One of my other kachina-related interests is painting old kachina dolls that I have owned, or those from museum collections, in watercolors. The idea came to over time. As I began developing my collection, I increasingly wanted older, therefore, more expensive dolls for my collection. I truly wanted to get my hands on some dolls that I quite simply could not afford. The idea eventually dawned on me that if I could teach myself how to paint and if I could do it well enough, I could capture the essence of any carving I desired. I chose watercolors for my medium. At the time it was a simple choice, because watercolors were the only paints I had ever experimented with during my childhood. Little did I know that it is one of the most difficult media to become skilled at. Nobody informed me, so I worked at becoming skilled with the watercolor paints. A year or so after I began this experiment, my paintings were looking the way I wanted them to look. I began to exhibit my paintings in gallery showings and sold a few.
When I paint kachinas, I am capturing the essence of the Kachina Doll and creating a mood that is not only a translation of the original, but also a co-creation of the original artist and myself. I try to convey an organic and primordial feel to the doll as if you could reach out and touch it. I like to bring out the character of these old carvings with all of their flaws, breaks, wear and missing paint exposing the bare cottonwood root. I want to bring the viewer a sense of awe and mystery. This is what my kachina paintings are all about.
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