Native American Dancer
12" X 9" unframed
Oil on Canvas
$100.00 USD
"Native American Dancer" had its beginning origins in a painting group in which we were given a photo and asked to paint from the photo. I don’t usually paint from photos. I find them too limiting with the end result tighter than the paintings I create from my mind. But with this photo, I felt an emotional connection to the point of almost hearing the pow wow drum beat with which the dancer synchronizes his movement. Three beats and three movements of the feet. The beat is mesmerizing and so much in touch with the rhythms of the earth. Having attended several Native American drummings here in Taos ( in which several people sit in a circle beating a drum in time with the chant and drum beat of the leader), I connected my experiences with what I imagine to be the experiences of this pictured dancer. The beat becomes almost primeval. One becomes almost hypnotized with the resonance of the drums. Drum beats touching the heart and every bone of the body. Mesmerized until the end. In spite of my fascination with the subject, it took me two years to come back to this painting and finish it. I heard the drum beat stronger than ever.
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