Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Five Weasels


This is a painting of a family of weasels, playfully chasing each other's tails. In many North American Native cultures, the weasel is considered an animal with strong medicine or mystical powers, but it is not always viewed positively. Some tribes consider him a bad omen and to cross paths with a weasel meant a swift death. Here in Greece, my adopted country, having a weasel around your home is considered bad luck, especially if someone is getting married. In Greek mythology, the weasel was transformed from an unhappy bride who loves nothing better than to chew up wedding dresses. Yet, in Macedonian Greece, they are considered an omen of good luck. Personally i think of them as very curious, playful and mischievous little creatures.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Communing With a Pregnant Doe


During the time of my pregnancy i had many interesting dreams, with this one being of my favorite ones. Grandfather came to take me for a pick-nick at Four Points. This place was called Four Points because it had water in all four directions: the ocean to the south with three streams leading east, west and south.

This is a very sacred place my Grandfather Bear and i loved going to, especially in the spring. The lavender bushes where blooming and you could smell them everywhere. The mayflowers were blooming too, but Grandfather Bear was looking for his favorite treat, bear berries. We watched a giant fish come from the north stream and swim out into the ocean. We watched female salmon come from the west stream to meet male salmon, emerging from the east stream.

Then, from the opposite shore, came a pregnant doe. Her eyes and mine connected and we could sense that we were both sharing the sacred experience of motherhood. Our tongues stretched out across the stream and connected, and i could feel the heartbeats of all four beings (both of us and our young ones) beating as One
.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Birth of My Wolf Boy


This painting is quite a bit busier than most of my paintings. Like most of my paintings, it represents a dream that i had. When i came out of my coma the doctors told me two things: that i would never walk again and that i would never have children. This was difficult for me to face as i was a young woman, who had just been in a severe car accident on my honeymoon. 
A few years later i had a dream that my husband and i were on a beach, when a giant turtle floated up to us. We climbed onto his back and he took us out to sea. My husband put up a teepee for shelter that also acted as a sail. We had six white birds (swans) and six black birds (ravens) circling around us for our entire trip and i could always see my Grandfather Bear's face in the sky. We traveled for nine moons before being beached on a tiny island inhabited by eight beavers. 
My husband then put on a shaman's shirt and began chanting while going through the steps of a ritual and his hands became wolf heads. I went into the teepee, gave birth to a wolf pup, who went hungrily for my beast right away. After that,  two doves opened the door flaps for me and i emerged wearing a pair of wings, skirt and head dress of the Thunderbird. 
When i woke up i told my husband about my dream and shortly after that i started experiencing morning sickness. I told myself it was psychosomatic, but went to the doctor to get checked up just to be safe. We found out that i was pregnant and seven months later i gave birth to my beautiful wolf boy. I guess sometimes God's plans overcome doctors wisdom.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Wolverine


The wolverine represents singleness of purpose and commitment to finishing the task at hand. Once he has made up his mind, his determination carries him through until he reaches his goal. The Innu tribe of north eastern Canada believe that the "kuàkuàtsheu" (wolverine) was the creator of the world. Og Mandino states "Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."

Friday, March 16, 2012

Balancing Porcupine


Balancing Porcupine is the playful yoga master of the forest, perched on the tip top of a fir tree. The loon is the symbol of Harmony. Having  balance in one's life is important if we are to live well. The Hopi tribe of southwestern United States do not believe in good and evil. They believe in balance and imbalance. They have two forms of spirits, the "Kachinas" (balanced) and the "Clowns" (unbalanced). In the Tao Te Ching (Tao book of Virtue) Lao Tzu states that "The more man interferes with the balance of universal laws the further he retreats from harmony". Deepak Chopra says "Just as light brightens darkness, discovering inner fulfillment can eliminate any disorder or discomfort. This is truly the key to creating balance and harmony in everything you do".

Monday, March 12, 2012

My first exhibition in Canada


Here's a little article about my first overseas exhibition of my artwork at Gallery "E DANS L'A" on March 4th, 2011 in Moncton, NB, Canada:

"Redbird is a painter whose artwork is inspired by her visions, her dreams. Her unique yet simple style captures our interest with its intense colours and circles.

This is the first time her work is being exhibited in her native country. Her paintings were chosen to be illustrated in an e-book series, with a local publisher in partnership with Pandora’s Box Ink. Gallery E DANS L’A is exhibiting a series of these paintings giving Monctonians the first chance to view her artwork!

Redbird began painting late in life, motivated by a serious accident leaving her comatose. She states “My first paintings were inspired by visions while in the coma. My grandfather, who appears in my visions, became my guide and mentor and he is one of the principle characters in my paintings. He’s usually represented as a Bear or as a Shaman wearing a bear’s headdress.”

Although born in Canada, she has spent most of her life in Europe. Surprisingly, her paintings have strong Native style, even though she has been alienated from her ancestral traditions for most of her life. Her reborn love for her culture, as well as for nature, animals and plants are colourfully and brightfully evident in her work.

Redbird believes in healing through the harmony of colours and shapes, primarily the circle. “When I paint a vision, she says, I just allow myself to be healed. That’s my Medicine Wheel. For me everything extends from the circle and everything comes together in the middle, and that’s my healing vibration.”

Redbird has little formal art training and she shares a surreal, dream-like quality in her paintings. Although there is an apparent Native influence, which she honours gracefully, her work has a universal quality as well, reflecting harmony, balance, calmness, naivety, playfulness… and celebration of life itself!"

Some more of my paintings

Bears Doing the Human Dance

Beaver Maiden

Blue Spruce Mandala

Fox Shaman

Honey Woman #1

Honey Woman #2

Red Bear Comet #1

Sacred Hibernation Cave

Skunk and Flower

Split Nest

The Tree of Life #2

Sunday, March 11, 2012

My paintings

The Shaman and the Pipe Carrier


Tree of Life #1

Walking the Marsh

The Sacred Salmon Tree

Sweetgrass Thunderbird

Sturgeon Falls

Snow Bunnies #3


Squirrel on a Mushroom

Snow Bunnies #2

Snow Bunnies #1

Skunk and Wild Garlic

Red Bear Comet #2

Redbird Mountain

Sacred Bear Berry (Kinnikinick)

Rainbow Trout

Rainbow River

Porcupine Family

Mushroom Shaman

Narcissus Butterfly

Laughing Moose Mandala

Grandpa Bear and the Magic Longtail Foxes

Four Loons

Dogstar Shaman

Fiddleheads

Five Weasels

Communing With a Pregnant Doe

Birth of my Wolf Boy
Wolverine

Balancing Porcupine