1. the tray  2. the beads  3. a picture of the original necklace.

The Pre-Columbian Jaguar Beads  are made of Polymer clay, a permanent material once baked, acrylic paints, varnish, tray re-purposed and paper-mached, painted and varnished for durability.

I was drawn immediately to this Pre-Columbian Mayan necklacewith jaguar beads upon seeing a photo of it, and would love to own it. Well, making one is the next best thing! The original necklace of gold jaguar head-shaped beads was made over 500 years ago, discovered in a tomb in Guatemala.

Like much of the pre-historic and tribal art that looks crude or seems like it should be easy to recreate, there is a lot more here than meets the eye. One of the things that’s so enjoyable about a project like this is experiencing the same design dilemmas that the original artist might have encountered.

There is a lot of good design in that simple-looking necklace! I think the goldsmith who created the original might have used a mold because each individual jaguar head-shaped bead needs to be identical, and so do the small round ones in order to string the beads together and obtain the exact uniform semi-circle shape. Mine were individually shaped, less than perfect, and did not fit together well unfortunately. I’ll need to make a mold from one of the more perfect beads in order to replicate this with consistancy.

The jaguar beads are glued onto a useful tray, a recycled film case that was paper mached then painted with acrylic, and it’s as if a moment in time is recaptured, a moment when the original artist had beads on a surface, ready to be strung together. The refurbished tray is varnished, durable and useful. Hand wash gently with damp soapy cloth, and the crevices with a wet paintbrush, dabbing the area softly to absorb excess moisture.

Have you ever painted the walls in your house and noticed how difficult it is to choose a simple shade of white, or come home with a can of paint based on a one-by-one inch splotch of color, only to find it’s totally different? Why don’t people have red living rooms, purple kitchens and bright green foyers?  I still have reservations about using pure color on my canvases. Color makes you feel a certain way. Colors or lack of them in our homes reflect the way we feel or want to feel. Likewise, in your artwork, color is the most difficult thing to master.

Scared of Color was drawn with my new computer pen, using the Paint Shop Pro program. It’s like learning to draw all over again.

First Snow, 36H x 24W inches acrylics and crackle medium on canvas, work in progress
First Snow has many layers and blobs of paint. A damp cloth dipped in white was wiped lightly across the textured surface to create the effect of snow powder. Crackle medium also works well to help with the impression of snowfall. The scene is of tall Spruce trees in Calgary, Alberta where, on September 1st, the day I was to return to Dallas I awoke to a gentle snowfall and powder on the trees.

Fossil Rim Wildlife Park near Glen Rose, Texas is an excellent way to spend a winter afternoon with the family. A drive through the park takes about three hours, and you may be greeted by this cutie!

Thanks for the telephoto lens and a desperately needed tripod, Alain!

>
Sun Shower 01, 85H x 45W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, used watercolors resist medium, narrow dark wood frame. (now sold)
This painting went through an interesting work process, made connections with some of my existing painting methods, and shed light on new ones.

1) Sun Shower detail – masking medium, usually used with watercolors to keep areas white, was dotted with a toothpick all over where raindrops would be.  2) about 1.5 hours after starting.  3) after about 5 hours of work. 4) after about seven days.

The tall Ponderosa Pine is in our oldest son’s front yard in Ottawa, Ontario. A small covered balcony overlooks the yard and the tree dominates, providing lots of shade there. Last summer while sitting on the balcony, as it poured rain the sun kept shining. The street beyond sparkled, and branches were heavy with raindrops. It was an hour of incredible beauty that inspired this painting.

Morning Light, 48H x 36W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, sides wrapped, narrow frame stained dark brown
Post dated note: Morning Light was accepted into the 2007 American Juried Art Salon’s Spring/Summer Juried Exhibition online, and Studio 2600 Light, Shine and Sparkle Dec. 2007 – Jan. 2008.
Now sold but can be replicated in same spirit as original. Please allow at least 14 days to recreate before shipping.

We drove to Fort Worth to see the Christmas parade, but the people were packed along the streets when we arrived so we hardly got a glance at any floats or attractions. It was well worth the drive because the sun set along the way, and it was magnificent!

Sunrise this morning was amazing at 6 a.m., then for the next 45 minutes I stood in awe of the beauty as the spectrum of colors changed from cool blues to hot fiery orange. I have never seen anything like it – apparently the cloud-stripe phenomenon is called ‘Mackerel Sky’ and indicates that cold weather is imminent within days.