The original painting measured 29 x 60 cms. and was painted in mixed media
These young women were among the Samburu dancers that came to the Samburu Serena Lodge, Kenya. The Samburu are a proud cattle herding people that have age set rituals similar to the Maasai tribe. The women adorn themselves with a multitude of brightly colored, beaded necklaces, headpieces, belts and bangles which often include modern materials like these artificial flowers and feathers.
When dancing, they may also decorate themselves using red ochre around their neck and rub fat into their beads to make them glisten. As they dance, these beads and headdresses flash up and down, presumably to dazzle the eye of the young man with whom they are dancing, and the high, individually styled headpieces, help the women stand out among the tall warriors.
When a row of dancers are in motion, singing and bobbing and leaping they also display the unity of the group and the excitement of the interaction between one another as in this dance, the young warriors come forward to touch the headpieces of their chosen young woman.
Original Available and on display at Gallery Beneath, Sirocco Plaza, Mooloolaba, Qld.
Read More...Original painting measured 29 x 60 cms. and is painted in mixed media
These young women were among the Samburu dancers that came to the Samburu Serena Lodge, Kenya. The Samburu are a proud cattle herding people that have age set rituals similar to the Maasai tribe. The women adorn themselves with a multitude of brightly colored, beaded necklaces, headpieces, belts and bangles which often include modern materials like these artificial flowers and feathers.
When dancing, they may also decorate themselves using red ochre around their neck and rub fat into their beads to make them glisten. As they dance, these beads and headdresses flash up and down, presumably to dazzle the eye of the young man with whom they are dancing, and the high, individually styled headpieces, help the women stand out among the tall warriors.
When a row of dancers are in motion, singing and bobbing and leaping they also display the unity of the group and the excitement of the interaction between one another as in this dance, the young warriors come forward to touch the headpieces of their chosen young woman.
Original Available and now on display at Gallery Beneath, Sirocco Plaza Mooloolaba, Qld.
Read More...The original painting measured 42 x 56 cms. and was painted in mixed media
The Samburu habits, dress, custom and language are similar to the Maasai. Some say their name derives from the Maasai word for butterfly, because of the beauty of the body decorations adopted by the warrior age set, but the Samburu refer to themselves as ‘lokop’, a term which means people of the land.
Warriorhood, can be the most glamorous time of a Samburu man’s life . They are young men at their peak of physical prowess and, while they spend an inordinate amount of time on body care, they are viewed as guardians of their community and its herds. They compete for the attention of young women and a certain amount of sexual permissiveness is permitted but pregnancy is taboo. Red ochre is used to decorate the face and hair and nowadays they often incorporate modern embellishments such as artificial flowers and pearlescent buttons with the more traditional beads and feathers. This fellow has also attached a plastic soldier to his headress and a silver bird that may have come off a Xmas decoration! As in any society, singing and dancing is a major form of relaxation and brings the Moran in regular contact with young women. At the Lodge they dance for the tourist dollar to raise money for the village, but the interaction between the Moran and the young girls was very much evident, especially when they performed a dance in which a warrior selects the young woman he likes best. First he impresses her with tall, strong upright leaps and then he places his hand on the head of the girl who is dancing in front of them. There was much flashing of eyes and giggles from the girls.
Original is sold. Available as a card
Read More...The original painting measured 26 x 34 cm. and was painted in Mixed media
This painting is currently on display at the Gallery Beneath, Mooloolaba
Read More...The original painting measured 47 x 47 cms. and was painted in mixed media
This venerable old Maasai woman was at the Maasai village we visited at Olduvai Gorge. She was most keen to point out to me , that despite her apparent age, she was still a very useful member of their village. In order to demonstrate this, she pointed to the hut we had been taken into and said with pride, “I built that strong home”. The women all wear their hair shaved close to their heads, and the married women wear heavily beaded earings and necklaces. Most of the women also liked to dress in the traditional manner with the red Maasai blanket worn over their bright blue kangas.
Original sold
Read More...The original painting measured 44 x 58cm. and was painted in Mixed media
I was in Singapore just after the Chinese New Year and was lucky enough to catch a Chinese Cultural Dance performance near where we were staying. I was entranced by the richness of the costuming and the telling of a story through traditional dance movements and music. This musician, could symbolize the combination of both the modern and traditional aspects of China so I used the colors gold, red and black, that I think we relate to being important to Chinese culture, to help emphasize this.
The background is an imitation gold leaf placed over a red textured background which I have then sanded back to reveal the red ground. The face and arms are pastel. For the dress I have used a net fabric and plain white pieces of cotton fabric which I glued in place and then painted on with acrylic paint. The instrument has a face of textured paper which I’ve painted to look like wood and the strings are embroidery thread and other small pieces are glued onto the shape and then painted.