David Beaucage Johnson is quickly becoming Ontario's foremost Native Artist. Painting since his early 20's David's style has traversed many phases. His latest is an indepth exploration of the ancient drawings and the petroglyphs known as the Teaching Rocks.
Active in his community of Curve Lake First Nation and a member of council, David's paintings reflect a great care for his traditional past as well as the spiritual future of his people.
David's latest project of illustrating two books of legends retold by reknown linguist Basil Johnston has been rewarded with amazing reviews. "The Bear Walker" and "The Manitous" are currently available at the Whetung gallery. Commissioned by "Magnotta Vineyards" for a series of wine labels was an experience for David, the labels won "Best" award in 1994. David exhibits year round at the Whetung Art Gallery.

Song For The Night Sun
People often wonder why wolves howl at the moon. In this painting, the wolves are shown embracing the moon and offering song to it. The songs are in gratitude for providing light for their night hunts. The white at the bottom is the Teaching Rock, a sacred place north of Stoney Lake in the Kawartha Lakes region of central Ontario. At this sacred place, there are images carved onto a gleaming white rock. Contained in the symbols on the rock are the teachings of the Medicine Wheel and the Spirit World. Night Sun is the English translation for the Ojibwe word for moon. To the Ojibway, the wolf is known as the teacher and it is said that we can learn much by watching the wolf.

Grandmother Moon
The painting shows the sacred native teaching place called Kinomaagewapkong. The site is now the Provincial Park known as Petroglyphs, north of Stoney Lake in the Kawartha Lakes Region of Central Ontario. At this sacred place, there are images carved onto a gleaming white rock. Contained in the symbols on the rock are the teachings of the Medicine Wheel and the Spirit World.
You see a Spirit of the stone rising into the sky and raising an Eagle Fan in prayer. In this painting, I have used the magic of double imagery and negative space. You will notice that the line very close to the moon is not only the outline of the fan, but also outlines the face of Grandmother Moon. For the Ojibwe people, all things in the natural world are believed to have a spirit. Trees, animals, birds, and fish all have a spirit. Even the rocks, rivers, and lakes have spirit.

Halo
The moon is considered to be woman spirit. The figure that you see in the painting is the spirit of the moon. I use simple lines to indicate the spirit because spirits are rarely visible. For example: there are actually two spirits in the painting... The other spirit is Mother Earth.
If you look very carefully, you may be able to see her face as a profile. The lowermost star is her eye.

The Man From The Sky
This happened a long time ago, about four hundred years ago maybe. There were five or six hundred who were living together on the Pine Plains (near what is now called Barrie in Ontario, Canada). One day, two of them saw someone sitting on the grass. This was a man, so they went to see. After a while, he spoke: "I don't belong to this land; I dropped from above yesterday, so I am here now." The men went home and told the people about this. They began to clean the place where they were to keep the Man from the Sky. Then they went to get him. The man from the Sky was a good-looking man, clean and shining bright. At sundown, he looked up to the skies, as if he was watching for something, then he spoke: "In two days, I will return to the sky. Something will come down to take me there." The next day, he said that it was a good contry where he lived, that everything was good. "Tomorrow, I will return to the sky," he said. "All of you must be home to watch me leave." The next day, he looked up and said, "It is coming." Everyone looked up but could see nothing for a long time. One man who could see well saw something like a bright star shinging high up. The other people couldn't see anything until it came near the ground. It was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen. Two men got hold of it and pulled down hard. The Man from the Sky got in and it rose into the sky. (As told by Jonas George [Waasa Giizhig] of Mjikaning)

Kinomaagan
According to the Ojibwe creation story, the wolf taught the people about the world.  The lesson encompassed the names of plants, trees, animals, and the nature of Mother Earth.  At the conclusion of the lesson, the Great Spirit instructed us that we were to walk a path separate from the wolf. ;
Today our paths rarely cross.  When our paths do cross, we are to remember the important role that the wolf played in our beginning.

