Playing With Pyramids

Untitled

I must ask myself, what is this?

And, I must say to myself "Beats me!"

I had this notion I wanted to play around with geometric designs. I marched myself over to Michael's and bot some French Curves, templates for this and that and a compass.

I went right home and drew some triangles on a canvas, the three you see in the painting, and promptly put the canvas aside. When I came back to it I looked at those triangles and thought "What the heck am I going to do with this?" That became the exercise and the above became the painting.

The triangles became pyramids in my mind. The two triangles in the sky show the sun and the moon. Pyramids are thought to be very powerful designs. I have always thought it was interesting that the western indian nations designed their homes in the shape of pyramids. Many tribes have legends about gods coming down from the skies. The Sioux refer to Star People in their legends and songs. In my mind it somehow all ties together.

Art critics will tell me I committed a cardinal sin by placing the teepee smack dab in the center. All I can say is, it wasn't a teepee when I put it there. It was a triangle and then it was a pyramid and then it was a teepee. I think of it as a power center so being in the center is precisely where it should be.

The little fetishes resting in the grass are buffalo.

And, as always, I just love the colors!

If anyone seeing this would like to take a stab at naming it that would be great. Just leave it in the comments.

Walker

Power of the Pyramid

Blackfeet Country

Over on the other side of the Rockies, east of here, is the Blackfeet reservation. It's is by turns a gawd awful place and a place of unimaginable beauty. I love to go over in the spring to hunt for and photograph the new born foals that dot the landscape. I also like to fantasize about those long lost days when man and animals lived here in natural balance. I can imagine the braves racing like the wind across the plains on their painted ponies. The vision literally brings tears to my eyes.

The painting is, once again, just my musing. I would classify it as one of my primitive efforts. The Rocky Mountain Front looks nothing like these mountains and I made no effort to paint authentic Blackfeet teepees. I believe in the power of pyramids. I think indians felt that power and designed the teepees to tap into it. The green grass and lupine are just will o the wisp.

I know this painting looks child like and that professional painters would puke over it's childishness. By I really like it. It's the child in me that cries out to be set free. Does everything have to be perfect? Can't just doing what feel's fun and whimsical be worthwhile? Stupid question. Of course it can. No one needs to like my drek but me.

I enjoy looking at this painting and dreaming of my next trip to St. Mary in the spring. And, as always, I just love the colors. I am a color junkie. I am a color junkie!

Walker

Connectivity

With this painting I really went off the reservation, if you'll pardon the pun. It all started with me admiring some stones that I have that look like they have tiny landscapes painted on them. Mea culpa, I can't remember what they are called but they a very pretty.

I like to try different color combinations and these stones are an ideal mixture of browns with tiny black natural sketches on them. I chose my paints and away I went. After setting the tonal color, sandy beige, I put in the larger mountain, then the red mountain. Then for no reason I know of I was compelled to put in the white things in the sky. Next came the squiggle that reached up to the white dashes and leads down to the teepee. Last came the buffalo herd.

Connectivity

What does it all mean?  It is clearly a Montana landscape but other than that I have no earthly clue. And maybe that is the clue, not earthly. I don't know but I can say I just love this painting! I'd buy it if I didn't already own it!

At the risk of repeating myself, if you have never given painting a try you really should. It's turning out to be one of the coolest adventures of my life and I've had a lot of adventures.

Following My Art (Heart)

©Walker Barnard