With these 2 paintings making their journey to the Vancouver Mainland next week,

I've transitioned back to commissions for 4 icons, all Coast Salish in theme, which will take a few months.

After that, I will be returning to another canvas which I had drafted and base-coated a year and a half ago. I had a 12"x36'x1.5" canvas on hand and I wanted to do another one of this size. The closeup facet for this one is from the mid section of the Haida, Sidegate totem in Melbourne, Museums Victoria Collections. [ Item X 17074 Carving, Haida, Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands, North American North West Coast, British Columbia, Canada, 1901 ]

As the size doesn't allow for the extended eagle beak, I had to crop the image. "This totem has figures carved out of the wood: from the bottom, grisly bear, eagle, killer whale and frog."

The following, is information from the Museum's website:
*Important to note that this totem pole is now the focus of inquiries from the Haida Gwaii Museum at Kay LLnaggay in Canada.

'It comes from Skidegate village in the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada. It was obtained in an exchange with the Field Museum in Chicago despite the report by their director, George Dorsey, that Baldwin Spencer had 'refused many offers of exchange [due to] the extreme rarity of Australian artefacts'. Objects from central Australia to the value of '100 pounds' were sent to Chicago in 1908 and the totem pole arrived in Melbourne in 1911. Charles Frederick Newcombe was the original collector of this and other totem poles at Skidegate village. He was commissioned by a number of museums in Canada, USA and UK to collect artefacts from along the British Columbia coast from the First Nations people of the Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka and Salish, and Dorsey engaged him to collect for the then Field Columbian Museum from 1897. However it is most likely that the totem pole was collected between 1901 and 1905 along with the others from Skidgate village, which were distributed amongst museums across the world - namely to museums in Sydney (presumably to the Australian Museum), Cambridge, Kew Gardens, Liverpool and the British Museum in the United Kingdom, and Chicago, Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, the American Museum of Natural History and the University of California in the United States America. During the last one hundred years at this museum, the pole was cut into two sections in order to fit it into the store rooms, and only in 2000 were these two parts reunited when it was placed on display in the public galleries of the then newly opened Melbourne Museum. It remained there until last year and is now back in storage. The totem pole is now the focus of inquiries from the Haida Gwaii Museum at Kay LLnaggay in Canada.'

November 3, 2020:

I was pleased to finally find a plaque online for the Everyone's Grandfather Totem, with the carver information which I had been searching for since 2014. I am happy to finally include it here:

November 3, 2020:

'Wolf Totem Pole: Everyone’s Grandfather’ was raised at the Fairbanks University of Alaska Museum in 1988. The pole honors the wolf clan and was named by George Dalton, Elder of the Kaag Waan Taan (Wolf) Clan. The 20-foot pole is made of western red cedar from Ketchikan and features the three figures of eagle, wolf, and bear. This particular totem pole honors the traditional teaching method of a master artist working alongside his apprentices.
* The reference photo of this painting was taken by Patrick Endres. But to date, I was told that carver had passed but I've been unable to get his name. Seems like accreditation for the Indigenous artists is very different in USA, and their names are very difficult to track.

Looking back at my previous paintings, I've gradually found a bit more information about the totem in Alaska, but I still Have questions, especially about the time frame of the pictures on the totem and the actual Wolf section. The first images that I found and which caught my interest, and which I initially mistook as a totem having been stained in black. My first 2 paintings were facets of the Wolf, focusing on half of the face and the eye: the first in 2015 and the next in 2017. In 2017 I came across another image of the Tlingit Wolf and recognized the features as being the same but it had vivid coloring. Had the totem been refurbished, or was this a photo from the totem's early life. But since, I found out that the totem was located next to a university parking area, and then assumed that the black I was seeing was in fact sooth from car emissions.

November 2, 2020: Tlingit Wolf completed.

I am pleased to say that that the Tlingit Wolf has been completed and varnished. My son will be taking some high res shots of it in the next few days, allowing me to post a jpeg here soon thereafter. For these two paintings, I will coughing up the money for professional scans to have in my archival file for future use. This is something I'd always wanted to do for my body of work in both the iconography and paintings, but given the time span of my career, it has always been a combination of the costs involved,and whether there were any available photographers that were set up for this type of work.

Here's an idea of the painting, taken with my iPhone... Not ideal but gives you are sense until I have the final image. I'll be adding more background information on the original totem and about the time span this particular photo within the totem;s life span, and why it is so different from the earlier paintings I did in 2014, 2015.

