The Gift of an Eagle Feather

It is wonderful to get the opportunity to paint another piece for someone. This person is an old school friend, whom I share many memories with from our young teenage years. From those somewhat reakless days, we have come a long way and she leads an amazing life, taking care of two beautiful children and much more. 

The image of this painting came to me the day after her request. I could see the whole painting. So I started with the dark forest green background, which I kept seeing as very dence native bush, but as I painted, it needed to look like pounamu. It also seemed to have a strong connection to the heart. Once this was finished, I began the beautiful white feather, that had a distinct black tip. I thought it looked like a Huia feather, but found that it had the opposite placement of black and white, so looked further into feathers on the internet and confirmed the thought that this was a White Eagle feather.

In reading, I found that the gift of an Eagle Feather is considered the most special gift of love. In Native American teachings, the eagle represents love because he has the strength to carry all the teachings:

 “The eagle has the ability to fly highest and closest to the creator and also has the sight to see all the ways of being from great distances. The Eagle's teaching of love can be found in the core of all teachings, therefore an eagle feather is considered the highest honour and a sacred gift.” -        Ojibwe teachings

There was a strong presence of a loved one, who had passed on, through out the whole process of this piece and it felt that simply this was his gift to her - a gift of love. 



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