Arterie Fine Arts
Anticipation
2012
India Ink, Watercolor, Colored Pencils on Watercolor Paper
30" x 22"
$3500
Dorothy Graden

Awarded Honorable Mention

dorothygraden.com
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What makes my World Go Round

After spending over 20 years exploring ancient rock art sites all over the world; often with Native American historians and archeologists; I feel compelled to share the stories these great treasures have to tell. Prehistoric humans told of their trials and tribulations not on parchment...but on canyon walls, in caves and rock shelters, and on the boulders that tumbled from the mountains they called home. Many times I have stood in silence and awe at these sacred places, feeling the great strength and sorrows of ancient people who inhabited our country long before the arrival of “modern man.” Ancestors of our great land, their spirits and their lives reach out to me through their painstaking attempts to record their existence in the only ways they could. I am transformed to a place beyond words, so with great joy, love, and respect, I honor them through my own art, in my own humble attempt to tell their amazing stories.

The sacredness of the places I visit often links to natural objects and features such as trees, stones, water, mountains, caves and forms in the landscape. And frequently these places show evidence of continuous occupation and reverence. Some sites feel “sad”, others feel “joyful”, and some have a palpable power of place, a numinescence, the presence of spirit.

These wonderful, magical and spiritual places are the inspiration for my work.

The main image awaits the next moment, as one can never predict the future, and she anticipates that whatever life brings to her, she will accept and appreciate the outcome. She is guided by ancient spirits within the rock, and the rock itself has a history of ancient oceans, and past lives. Cave spirits watch over her on her life journey.

I drew the piece in November, 2012. Now that it is finished, every time I look at it, I feel happy and hopeful. Life has whimsy and much beauty, and this drawing tells me that this is true.
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