If you like the work and the series in general, this artist would dearly appreciate your help in sharing with others, so that they may also come to know it.

Oct. 13, 2010:

The Tlingit Wolf is underway once again. This stage is the development of the undertones.

For some background information on this totem, here is the link to the Journal entry for the painting done in 2017.

https://www.andreprevost.com/journeying-series/tlingit-wolf-totem-painting

Oct. 11, 2020:

The Grizzly Bear Father has been completed and varnished. Now to get back to the Tlingit Wolf Detail. It was part of the Journey which I needed to return to after 6 years, needing to see where my technique had evolved to since. This Mortuary Pole Crest has always been a favorite for my son and I, and I will always cherish the days when I could visit it often.

Oct. 7, 2020;

Returning to the Grizzly Bear Father was more challenging, but not surprising. That was why I had decided to return to it as it was one of the first in the series, back in 2014. My technique had evolved greatly since, and even though this commission was based on that painting, I still remain faithful to the original Grizzly Bear Father Crest on the UBC MOA Mortuary Pole, carved by Bill Reid and Doug Canmer. It is nearing completion. The plan is to have it completed by week's end, and then get back to the Tlingit Wolf, the second of the commission (one of the more recent ones done in 2017), and one of the most complex.

Sept. 6, 2020:

It is enjoyable being back on these canvases. I'm not hurrying it as I get back into the method which I had created for the series. here are a before and after, the canvas as it was left in 2018 and, the progress in the beginning development of the undertones.

Reference pics of original Mortuary Pole, which I took in 2013, and again later in 2015:

Sept. 1, 2020:

With the Coast Salish St. Joseph icon completed, packed and ready for shipment, after a long wait since the Fall of 2018, the totem canvases are finally back up on their easels. They had been drafted and undertones added at that time, so they are really only in their beginning stages. More info to come once I've stared.

February 7, 2020:

The painting has been packed and on its way to its home in Conestoga, Ontario. Another journey of rediscovery, ever guided by the totem.

Kwagiutl Ancestor Tattoo Totem Detail 2020
By Andre J. Prevost
Acrylic on exhibition canvas   24” x 36” x 1.5”
           
From a Kwagiutl House Post from Quatsino Sound, BC. ,UBC MOA
Carved by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Siwis (George Nelson) around 1906.

January 31, 2020:

It has been a long haul, between life and tackling a complex totem. But I am pleased to say that I will be completed this painting tomorrow and varnishing it at the end of the day.

My son is on standby for taking pictures of it on Sunday.

December 19, 2019:

The latest report on the Ancestor.

There have been a few delays along the way but there has been some progress in any case. I am using a different brand of paint seeing that the one which I had been using, has been discontinued. Along with changing a brand, comes the variations in how colours mix depending on the new paint formulas.

The other factor is the reality of aging, and how you just can't push like when you were younger. The recovery period from a long stretch of commission work and deadlines... the body was saying "Hold on. I need to rest!"

So with the commissioner happy with the progress to date, and Christmas upon us, I can focus on very simple Christmas for my son and I, doing the essential baking of a Tourtiere and a batch of soft gingerbread cookies.

I have a few other icon commissions in the works but my contact who does the specialty cutting for the panels, is recovering from surgery. So it'll be in the New Year when I can proceed with those. The challenge is always the home budget.

November 18, 2019:

So...
Needless to say, I was very fortunate to have two major icon commissions come up as I completed the St. Juan Diego icon: a year's worth of work (and income to help on the home front). So the totems paintings which I had started, were stored in a large packing mirror box for later. *see picture under July 2018.

It is now November 2019, and I get to post another journal entry here given that the past year has been all about icon commissions (see those journal entries).

Having completed the 2 major commissions, and while waiting for funding on the next icon commission to be completed, I was commissioned to paint another KWAGIUTL ANCESTOR TOTEM from the Journeying series. But this one will have more of the image as it will be on a 24x36 canvas instead of 18x36.

It's off to a bit of a slower start as I get back on the bike after over a year. It gradually comes back as I go and rediscover the technique(s) that I had developed over a few years.

In addition to the Ancestor commission, I received word that someone had been inquiring whether I was still painting the Journeying series, being especially interested in the Tlingit Wolf painting. So I drafted another 24x36 canvas and began base coating the undertones for it.

