Monday, April 6, 2009

Painting My Tepee

I have spent the last week painting my tepee. It has been a huge undertaking. I had no idea it would take so much time and paint. It was tricky finding a dry enough time and a poop-free zone to spread it out. Gosh it looks huge. See the tiny little horses. I used a tent stake, string and a charcoal pencil to draw the circular bands on the tipi. I had to work quickly before the chickens came to help with the decoration.
Back in the studio I had more helpers. I spread a section on my table and painted it using watered down Golden Liquid Acrylics. When I painted the liner I could use painters tape on the straight edges, but this was all at so much of a curve I free handed it. The top section is a gold ochre followed by suns which are traditional for Kiowa tepee's. I used a stamp for this I bought on clearance. The next small band is metallic copper.

Then there are the hummingbirds, lots and lots of them. My Indian name is Little Hummingbird.
The blue row is phases of the moon. The bottom row is wolf tracks. In between will go the horses which will be 3'x4'. I will do them after the tepee is up.
The poles are 24' long and there are 17 of them. I am still working on sanding and sealing them in between spring rains.
The plan is to have it up by mid April. I am so excited!



2 comments:

  1. Diana, This is fascinating! What is the tent for...forgive the newcomer! I have an indian name as well...you have challenged me to go through my paperwork to find it!

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  2. Suandra, The teepee will be my summer home. I moved to the parents farm a few years ago after my father became ill. I now live in my studio which gets smaller everyday. So I plan on living in the teepee at least half the year. What tribe are you?

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