Hand Painted Drums: $200.00 to $500.00 for PAINTING ONLY: Buy one of our drums or supply your own and add the painting.
Hand-Painted Drums by Fine Artist, Cheryl Talking Bird
We paint our drums by hand. Each drum is unique. Unlike a silk-screened drum, your custom image will be ONE OF A KIND. It will be your drum. All of our images are copyrighted, and we never paint exactly the same drum twice.
We collaborate with you to incorporate your ideas, your totem animals, your dreams and important people and moments from your life to create a special drum. We involve you in every step of the painting process. Here's how we work. You call and we discuss an idea for your painting. I send you a preliminary sketch. You make revisions and suggestions. We talk again and agree on the final image. You authorize the sketch. Creator and I take it from there.
We take digital photographs of each phase of the painting so that you have a permanent record of your drum's evolution. From the circle to the final image, you can see the progression of the painting of your own drum.
Do not settle for a drum image that 100,000 other people have. Be unique. Own a unique drum. Let us help you design your own ONE OF A KIND painted drum that you will treasure for a lifetime. Even if you choose from one of our past designs featured below, we will use your color choices and customize the drum to you.
Drums are personal, sacred tools to communicate with Creator. That's why we use river-recovered cedar. That is also why we take the greatest care in painting something that will aid you in your dialog with Creator.
Simple paintings start at $200.00 (like One feather, Four directions, Sun & Moon). Our most complicated paintings are $500.00 (like Kristyne's drum, Wild Warrior, Sedona Red Rock). A very complex painting on a large powwow drum could cost up to $1,000. Remember, you are paying for a quaranteed one of a kind piece of artwork by a nationally acclaimed artist.
Call 1-256-538-0246 to design your own personal drum. We'll quote a price for your one of a kind artwork drum.
All Nations, One Council Fire
Ilan's Drum
Celtic Thunderbird
Spotted Eagle Valerie's Drum
Kokopelli - Today
Spirit Pony
One Feather
Four Directions
Sun & Moon
Seed of Life
Woman with wolves
Flowering Dolphin Mountain
Turtle
Harold's Drum
Tree of Life
Sunflower
Seasons of Life
Corn & Vines
Sacred Fire
Warm Blankets
Fall Leaves
Thunderbird
Buffalo Skull
Buffalo Lakota Star
Father Eagle
Wild Warrior
Woodlands Butterfly
Sedona Red Rock
Tim's Sacred Pipe Carrier
Medicine Eagle
Northwest Coastal
Stonehenge
Energy & Life Drum
Craig's Sacred Skull
Kristyne's Drum
Tony's Totem Owl
Cindy's Red Tail
Grace's Gift
Barbara's Soaring Eagles
Bev's Boreal Herbs
Running Wolf
Judy's Gryphon
Why do I charge so much for my paintings?
Other companies use a machine process to create their artwork. You send in a photo and an artist paints the image. This image is transformed to a silk-screen and stamped on your drum. Now the company owns your image. They silk screen that image on to thousands of other drums for about $10 a copy to recoup the cost of the your original painting. Or you buy a $10 copy of someone else's vision because you don't want to invest in your own spirtuality.
I guarantee that no one else in the world will ever have the same painted drums as yours. You will not walk into a shaman workshop and see the same buffalo on another 78 drums. Your drum will carry your personal medicine only. Every painting I create is an original. If you value the spirituality of your drum, you will understand why this is so important. A drum is a spiritual tool and it should be personalized to suit your healing powers. I spend hours researching each painting, hours communicating with you about your painting, and still more hours actually painting.
I stopped painting drums and rattles in January 2008. Here are the reasons for my "painting sabbatical:"
(1) I was creatively blocked because some customers defined such detailed paintings that they left no room for Creator to enter the process and generate spirituality into the painting.
(2) I found that one painting required 3-4 days of effort, and I was not charging enough. I felt under-valued. When I was a water color artist in the "white world," and had exhibits, my painting sold for $400 - $700. Suddenly, in the Native American world, the same dedication was valued at a fraction of what I received for my flat art. I found it extremely degrading that people would pay $700 for a water color to decorate their walls , but refuse to invest $300 for original art on a sacred drum. I started to refer customers to the $10 mass-produced artwork.
(3) I have struggled for a lifetime to gain national exposure and build a national reputation as a fine artist. I have won awards too numerous to list. I have painted CD covers for Grammy Award winning musicians. My paintings are exhibited in museums around the United States. My work has been displayed in publications such as Western Art Collection and Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. I have commissioned painted drums all over the world.
So, after a lot of prayer, I have decided to accept only commissions that interest me, and for which I will be paid what I feel my time and talent are worth. Please call and we can discuss your artwork. If I feel spiritually moved by the image and you feel confident enough to value unique Native American Art, then we will create a wonderful work of art together, and you will restore my trust in people. Blessings to all of my loyal friends and customers who have supported my artistic struggle, encouraged me to return to painting, and given me this solution to my creative block. I listened to all of you, and I will paint again. Thank you.
TOTEM ANIMAL PAINTINGS
For even more example of painted drums, see our web page on Totem Animal Shields. We can paint any totem animal on your drum to customize it for you. Just choose the animals, the season, and the colors. SEE TOTEM ANIMALS.