It actually helps having two paintings going, as one informs the other as I move along

Following JD Stevenson Gallery's 2nd Anniversary celebration and reception last Saturday (July 21st), even though I am nearing completion of the St. Juan Diego icon, I first needed to select the next 2 close-up facets, that fit the canvases that I had: one 24"x36"x1.5" and one 12"x36"x1.5". As with all of the series, I leave to the images that call out the loudest. My son had mentioned how he liked the Grizzly Bear Father, which would suit the 24"x36", and there was a complex facet of a museum totem that had the strength for the smaller 12"x36". The drafting and initial blocking in of base under colours always take a few days. I've got them developed enough that I can return to the icon, expecting to complete it in the next day or so. (you can see the separate journal for the icon at
https://www.andreprevost.com/st-juan-diego/st-juan-diego-icon

I will update this journal for the two paintings, including the background information for the original totems.

The Brown Bear painting has been a 3-part process. It was first interrupted by a commission for 2 icons. When I got back to it, I was having difficulty in that it had been a while since I had painted a piece for the Journeying With The Totems series, and jumping into a 48"x48" was daunting. The larger it gets, the more detail is required.

I decided to hang it on my wall, until I could return to it once again, and felt the need to return to a painting which I had done in 2015, the Raven/Eagle Shield from the Centennial Pole in Alaska. But I was on a tight deadline then, as I was opening my first Solo Show at the Silk Purse Gallery in early February. that year. It went from my easel to the gallery, and was sold, so I didn't have time to process it at the time. And seeing that I had been struggling with the large Brown Bear canvas, I needed to return to that point in time, and start anew. The second painting went in a bit of a different direction, in that it had far more detail then the first painting.

It was challenging, but a great journey. It gave me the time to reconnect with my style and technique. Once the Raven/Eagle was completed, I felt ready to put the Brown Bear back on my easel. I wasn't overwhelmed by it anymore. It felt completely natural once again. But there was one daunting thing though, the fact that the 2018 Sooke Fine Arts Show submission deadline was on June 4th. With a  piece of this size, and being a striking image, the art show was the best option.

The submission for both the Raven/Eagle Shield and the Brown Bear has been made this afternoon, and now to wait until June 12th to hear whether either was accepted.

It happens from time to time, when you feel stuck. I've made a point to not refer to the 2015 painting in order to let the totem guide whichever way it needed to go. But with complex images, with so many layers of detail, the hurdles seem that much taller, and deciphering how to proceed can be daunting. In times like that, all I can do is sit with the canvas and study it. But the block remained in place. I then took some time to refer to my photo of the 2015 painting, not to copy it, but to study what I had done then. I knew that I had reached a similar block then. It became obvious that this current painting was going in a different direction. Oh sure, it looks similar as I am working from the same original image, but the 2015 painting was simplified somewhat. It reminded me that at the time, I had the fast approaching Solo Show at the Silk Purse Gallery, and there had to be that point where it was completed enough to be compete in itself.

So, having studied the image of the first painting, and seeing the discoveries and decisions made back in 2015, I set it aside, returned to the canvas, and back to original totem. The next decision was 'Where do I jump in on the canvas! There is so much to do.'

Once having made that step back into the canvas, my To Do List got longer as this painting was going in a different direction. Adjustments to form and colour washes are being made, but the main change is the level of wood graining.

Now that the Siksika Icon has been completed, and all icons have been delivered to the Mainland, I am happily back to the Raven/Eagle Shield canvas (which you saw in the April 2 posting.

I've been busily working in base colours and preliminary undertones. Today was about making adjustments to forms and outlines in order to be true to the original and to the culture.

Yes, I am returning to that point in my journey when I completed painting of this Alaskan treasure, but I will not do copies of the first paintings. I need to allow the original image of the totem to lead the way, and in so doing, this painting will have its differences from the first. A few years have passed and life experience will influence the discoveries.

You you would like to see that first painting, you can view at:
https://www.andreprevost.com/my-journal/journal-series-on-individual-paintings-eagle-raven-shield-totem

Having set the large Brown Bear canvas aside until I can complete it, I had a totem calling in a big way. Although, I had initially avoided it as it was one that I had already painted a study of. As a rule of thumb, I've always looked to new studies to do.

But the Raven/Eagle Shield was calling. I had just completed the last painting in time for my first Solo Show at the Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver in 2015; quite literally off the easel to the exhibition wall. After the challenges on the past few years, I've had a growing need to return to that moment in time and reconnect with this totem. I didn't get any time to 'be' with the painting once it was completed; something that is essential for me as an artist. And then the painting sold off that exhibition wall, so it was gone.

