Giovane Cedar Art
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  • PAINTINGS 1
    • I Heard a Loon Calling
    • Spring in Bloom
    • Hiding in the Tall Grass
    • Flower Moon in May
    • Enduring Pine
    • When the Wisteria Blooms
    • Snow on the Beach
    • It Only Takes One
    • Scattered Fans
    • White Circle of Silence
    • Northwest Rain Kosode
    • Weasel Mania
    • In the Spirit of Serizawa & Kubota
    • On Eagle's Wings Ema
  • Paintings 2
    • Down by the Stream on a Lazy Summer's Day
    • With Hope and Hard Work
    • Towhee & Currant in Spring
    • Sparrow's Hop Hideaway
    • Windswept Pine Near the Shore
    • Sparrow's Spring
    • Autumn Grasses (Oribe Tribute)
    • Life's Essence
    • A Tribute to Itchiku Kubota: Ozette Sunset
    • Cathedral of the Trees
    • Tree of Life II
    • Raven's Forest
    • Baillie Scott Trinity
    • Eagle Embraces Her
  • Paintings 3
    • Hydrangea's Final Bloom
    • Pine Island
    • Autumn Friends
    • Maple Leaves in the Stream
    • Plum & Full Moon in Spring
    • Chickadee in the Quince
    • The Four Guardians
    • Circle About the Moon
    • Eelgrass Nursery Rhyme
    • Bluebird & Bamboo
    • Capercaillies Under Scots Pines
    • Cedar Green Man
    • Cats United
    • Serizawa's Kimono
  • Paintings 4
    • Hummingbird & Fuchsia 4
    • Blood Moon in January
    • Yellow Flags by the Pond
    • Falling Leaves--Washed Away
    • Goldfinch Dream
    • Camellias in Bloom Woodblock Print
    • Autumn Carpet
    • An Eala Bahn (The White Swan)
    • Two Eagles Entwined
    • Horse Ema
    • Lucia's Maple
    • Eagles Spring Dance
    • Watts Chapel Tribute Memorial
    • Voysey's tree
    • Hot Otter Love
  • Blog Page
  • Other Work
    • Paintings 5 >
      • č’u•? is Seal
      • Loons & Horses
      • Elk Along the South Fork
      • Spirits of Ozette
      • Lingcod Guardian
      • Plum Blossoms in Spring
      • Hops & Butterflies
      • Journey Home From Ozette Island
      • Tsooes Sunset
    • Trays >
      • Dragonfly Tray
      • Kaiseki Tray
    • Boxes >
      • Rose Tree Box
      • Celtic Bread Box
      • Creature of the Box
      • Skagit Valley Chest
      • Kells Cats Chest
      • Miyamoto's Rice Box
    • Karakami Square Series >
      • Karakami Square #1: Cherry Tree
    • Screens >
      • Eagles 2-Panel Folding Screen
      • The Four Seasons Screen Series >
        • Fall Screen: Canada Geese & Maples
        • Winter Screen: Eagle & Pine
        • Spring Screen: Cherry Trees & Finches
        • Summer Screen: Swallows & Willow
      • Frog's House Screen
      • Waterfall Screen
    • Peacock Sconces
  • Resources List
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  • Sold Paintings
  • Gifted Art & Personal Collection
  • Ginkgos & Waxwings
  • Autumn Moon by the Sea
  • Eagle's Pride
  • Curious Crow
  • Goldfinch & Thistles
  • Nuthatches' Pine Home
  • The Frog Poet
  • Kingfisher on a Branch
  • Chickadee in Snow
  • Dogs of the Sea
Picture
THE FOUR GUARDIANS
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2018

     I could have died that night on the Hoko-Ozette Road in the summer of 1976.  But luck, or fate, played a large part in saving my life.  I had hitch-hiked from Shelton back to Ozette and made it part way down the road on the way back home to the site before night fall.  I knew that I needed to find a place by the road to unroll my sleeping bag and bed down for the night.  I thought I had found a perfect place, a wide spot by the bend in the road under a large rock outcrop.  Once in my bag, I got a funny feeling that something just wasn’t right—so I got up and moved my bag a little ways off to the side, and then went back to sleep.  Sometime in the night two cars came racing down the road and one of them quickly turned into the wide spot where I had initially placed my bag.  I think they were playing “car tag” and the first car pulled in to evade its pursuer.  Had I not moved my bag I would have definitely been killed in my sleep—and the people in the car would have never know what they had done.  Now, I happened to have four pieces of Oregon grape root with me (it has many medicinal properties) that I was carrying back to Ozette since it doesn’t grow there.  Once I realized I had been spared, I gratefully looked to these roots as my “guardian angels”.  This painting was inspired by that night’s event.  I painted my four guardians in the guise of whalebone club heads, like those found at Ozette and commonly used by warriors in Makah/Nuu-chah-nulth territories.  I made the frame for this painting 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:  24 ½ inches
                                    WIDTH:  19 inches

                                                        PRICE $500
Picture
Whalebone club found at Ozette
Picture
Nuu-chch-nulth whalebone clubs
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