Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48

I painted the Dancer in January and February and will be beginning the finishing round of multiple glazes in the next couple of weeks. It is part of a series ‘celebration’. Spirit and dance. This was done trying a variety of things new to me, starting with a textured canvas for a bit of fairly realistic art.

I worked from a photograph I had taken, developed and transferred a line drawing to the large canvas and began painting sections. These black and white shots are taken of the coloured painting to give me confirmation of value scale. It is easier to see if blues, reds etc are sitting on one value track if you convert an image to gray scales.

To keep the textures alive, after each coating of colour I lightly sanded sections or at times the whole canvas allowing breakthrough from underneath.

Celebration is a series of pieces, painted to celebrate the competition pow wow / drumming circle. They are a part of contemporary Aboriginal life rooted in history and spirituality. All of the images I work from in this series were constructed from photographs taken in open venues on band land. They are not a part of ceremony intended to be private, but open and presented in the spirit of showmanship and pride. The numbers of participants range in years from 2 to 90. I am grateful to the community at Little Shuswap for opening this event for years to public participation.