So I've decided to return to that time frame to complete that particular journey. But the original painting was 2015. To remain true to my core of responding to the totem and let it inform me, and being adverse to doing an outright copy of a previous painting, the only thing in common for this new canvas will be my gridded 2015 photograph. So I expect this piece to follow its own path and its own variations. After all, there has been 3 years of life experience since.

I have one more original Siksika icon having been commissioned, and as you can see leaning on the left wall, the two Rose Prince icons are still packed and awaiting delivery. But I needed my easels in the meantime. The one snag that that flared up this week, given the low ceiling in my mobile home, is accessing the lower sections and the difficulty it creates for my lower back (my old herniated disc from 2007 from the huge Holy Family Icon for St. Andrew's Cathedral in Victoria BC). So with my old lumbar support, I move forward.

The background information for the 2015 Raven/Eagle Shield can be viewed at this link:
http://www.andreprevost.com/my-journal/journal-series-on-individual-paintings-eagle-raven-shield-totem

February 22, 2018:

The Future Generation canvas has been completed. The varnish has been done and I just need to add the wire and label the back. It is 18"x36"x1.5", acrylic on exhibition canvas.

February 16, 2018

I received permission from both icon commissions to complete one of the two totem series paintings, as I really needed to present one to the gallery ASAP. (The other large canvas of the 'Brown Bear' will be completed as soon as possible.) Gallery sales never happen right away, and the artist always sees the sea of red in the home budget coming around every corner.

The 'Future Generations' section is from the "Seventh Generation Pole / Honour of the Children Pole" at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. It was designed by James Lewis and carved by Wayne Carlick in 1995 and "raised in 1997, to honour all the artists and carvers in the past, the ones who continue today and those who will pass on their culture in the future".

The section used for this canvas is from the the second row from the bottom, which are the children of the future. (The bottom row is of the children of the past.)

February 16, 2018

I received permission from both icon commissions to complete one of the two totem series paintings, as I really needed to present one to the gallery ASAP. (The other large canvas of the 'Brown Bear' will be completed as soon as possible.) Gallery sales never happen right away, and the artist always sees the sea of red in the home budget coming around every corner.

The 'Future Generations' section is from the "Seventh Generation Pole / Honour of the Children Pole" at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. It was designed by James Lewis and carved by Wayne Carlick in 1995 and "raised in 1997, to honour all the artists and carvers in the past, the ones who continue today and those who will pass on their culture in the future".

The section used for this canvas is from the the second row from the bottom, which are the children of the future. (The bottom row is of the children of the past.)

October 25, 2017

It has been slower going in recent weeks. There are those dips in the road where an artist feels the weight of the work and the pressure of trying to support ones family and its medical needs. But even if the progress hasn't been as well as I would like, it is important to trudge along in any case, and work through it.

I was tackling the detailing of the Brown Bear Totem painting, but I was overtaken by the need to begin another totem section. This has been an essential part of this journey with the totems, allowing them to draw me, each in their own time. In light of the dialogs around appropriation concerns, with concerns of First Nations designs being used or re-interpreted by non-Indigenous artists or companies as an example, mine is not to create new artworks in the conventional sense. Mine is not to interpret. I suppose that this self-discipline comes from my years in Byzantine Iconography, where to, I have always trusted the Masters and respected the forms, traditions, symbolism, colours, etc. In doing so, my works avoided error and inadvertently posing questions or scandal. The same can be said for this series, this journey with the totems. I allow myself to respond and to use my skills to capture what I see, and all the details within. It is imperative that I keep adjusting the forms and lines as required, until they are as exact as need be (aware of how precise these forms are from Nation to Nation, imparted with their meaning and movements). I trust the image of the totem and the Master's creation. My task is to capture a facet of a particular moment in time within a totem's life span, preserving the Master's vision and skill. And unlike a photograph, the canvas painting brings a viewer, while remaining true to the original totem, an experience of vibrancy from the totem; the same which I feel when I come in contact with it in real life.

So, being free from trying to come up with an artistic concept for a painting, I can follow the images of various totems as they beckon. And they do. This new canvas is a case in point. I had been considering a few options, keeping in mind the canvas sizes that I had on hand. One of my  JPEGs was from the second lower layer of the House Pole at the Capilano Totem Visitors Center, "Seventh Generation Pole / Honour of the Children Pole". It seems simple enough but the forms and textures within and subtle colourings are actually complex in their simplicity.

As I am painting the icon for Rose Of The Carrier, and because of its quiet meditative nature, I have the CD of 'Native American Flute + Ocean Waves' playing in the background. But in addition to its quiet, peaceful setting, it is also such a nice way to stay connected to Rose Prince while painting.

