A Legend of the Fall - Gordon Tootoosis

This week brings another shift with the elders.  Canadian legend, Gordon Tootoosis has passed on...His body of work is varied and inspiring.  He was one of my favorites.

As I discussed in a previous entry, Elder storytelling is something I love. Gordon had the Grandfather energy, like my own late Papa, who passed in 1991.  They have this way of making the listener "lean in", otherwise you'll miss the point and the punch line.  The Art of Subtlety is difficult to master.

Gordon Tootoosis' presence on the planet and in the arts community, will endure.  Exuding charisma onscreen, and setting an example off, Mr. Tootoosis is a tough act to follow.

This recent article highlights some of his highlights:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Tootoosis+remembered+arts+spirituality+public+service/5065050/story.html

I had hoped to work with him someday, remembering how Legends of the Fall got me to film school --- and North of 60 reruns (at lunch) kept me going (through film school).

I sent prayers to this Canadian legend and know his spirit soars.

Death, in my opinion, is a transition and not "the end".  

We have lift-off! First AQ book goes live...

This is a quick note to celebrate with our online community.

After three and a half years of gestation, our first book project is complete.  It is a work of Heart which poses the question, "How do you feed the stars?"

Incidentally, NASA scheduled its final shuttle launch this week.  Interesting...

The Oonahnahmae Universe book really began to take shape spring of 2010, when Jen decided to paint as much a possible, in between day-job shifts.  We discussed my ideas in the poem and how it related to the world of the Aquarians.

Jen pulled together her thumbnails, talked to me about imagery, incorporated our storylines and characters from The Aquarians and kept on painting, and painting, and painting -- detail after minute detail...for over a year!

Once interior pages were complete, we collaborated on cover design and book dedication.  After which, Jen passed all paintings to me, and I began a steep learning curve.  Publishing is not in my realm of experience.

I worked through equipment and design challenges.  Made more interesting by having a US based publisher --- Most of all, my children kept cheering me on.

Jen and I were never sure of how (or when) our work would culminate in a finished project.

Baby steps.  Keep going.  Problem Solve.

I am happy to announce The Oonahnahmae Universe went live today and is available through:

http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookstoreHome.aspx

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/rebecca-christenson

Thanks for sharing this step as we work to become the best visual storytellers we can be.

The Oonahnahmae Universe project has begun its public life -- in the same way a baby is presented for the first time.  It's a joyful process, but you are almost too tired to know that the delivery occurred.

Here's to everyone discovering their Bowl of Light!  Go ahead and dump your pesky pebbles out...

O Ca-nah-nah -- and DaVinci's Codes...

O Cannanah....Our home and Natra Nah...True patrah lahhh....Is how my little brother used to sing the first line of O Canada, as a toddler.  It is a good example of how...even when little, you can sing the sounds, but not know the meaning. 


Was the song of a child any less powerful?  I think not.  Just at a different level of awareness.  I have a different awareness for the line "true patriot love".  I wonder if patriotism is necessary in the same way it was?  If our borders dissolve, do we lose all we are?  Or do we become more than we ever were?  There are always two sides.  Love/Fear?

I sang the toddler version of O Ca-nah-nah to my kids the other day.  They looked at me like I was an alien...save that discussion for another entry.  I told them Uncle's catch phrase used to be, "Oochie Daydee!" (Oopsie Daisie).  It resurrected into our family slang.

Today I flipped the calendar to reveal July and the following quote:

"When you put your hand in a flowing stream, 

you touch the last of what has gone before, 

and the first of what is yet to come." 
- Leonardo DaVinci-

"Trickle Creek" - Banff National Park, AB- R Christenson (2003)

This sums it up.  Endings are beginnings.  We are what has gone before and is to come... Did DaVinci ever think about how his work would send out ripples into eternity?  I wonder what he'd think about being depicted as the "fair(y) god father" in one of my favorite movies, "Ever After".  


In history, he is depicted as a renaissance man, inventor and scholar...artist, sculptor, painter, and so on...

From the web...not sure who to credit.

Enter Dan Brown and his "Da Vinci Code" many years after "Ever After" --- Dan got me thinking... In a way none had prior.  I saw through nagging flaws I felt in religiosity. 

Through Da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper -- Brown argues a case for the love between Mary Magdalene and Jesus.  Hearing Ian McKellan's storytelling, combined with Audrey TouTou and Tom Hank's Dialogue...I gained new perspective.  What would true love, partnership and acceptance really look like?  Feel like? Be like?

Peace within, ripples out into peace in the home.  One person, one couple, one pair of siblings and one family at a time.   We are turning the tide...I am reminded of a quote by Doreen Virtue: 

"If it's going to be, it's up to me."  

Waves of change alter our DNA, communities, provinces, countries and continents.  Invisible borders disappear through global communications.  Loved ones live and travel abroad.  My sister texted me in an instant, from Doha (Qatar), the other day and...Just like that, "the middle east" has a connection to my heart.    

Portion of painting "The Story of Vaehema" by Jennifer Christenson (11 by 14 - acrylic on canvas)

As I contemplate invisible separations and connections...It is Canada Day.  I grew up here.  I am here.  I live here.  But the bigger picture is so much bigger.   

Earth is my "Home and Native Land..."  Global partnerships are formed daily.  

It's a small world after all...

A Healing Earth - Jennifer Christenson 24 by 36" (oil on canvas)

"People become really quite remarkable 

when they start thinking that they can do things. 

When they believe in themselves 

they have the first secret of success."

-Norman Vincent Peale-

Some interesting research sites are: 

http://www.heartmath.org/free-services/tools-for-well-being/shift-and-shine-age-3-to-6.html, http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/category/earth-changes/, http://www.wunderground.com/, http://nhb-arcims.si.edu/ThisDynamicPlanet/index.html