Giovane Cedar Art
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  • PAINTINGS 1
    • Skagit Landscape of the Mind: Full Moon at Midnight
    • Eggplant Harvest
    • Tomatoes & Wisteria Entwined
    • Waterfall
    • Night at Marymere Falls
    • The Frog Poet
    • Ginkgos & Waxwings
    • Eagle's Pride
    • Spring in Bloom
    • Flower Moon in May
    • Northwest Rain Kosode
    • Snow on the Beach
    • It Only Takes One
    • Scattered Fans
    • White Circle of Silence
    • In the Spirit of Serizawa & Kubota
  • Paintings 2
    • Autumn Introspection
    • Foxgloves Reaching for the Sky
    • Bats' Lunar Playground
    • Plum Tree on a Snowy Night
    • Autumn Moon by the Sea
    • Chickadee in the Snow
    • Down by the Stream on a Lazy Summer's Day
    • Towhee & Currant in Spring
    • Sparrow's Spring
    • Autumn Grasses (Oribe Tribute)
    • A Tribute to Itchiku Kubota: Ozette Sunset
    • Cathedral of the Trees
    • Baillie Scott Trinity
    • Raven's Forest
    • Eagle Embraces Her
  • Paintings 3
    • Running the Waves
    • The Guardian
    • Crows at Sunset
    • Cormorants
    • Skagit Scene
    • Dream Birds
    • Curious Crow
    • Hydrangea's Final Bloom
    • Pine Island
    • The Four Guardians
    • Circle About the Moon
    • Eelgrass Nursery Rhyme
    • Cedar Green Man
    • Serizawa's Kimono
    • Cats United
  • Paintings 4
    • Dance to the Moon
    • When the Salmon Run
    • Autumn Deer
    • As Autumn Approaches
    • Echizen Crows
    • The Spirit of Fallen Camellias
    • Temple Hawk
    • Goldfinch Dream
    • Autumn Carpet
    • An Eala Bahn (The White Swan)
    • Horse Ema
    • Lucia's Maple
    • Eagles Spring Dance
    • Watts Chapel Tribute Memorial
    • Voysey's tree
  • Blog Page
  • Other Work
    • Paintings 5 >
      • Camellias in Bloom Woodblock Print
      • Hot Otter Love
      • č’u•? is Seal
      • Loons & Horses
      • Hawk on a Pine 1
      • Elk Along the South Fork
      • Spirits of Ozette
      • Lingcod Guardian
      • Plum Blossoms in Spring
      • Journey Home From Ozette Island
      • Tsooes Sunset
    • Boxes >
      • Rose Tree Box
      • Celtic Bread Box
      • Creature of the Box
      • Kells Cats Chest
      • Miyamoto's Rice Box
    • Trays >
      • Dragonfly Tray
      • Kaiseki Tray
    • Karakami Square Series >
      • Karakami Square #1: Cherry Tree
    • Screens >
      • Eagles 2-Panel Folding Screen
      • The Four Seasons Screen Series >
        • Winter Screen: Eagle & Pine
        • Fall Screen: Canada Geese & Maples
        • Spring Screen: Cherry Trees & Finches
        • Summer Screen: Swallows & Willow
      • Frog's House Screen
      • Waterfall Screen
    • Peacock Sconces
  • Resources List
  • Catalog
  • Sold Paintings
  • Gifted Art & Personal Collection
  • Eagle on a Pine
  • Dunlin Flight
  • The Fox Spirit (kitsune)
  • Crow on a Snowy Branch
  • Skagit Landscape of the Mind V: Winter's Cool
  • Trees IV
  • Water Rabbit
  • Swimming with Sea Lions
  • Ravens Watch
  • Sun-a-do
  • Two Seals
  • Nuthatch & Wild Rose
  • Wagara Mountain
  • Solitary Seal II
  • Raven Song
  • Heron Dream
Picture
AUTUMN DEER
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
FALL 2022

     These cold, crisp, sun-filled days we’ve experienced lately have decidedly marked the heart of the autumn season.  I particularly enjoy painting to the season, and several images regularly come to mind: the turning leaves, and the return of the swans and snow geese to the Skagit Valley.  However, there are also several other autumnal motifs that I have learned to enjoy from studying Japanese art. Seasonality in Japanese culture has been well-documented for over a thousand years and has been an important component of art, poetry, and cuisine.  Several motifs/themes are significant for autumn: flowering grasses, the full moon, and deer.  “…in classical Japanese poetry, the image of the deer became associated with autumn and with the mournful, lonely cries of the stag looking for its mate.  The deer thus became the embodiment of a particular emotional state as well as a seasonal marker of autumn…(Shirane,Haruo, Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts, ©2012. p.27).”  A poetic example is the following waka poem by Fujiwara no Sada’ie (waka is classic Japanese poetry consisting of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic units).

                               The stag,
                               Makes his bed on thick-grown grass,
                               Wilting at the tips;
                               Beneath it, a plain,
                               The autumn wind is blowing.

Fujiwara no Sada’ie (better known to history as Teika) (1162-1241) is one of the four greatest Japanese poets. This poem is taken from ‘Lord Teika’s One Hundred Round Own Poem Poetry Competition’ (see https://www.wakapoetry.net/ ).  My celebration of autumn thus includes these three main Japanese motifs.  The design for the deer was inspired by both Northwest Coast Native and Celtic art traditions.  The frame was made out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.  The Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak was used to finish the frame. 

DIMENSIONS:          HEIGHT: 14 ¼ inches 
                                  WIDTH: 20 inches

                                                             PRICE $475

Picture
Picture
Suzuki Harunobu The Cry of the Stag
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