Music plays a big part in my artistic ventures especially for my Southwest and Native American paintings. The following painting was painted to Native American flute music - "Canyon Trilogy" by R. Carlos Nakai & "Migration" by R. Carlos Nakai & Peter Kater. After living in the Southwest for 14 years, I have an extensive collection of Native American flute music.
History tells us about the Native Americans having to travel to winter and summer camps. They would journey up into the mountains during the hot summers in order to get coolness and just the opposite in the winter - they would travel down to canyon floors to try and get some warmth. The journey would be long and difficult - up mountains - down mountains and each journey brought about the loss of some elders and even children for not all would make it to the end of the journey.
"The Journey" - 18 x 24 on heavy linen paper - Chroma Interactive acrylics - alla prima wet into wet with spontaneity and a tremendous level of emotion which I feel for the Native American Nation.
First I did a rough sketch = I use a flat carpenters pencil for sketching - it allows me to be loose,
I throw in a sky - using a big brush and I paint in a distant mesa. I also throw some of the sky color down onto the desert floor as the sky should always give off some reflections to the ground.
I throw in other mesa formations
I continue to work on the land mass painting around the figures
I add in some more figures and some final touches
The Journey
18 x 24
Some details
