Full Circle by Judy Crowe

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012

"Full Circle" by Judy Crowe

"Full Circle"  16x16 oil on linen

Hi Friends and fellow artists!

I hope this post finds you well and getting to paint a lot if you are a fellow artist!  It's been a long time since I've blogged....can't believe how fast the time passes and we just don't realize it.  I haven't dropped off the edge or anything but I have been busy as usual.  In between family responsibilities and caring for an aging stepmother, I've been painting a lot too.  I'm really looking forward to next week.  I'm teaching a workshop on Monday in Bellville Texas, my first in a while.  It's a one day workshop and here is the info if anyone is inclined that direction.  You can also email me or call me if you have questions and it's not to late to sign up if you are interested.

ONE DAY STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

$75.00

Workshop Dates: 10/22/2012 - 10/22/2012

Location: Holland Street Gallery, Bellville, Texas

United States

This is a one day workshop.  We'll paint the still life and have fun!  Learn how to set up a still life and paint the whole thing from start to finish.  My hope is that each of the students will take home a painting they are proud to say is their own.

Please contact Judy or Jane McKinley at the Holland St. Gallery for more info.

Contact Information:

Jane McKinley

creationsbyjane@sbcglobal.net

979 865 4278 or 979 885 9259

I'll be traveling to Tucson, Arizona by the end of next week for the annual American Women Artists show.  In addition to the gallery show is our museum show that will be held at the Sonora Desert Museum there in Tucson.  The painting above is my piece for the museum.  The theme of this museum show is "Visions of the Southwest" featuring still life, landscape and sculpture depicting the Sonoran Desert and it's inhabitants.  Here is a little info about the painting and my ideas that inspired the work and some research which I totally enjoyed.  During my research, I learned so much about our native american brothers.....  Take care and thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

“Full Circle” by Judy Crowe

The wedding vase is a treasured and sacred element of many Native Southwest American Indian tribes, particularly the Navajo and Pueblo peoples. The vases are a beautiful and symbolic part of the ceremony performed just prior to the wedding.

First the groom offers his bride the vase his parents have made for the couple and she drinks from one side. She then turns the vase, and the groom drinks from the same side.  In the culmination of the ceremony, they both drink from the wedding vase together from opposite sides attempting to drink without spilling the nectar made for the ceremony by the medicine man.

The vessel itself is beautiful, but its design and construction are an integral part of its meaning. The two spouts represent the couple, both the bride and the groom. The rounded base suggests the couple’s shared lives. The looped handle portrays this unity in a visual way, much like a wedding band is a visual reminder of the deeper, spiritual connection that a husband and wife share. The handle creates a circle in the center of the vase that represents the circle of life.

There is power in the circle in the Native American culture.  The sky and earth are round.  The wind whirls in a circular motion. The sun comes up and goes down again in a circle, as does the moon.  Birds make their nests in circles. The life of man and all living things, flowers and animals, is a circle, from life to life.  My painting, “Full Circle”, embodies these ideas in a representational way by depicting elements of life from man-made objects that will decay.   The animal pelt, bird’s nest and flowers are here today but will, as all living things, pass on.  The Bible says that the grass withers, flowers fade and our lives are like a vapor, but there is one thing that remains: the Love of God.