The Starmaiden
Long ago, a Star Spirit looked down upon the earth and saw an orange glow in a clearing beside a lake.  Curious, the star dropped lower for a closer look.  The star could now see that the glow was a fire and that there were people gathered around it.  The star moved closer still and she realized that some of the people were telling stories, some were dancing, and others were singing.  The star watched for a long while because she loved to stay and listen to the laughter and music but also knew that she must return to her home in the sky.
As she began to climb skyward, she glanced down for one more look.  Directly below, in the lake, was another star!  Perhaps stars can live in the water, she wondered.  Quickly, she descended toward the lake.  She didn't realize that the other star was her own reflection in the water.  When she moved to embrace the other star, she touched the water and was instantly transformed into a beautiful star-shaped flower.
The was the first water lily.  The water lily always grows close to shore where it can enjoy the sounds of laughter and music that surround campfires
The legend about the Starmaiden who came down from the skies has been told around many campfires, beside many lakes, in many different ways, and in many languages.  The next time you are paddling through a patch of water lilies, remember the star who lived in the sky until she found the magic in a wish.

The Sacred Colours
In this painting, you see a man drumming sacred songs.  To the Ojibwe, the sound of the drum symbolizes the heartbeat of Mother Earth.  The symbols that appear to be floating in the sky are symbols from the sacred rock paintings on Mazinaw lake, in Eastern Ontario.  The rock paintings are painted on the side of a cliff-face that rises up from the edge of the water.
The viewpoint that I chose to depict from is a viewpoint from inside the cliff looking out, as if the rockface was made of glass and the images were painted onto the glass.  The reason that I chose this unique viewpoint is because of a story I once heard.  The story was about the little people.  The ones who roam the forests and whose dwellings are inside solid rock.  It is said that these little people are spirits, and therefore have the magical ability to travel through anything.  According to legend, when the little people are inside the rock, they can look out the face of the rock as if it were made out of glass.
When native people visit this places like this, we leave an offering of tobacco for the spirits who live there.
For this painting, I chose to limit myself to a palette of yellow, red, black, and white; the sacred colours of the Ojibwe Medicine Wheel.

The Healer
On a distant shore, you can see a fire.  Smoke is rising from the fire and is forming images in the sky.  The images are teachings from the sacred place known as Kinomaagewapkong.  In the smoke you can see a young, playful figure - an apprentice.  Above the apprentice is a figure of considerable stature - the healer or shaman.  A path can be seen from the apprentice to the shaman.  This is the path of knowledge that the yound person travels upon to learn the ways of medicine.  It is believed that some people are born with a natural ability to heal with their hands.  If you look carefully at the fire, you will see that it is the image of a hand.  It is my way of showing the energy that flows from healing hands.

Rainbow Dance
The eagle is a symbol of virtue and vision.  Eagles soar to great heights and sometimes appear to vanish into the sky.  It is said that during these flights, the eagle will enter the spirit world and can communicate with the spirits.  A rainbow is considered to be a bridge that connects our world to the spirit world.  In this painting, I show an eagle coming back from the spirit world with a message from skywoman.  You may not see Skywoman at first because I have painted her as a spirit.  She reveals herself in the sky behind the eagle's wing, her face shares the line with the features of the wing.

Dragon's Breath
All over Ontario there are sacred native rock paintings.  These paintings are usually in remote lakeside locations. The setting for this painting is Lake Superior.  I have shown the sacred paintings on the side of the rock.  They appear to be glowing with magic.  The cat-like animal climbing out of the water is Mishipeshu, the great underwater lynx.  The image of Mishipeshu is also painted on the side of the cliff.  According to Ojibwe legends, Mishipeshu was an enormous size and would terrorize disrespectful travellers on the lakes.  The title of the painting is inspired by the fog that accumulates in layers in low-lying areas which is often called dragon's breath.

Persona
To me, the persona of a being is the essence or spirit. You can never see the spirit, but it becomes apparent in the expressions, gestures, and in particular, the eyes. The same is true of the image in this painting. At a glance, there is a loon, a crescent moon, and a tree that appears to be upside down. After a while, you begin to realize that the upside down images are reflections. The loon is actually flying low over calm waters and I've painted the loon's reflection as I would paint a spirit, to show its persona.

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