In my trek across the southwest, from Grand
Canyon to Carlsbad Caverns, I stopped at a series of Native American
archeological sites: The Canyon's Tusayan Ruin and Sky Tower; Wapatki
National Monument; and Petrified Forest National Park. I saw the
petroglyphs, the pictures and stories etched in stone by tribal artists,
hundreds or thousands of years ago (up to 2,000 years, in the case of Petrified Forest). As I too tell stories with pictures, I felt a special connection to these indigenous cartoonists, across the gulf of time. After this brush with prehistory, I opened my sketchbook, and borrowed
a few of the characters from the petroglyphs: a kachina (mysterious
holy being) and the crested serpent, who is associated
with water. Perhaps the bit of the earthly breath that I caught at Wapatki's famous blowhole gave me inspiration.
Soon, I will post pictures and stories from my Grand Canyon hike....
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