But it is also bringing memories of my solo show of 'Journeying With The Totems', the one where I was often present. I know that it was a bit of a strain for the volunteers at the centre, who had an eclectic collection of CDs to brighten their days while supervising the shows, but Jazz and such didn't suit a space filled with totems. It didn't have the quiet serenity of a totem in its natural state. I am very thankful to those volunteers who were so supportive, and understanding and accommodating of an artist, and went along with the CDs that I had provided.

One memory, in addition to the beautiful eagle's chanting in the tree tops as the show was being set up, was of a gentleman, who came a few times, pulled a chair and sat in the centre of the room, and just 'be' with the totems. He would quietly sit  for up to an hour. The room became highly charged for me in those moments, as it so strongly spoke to me that the totems were speaking. That fact was always evident as people came through to experience the series.

Just thought I'd share that with you.

A few months have gone by since my last Journal entry for the totem paintings at the end of October. A few things were at play.

Being the artist, the quest of survival on the home front is always a going concern, along with the ongoing self-judgement about the chosen path and uphill battle of energizing interest in the work. It is a daunting task, and can be brutal to one's moral and self-assessment. Some times are worse then others; sort of like a wave that comes upon you at intervals. 

The totem series is especially so in that, even though some question where the artist is in my work (seemingly devoid of interpretation and personal messaging), it remains a passion and a love. There are so many totems that I hope to experience in person, and photograph from my perspective; angle and lighting being especially important. There are so many that I would dearly love to capture close-up facets, within the time capsules of their lives. But the hurdle at this time is getting past all the questioning and re-rediscovering my original passion with the series. It wasn't about a commercial interest, but it gets challenged when struggling to make ends meet. The pressure to produce naturally railroads the process and as an artist, I always need to find my way back to allowing myself to respond to the totems and give them the time they require.

I do have those two canvas which are near completion, but I wasn't in the right head space in November. I didn't want to force them.

And then, another icon project came up in early November. It turned out that the project came from two different sources but for the same prototype. It was obviously time. Each icon would be of Rose Prince, better known as Rose Of The Carrier. It is now January 18th and I'm in the process of painting after a month and a half of research, and numerous design directions. Once I get these two icons completed, I will have to get right back to the two totems ASAP as the pressures of the home budget always remain.

It was encouraging to read the few positive comments on Facebook after JD Stevenson Gallery's posting about the recent sale of 'Blue Totems'. But as with my iconography after so many years, I always seem to be the one still to be discovered for the most part. It would be so nice to hear from those who have commissioned or purchased my work. Otherwise, an artist works alone in the studio without that important feedback in moving forward.

Heart-felt regards to all.

It has been slower going in recent weeks. There are those dips in the road where an artist feels the weight of the work and the pressure of trying to support ones family and its medical needs. But even if the progress hasn't been as well as I would like, it is important to trudge along in any case, and work through it.

I was tackling the detailing of the Brown Bear Totem painting, but I was overtaken by the need to begin another totem section. This has been an essential part of this journey with the totems, allowing them to draw me, each in their own time. In light of the dialogs around appropriation concerns, with concerns of First Nations designs being used or re-interpreted by non-Indigenous artists or companies as an example, mine is not to create new artworks in the conventional sense. Mine is not to interpret. I suppose that this self-discipline comes from my years in Byzantine Iconography, where to, I have always trusted the Masters and respected the forms, traditions, symbolism, colours, etc. In doing so, my works avoided error and inadvertently posing questions or scandal. The same can be said for this series, this journey with the totems. I allow myself to respond and to use my skills to capture what I see, and all the details within. It is imperative that I keep adjusting the forms and lines as required, until they are as exact as need be (aware of how precise these forms are from Nation to Nation, imparted with their meaning and movements). I trust the image of the totem and the Master's creation. My task is to capture a facet of a particular moment in time within a totem's life span, preserving the Master's vision and skill. And unlike a photograph, the canvas painting brings a viewer, while remaining true to the original totem, an experience of vibrancy from the totem; the same which I feel when I come in contact with it in real life.

So, being free from trying to come up with an artistic concept for a painting, I can follow the images of various totems as they beckon. And they do. This new canvas is a case in point. I had been considering a few options, keeping in mind the canvas sizes that I had on hand. One of my  JPEGs was from the second lower layer of the House Pole at the Capilano Totem Visitors Center, "Seventh Generation Pole / Honour of the Children Pole". It seems simple enough but the forms and textures within and subtle colourings are actually complex in their simplicity.

The background information about this Totem is as follows: