This summer I had some very intense dreams, these proved to be a valuable source of ideas and material which I subsequently developed into paintings.

This is post is about one such . The seed of this dream story can be found in a little known part of my family history and involves, I believe, my American Indian ancestors. I do know that my great Grandmother Lou was part Choctaw and part Cherokee American Indian . Born in Mississippi, she married a farmer, they continued farming and so the family tree grew.

The dream was particularly vivid, strong enough that it felt I was the child, feeling everything as the story unfolded in the late 1800’s . It left me wondering just where it had come from .

Before the dream, I really didn’t have any particular knowledge or understanding of the symbolism or folk lore attached to my characters in this story. It was afterwards, as I attempted to unravel the mystery within, that I discovered the symbols and rituals were factually quite accurate .

The dream centred around a young girl, wearing traditional American Indian Choctaw dress. It is raining heavily and cold . The girl, aged about eleven or twelve years of age was in an accident. She found herself injured and alone in a ditch at the side of the rough road . Thrown from the family pony and cart because a wheel had come off. There she lay, unable to move, her left side hip and leg badly injured .

This detail is of ‘Sonny’, a 30 year old family pony, whom she loves, he is also injured in this tragic accident beneath the hill.

Researching the pony’s name , I learnt that in the late 1800’s in the American South the name Sonny was used as a familiar and affectionate nickname for a young boy, which indicates the little pony was a trusted , long standing member of the family .

The plight of this pair is eventually discovered by the family. The young girl is carried home, put to bed and nursed. The family gather around her and traditional healing ceremonies take place.

Sonny was also entangled in the trap and hurt , now at home, and being cared for, the pony misses the child, he refuses all attempts to get him well with food and water, and sadly dies.

The Bear and the Wolf begin the ceremonial rituals, asking for the child be healed, while her family, watch over, and sing quietly nearby. A poultice of herbs is applied to her left side, the mixture looks like nettles.

The Cherokee Wolf is revered as the nations protector , they are keepers of wolf medicine and war leaders . Members are forbidden from harming them .

The girl then develops a fever, and on openings her eyes and looking up, she sees an image of the devil mixed in amongst the stars in the dark night sky.

The bear stands over the child. He plays the drum softly looking out at us, drawing us in, as we too witness this tragic event.

The bear, I have since discovered, is a traditional figure within Choctaw and Cherokee ceremony. In Cherokee lore, the bears were originally a human clan who chose to move deep into the mountains to live freely, eventually turning into bears, while remaining cousins to humans.

Choctaw on the other hand see the bear as a symbol of strength , and the keeper of music, who originally gifted the sacred drum to the choctaw people.

Eventually, the child sadly passes away.

As in much of my work, I paint the subject or narrative in an attempt to understand , make sense of it . This paintings symbolism and ritual accuracy I only discovered afterwards when I had researched it later. All very strange .

This deeply personal work tells a story, as many of my paintings do. It also follows the Ex Votive principle, in which a humble painted record marks a significant event, gives thanks or prays for help . Such painted records, follow in the centuries old tradition, illustrating our human connections, our shared tragedies and timeless tales of just what it is to be human and to live a life.