The Ancestors
by Stirling Art
I haven’t ever really been a fan of the dragon, unlike my tuakana and tamahine. But in 2024 dragons / tarakona started to appear in my work after attending Taniwha’s Den. As 2024 is also the Chinese year of the dragon, I went with the flow and this is my first ever dragon painting.
It materialized very quickly without much thought. I went with what was happening with the paint and layers and materials, thoughts feelings and colours. I didn’t even realise the painting was in beautiful Scottish blue until I finished it. The only thing I did know was that this painting was specifically for my Soul Sister. Perhaps a message, a wee kōrero fae our auld yins.
In the painting there are unsettling charges and crackles of electricity, that swirl up from the left, above and all around, to encircle an obscure, but powerful woman.
Her shape shifts. Not everyone gets to see her.
People are sheltering under the woman, she protects them. The woman holds fast – as the electricity, crackles and sparks – then dissipates.
Behind her is a powerful dragon who vibrates strong supportive feminine energy. The dragon is just beautiful, sparkles and shimmers in pinks, purples and blues.
My sincere apologies - the special effects in the painting are almost impossible to pick up with a camera, so the photos and short clips are at different angles to try to capture some of the effects.
For example, there’s a pattern on the painting that sparkles. It’s not glitter, it’s almost like crushed diamantes, so pretty, I had so much fun making that!
Even though this painting is deeply layered, and looks highly textured, the painting surface is flat.
Depending on how the light catches the painting you will see crowds of people. I love to obscure figures and things in the backgrounds. While we were students at Art College, Nestor Opetaia (a hugely talented painter) and I used to marvel at Darcy Nicolas’s work. We both loved the hidden figures. We could see them. Not everyone could.
76.5x76.5cm on 3.5cm Deep Box Canvas. The edges of each artwork are painted black.
