Giovane Cedar Art
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  • PAINTINGS 1
    • Waterfall
    • 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
    • Bats' Lunar Playground
    • Foxgloves Reaching for the Sky
    • 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
    • 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
    • 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 >
      • Cedar Waxwing
      • Spotted Towhee
      • Stellar's Jay
      • Evening Grossbeak
      • Red Breasted Nuthatch
      • Black-Capped Chickadee
      • Cardinal
      • 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
  • Night at Marymere Falls
  • Eagle on a Pine
  • Skagit Landscape of the Mind: Full Moon at Midnight
  • Eggplant Harvest
  • Tomatoes & Wisteria Entwined
  • Running the Waves
  • When the Salmon Run
  • Autumn Deer
  • Dunlin Flight
  • The Fox Spirit (kitsune)
  • Crow on a Snowy Branch
  • Skagit Landscape of the Mind V: Winter's Cool
  • Trees IV
Picture
CEDAR GREEN MAN
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2015
     The Green Man is a motif that has survived in Western art since at least the pre-Christian era and it became a popular architectural decoration during medieval times.  At Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, built during the 15th century, there are over one hundred Green Men scattered throughout the building.  Later, the popularity of the Green Man made a resurgence in the architecture of the Arts & Crafts Movement as an adornment often used on Neo-Gothic buildings.  It has since flourished to become a well-recognized icon and today has become a symbol of the environmental movement.  It is in light of these references that I decided to do a painting of the Green Man.  In Britain, the Green Man is closely associated with oak trees, however, the most culturally important tree of the Pacific Northwest is without question the western red cedar (Thuja plicata).  Thus, I have chosen cedar boughs to form the background surrounding the Green Man, as Green Man becomes Cedar Man.  Back in the late 1970’s while living in Memphis, we went to see the travelling exhibit named “People of the Cedar”.  The cover of the brochure from that exhibit showed a painting on cedar (I think it may have been painted by Ron Hamilton) of “Yellow Cedar Spirit Helper” and it is one of my favorite paintings.  At about the same time, I saw Art Thompson’s “Yellow Cedar Man” print and loved it as well.  Both of these Nuu-chah-nulth works of art inspired me as I did my painting.  For the central portrait, I adapted a photo from Edward S. Curtis entitled “The Whaler” (see Portraits from North American Indian Life by Edward S. Curtis, ©1972, page 39).  This photo spoke to me of the power behind the man and the spirituality involved in the rites of whaling.  His face had to be the face of my Cedar Man.  I also wanted it to show the effects of a face seen in the firelight of a longhouse, where myth and magic can come alive.  I made the frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.   I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.

DIMENSIONS:          HEIGHT:  18 ¾ inches
                                  WIDTH:  18 ¼ inches

                                                               PRICE $475

Picture
"The Whaler" photo by Edward S. Curtis
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