Vision Quest

almost 35 years ago i read a book by Wallace Black Elk, and William H Lyons called Wallace Black Elk and then another by Nicholas Black Elk the sacred pipe, Both books deeply influenced my life. This painting is dedicated to both parties and the sacred ways of the Lakota, North American plains Indians (Sioux)
according to their mythology of the white cow buffalo maiden, two men go hunting, and in the distance they see a bright white light, that as it approaches turns into a buffalo and then a beautiful woman one man takes her aside and does what he wants, and ends up covered in snakes, the other sees her as being sacred and takes her back to his camp, she brings fourth the sacred pipe, and seven sacred ceremonies, the first being vision quest, a transition of boy hood into manhood, taken away from the safety of home and family, and placed in a sacred cave or place for four days and nights with no food or water, firstly out in the wilderness having to face ones fear, secondly no food or water for four days knocks a persons body out of whack, and we experience a vision, this vision is of an animal, which then becomes are adult name hence Wallace Black Elk, and also depicts what are we are supposed to in this life time, Black Elk were always medicine men. As you might consider the vision is initiate and personal to you. A respectful thank you to Wallace and Nicholas Black Elk for their words,

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As a small child the family visited my grandparents on Sundays in Yorkshire, England. My grandfather was someone who liked to oil paint and this passion was shared with me.

The house my grand parents lived in was filled with pieces that depicted popular local places of interest. Personally knowing the places he painted I was always amazed with his colourful paintings. It had a profound effect on me and always gave me that ‘wow’ feeling. This developed into something I wanted to pursue as an adult.

Primary school was all about painting and drawing for me. In secondary school I spent most of my time in the art room.

After school I traveled the world as a teenager, and spent some six months in the states with a couple of friends, (1978) along with a multitude of other countries.

Whilst in the states, I met a gentleman by the name of ‘T-shirt bob’ who at the time was struggling to get artwork done for his screen printing business.

This presented an opportunity for me and I worked for him for a while.

During this time I was stunned when I came across two strangers, two men came walking towards me, wearing t-shirts I had designed a couple of weeks earlier.

This experience was the first time I had seen others enjoying something I had created. Shortly after this I came into Australia as a twenty year old.

I arrived in Western Australia and traveled over to Melbourne a year later. There I started my own screen printing business. I enjoyed the design aspect the most and that go me some major events for the local area.

I managed to get some t-shirts as far as South Africa and San Francisco.

The demand and working to a timeline became a stressful but enjoyable experience, although it could take away from the creativity I so enjoyed.

This was successful enough to provide a happy lifestyle for myself and my family for over 25 years. Now that I have decided to end that part of my life, I am able to pursue the core elements of my love of being creative, solely for the enjoyment of a passion I first discovered as a child.