On September 18th, I finished the first draft of Chapter 4 of my new novel. Enjoying the Research – what rocks are used for various colors in cave painting?
“A sudden light revealed Delfina’s surroundings. Delfina’s mother stood before her, holding a candle. Behind Ramona was an alcove in the rock wall of the cave. On shelves in the alcove, someone had left candles and matches, as well as other neatly stacked objects—dried plants, pottery bowls, baskets, blankets, and stacks of rocks in earthen colors: ochre, umber, iron oxide and hematite red, copper green, serpentine blue and green; zinc, feldspar, and kaolin white; manganese and charcoal black.On the cave walls all around them, flickering candle flame illuminated paintings. Delfina spun around, taking in the astonishing images.”
http://www.150.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27651
I’ve gone back to painting and to making pottery (rock art). Joined a local studio on the Eastside called Good Life Ceramics. Great place. All Cone 5 electric firing – a new palette for me. Exploring colors and designs. Looking at the California Impressionists, the Santa Barbara Ceramics group from the 70’s, majolica and mediterranean pottery.
Joe and I went to the digital Van Gogh exhibition in San Jose recently. Thrilling and liberating to be immersed in such free loose brushstrokes projected large and animated.
I was awakened at 4 this morning by a magnificent, blessed rainstorm storm blowing in. My characters demanded that I get up and start working on their story. Exciting!
Went to Facebook to look again at cave painting posts I recently made and found them gone. Facebook has apparently gone crazy. I’m hoping to preserve the cave painting images by posting them here.
On August 8th I posted this find, which has become important to me as I’ve started to paint again with the Santa Cruz Plein Air Association: “Dug up this gem this morning while researching my next story (working title is Puma) ‘While today art has become an extension of the artist’s ego and has become a vehicle for acquiring fame and riches, the rock artist didn’t presume to create anything by himself. Rather, he interacted with the sun, the Earth, light, rock, and shadows to reveal the magic and beauty that was already there. . . What people overlook is that in native American culture, the important thing is the power that is inherent in the place. Supernatural power can be used for good purposes — healing, for example — and that power will reveal itself to the individual in certain places. Rather than create the place of power, you discover the place of power — for example, the place where there are interesting light patterns on the winter solstice. And then you add your own ritual interaction, through paintings or carvings, or whatever, to try to obtain some of that power for yourself. The result is the original, and perhaps only pure, art form.’ ” https://www.sandiegoreader.com/…/cover-daggers-of…