Monday, December 21, 2009

The King of the Wood: Earth Painting/ FIGURATIVE ABSTRACTION by Eric Whollem


The King of the Wood
1974-5
earth pigments and charcoal in casein with gold tempera on panel
3'x4'
by Eric Whollem
Collection of the artist.
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST


Earth Paintings With
Cross Cultural Themes

The King of the Wood is a painting that
draws upon folklore from Lake Nemi in
ancient Italy, the lore of the sacred kings
of Europe. They were ritual guardians of the
mistletoe branches that hung from the oaks
in the sacred groves.

Sir Douglas Frasier, the father of modern
anthropology, wrote of these sacred kings
in his famous book, The Golden Bough.

In this painting I have blended African,
Oriental, and Romanesque art into a
creation in my own style.

The background is gold tempera; other-
wise the pigments are ones that I made
myself from scratch.

The soil in the painting's landscape is
from Mt. Shasta, California, lending
a blessing energy to the work. I used
milk glue, or casein, as a binder for the
earth pigments--blending the earth with
milk in a holistic manner.


                               View this video about my earth paints.

Details of 'The King of the Wood' were painted
with a stick brush, much in the manner of
Aboriginal art. Oak leaf spirit guardians
are incorporated in the border design.

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Readers interested in my posts on ANTHROPOLOGY might view this link:
http://artblogericwhollem/blogspot.com/search/label/anthropology


A POSTER STAMP FOR ART BLOG/ERIC WHOLLEM
Alaya
1976
by Eric Whollem
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

This is a link to my posts on the use of EARTH PAINTSin painting and sculpture:

For more information on Douglas Frasier see this WIKIPEDIA link:

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