Creator came down and stood before then and said thank you for coming into prayer and he asked them what they needed.   They told him that at the time when Grandmother Moon would become tired, that they would lose their trail and that their arrows wouldn't hit.  So the Creator, being very wise, had this staff that he walked with.  He put that staff into the water and started to swirl that water around and as he touched the staff into the water, all one little pebbles, those stones that are on the bottom of that stream, began to glow beautiful colors of yellow, green, purple, blue, and red.  The stones got brighter and brighter - very, very bright.   All the little animals of the night put their hands over their eyes, as it was so bright for them. Pretty soon, he lifted his staff out of the water, put it into the sand, reached into the water, and picked up all those stones that were glowing.  They were blessed by the hand of the Creator. He showed all those little animals these were going to be the helpers of Grandmother Moon.  When she becomes tired, these little singing lights will sing beautiful songs.  They will be so very beautiful.  But they're going to be so far off, that you'll only be able to see them with a twinkle with your eyes.   So he showed all those little animals these bright beautiful lights.  Then he threw then up into the sky, painting all those images of all the animals in the night sky.   

They say when Grandmother Moon becomes tired now, you see the beautiful stars and if you're very quiet you can still hear the songs of the stars."  

Day 20 of 100 Day Project

Well my project has taken a few different turns.  I wet felted the base after laying the layers of color onto the indigo base.  While wet felting usually creates a very different result than what is laid out, I think by having a needle felted base, or allowed me a little more control.  I loved the result.

I decided to use the Apache story i heard a year ago as a theme, a opposed to animals in a winter forest.  I was thinking of making the yellow bear the creator, but thought the yellow may be too vibrant against the night sky. So I thought of doing the base in brown and adding the yellow on top of the base in order to tone it down a bit.   I cut out paper bears to get the scale right and then felted for several days.  The result was a bust.  I wanted a 3D bear and while I can use the bear. He won't be making an appearance in this project.  So I was back to square one.  How to make the creator.   I thought I'd try to make a nondescript figure with a robe, but that looked like Sasquatch, so he's out too.   I did remember seeing a beautiful piece at a home of a neighbor of a friend of mine.   I think it was needlepoint and while I don't recall exactly, I believe it was a woman's profile in the night sky.   So I made a man.   Hmm,  maybe he should become a she.  This is rough and may transform into something different, but this is what I have so far.  I think I'll still need a yellow bear somewhere, but we'll see.  This is always a journey with a different outcome than I envision at the beginning.   I'll do another post with the beautiful Apache story soon.  It deserves it's own post.

Day 10 of the 100 Day Project

While this pic was taken on Day 12, not Day 10, not much has changed, other than it got a tad larger.  The theme for this year's project is "When Dreams & Darkness Meet".  Before I knew the theme, I decided to do a scene of a gathering of animals in a winter forest at night. I wanted to do a beautiful night sky, snow laden trees and animals.   However, the other day, we were in Chimayo, NM.  It is a very small village with an old beautiful authentic chapel.  It's also a little artist's haven, about 20 miles from Sante Fe.  There are numerous studios at artists homes that one can visit.    We ran across a carver/bronze sculptor's studio named Marco Oviedo.  http://www.oviedoart.us/AboutMarco.html

There was one piece that hit me.   It was a golden/umber bear with a fish in one hand and a heart in the palm of his other hand.   Marco's wife came over told us the piece was entitled  "Equinox" and spun the near around and there was a bald eagle on the other side.  The two animals represented night and day. Between the two hearts of the animal was a bronze mocassin with the symbol of the Spider Woman.  She is in the Creation story of a number of Native American tribes.  While the stories may vary from one tribe to another, here is one that found.   http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheSpiderWomanandtheTwins-Hopi.html

After seeing the golden bear, I am mighty tempted to make him the main element of my piece.   But now I'm not so sure.   I recall hearing  story last year while in AZ about the creation of the night sky.   I taped the account, so I think tonight, I'll listen to it again and make a decision as how to proceed.  Perhaps it will be a blending of the two forms of inspiration.