“Legend of the White Doe” is an acrylic and oil original painting on canvas. It is 24”x36” but including the raw, sanded pine frame it is 25”x37”. All paintings include hanging wire and corner bumpers for easy hanging along with a signed certificate of authenticity.
While painting the deer series, I came across the Legend of the White Doe, or Virginia Dare. Living in the Outer Banks, there are countless old folktales, legends, and forgotten histories having to do with Roanoke Island, the Graveyard of the Atlantic, and the first non-native child born on this land.
Dare county is named after Virginia Dare, or as she was known by the native Croatoans, Winona Skâ (“first born white daughter”).
The short version of the story is that Virginia was a very beautiful girl and coveted by men looking to woo her. She rejected a man named Chico’s advances, while another man named Okisko was seeming to win her over. The rejected Chico was a powerful witch/magician. He resented them both, so he crafted and cursed a mussel-pearl necklace to gift her while taking her on a boat ride to Roanoke Island. As soon as she stepped foot on land, she transformed into a white doe and was cursed to wander alone, fleeing from hunters forever.
When Okisko found out, he sought to free her. He went to another magician who advised him of a counter-charm: an arrow made of a sharks tooth with 3 pearls and one white heron feather. Shooting her with this arrow would make her human again.
Unfortunately, a nearby hunter named Wanchese heard of the mythical white doe and how nobody wanted to kill it, thinking it too pure. Wanchese, however, boasted of fearing no curse, and sought to kill the white doe to feast on and prove his dominion over the land.
After a hunting chase and killing some of her herd, Okisko and Wanchese end up shooting the white doe at the same time right through the heart. A mist descended and revealed the original Winona/Virginia, in human form. She then collapsed and died. For while one arrow undid her curse, the other ended her now mortal life.
“Legend of the White Doe” is an acrylic and oil original painting on canvas. It is 24”x36” but including the raw, sanded pine frame it is 25”x37”. All paintings include hanging wire and corner bumpers for easy hanging along with a signed certificate of authenticity.
While painting the deer series, I came across the Legend of the White Doe, or Virginia Dare. Living in the Outer Banks, there are countless old folktales, legends, and forgotten histories having to do with Roanoke Island, the Graveyard of the Atlantic, and the first non-native child born on this land.
Dare county is named after Virginia Dare, or as she was known by the native Croatoans, Winona Skâ (“first born white daughter”).
The short version of the story is that Virginia was a very beautiful girl and coveted by men looking to woo her. She rejected a man named Chico’s advances, while another man named Okisko was seeming to win her over. The rejected Chico was a powerful witch/magician. He resented them both, so he crafted and cursed a mussel-pearl necklace to gift her while taking her on a boat ride to Roanoke Island. As soon as she stepped foot on land, she transformed into a white doe and was cursed to wander alone, fleeing from hunters forever.
When Okisko found out, he sought to free her. He went to another magician who advised him of a counter-charm: an arrow made of a sharks tooth with 3 pearls and one white heron feather. Shooting her with this arrow would make her human again.
Unfortunately, a nearby hunter named Wanchese heard of the mythical white doe and how nobody wanted to kill it, thinking it too pure. Wanchese, however, boasted of fearing no curse, and sought to kill the white doe to feast on and prove his dominion over the land.
After a hunting chase and killing some of her herd, Okisko and Wanchese end up shooting the white doe at the same time right through the heart. A mist descended and revealed the original Winona/Virginia, in human form. She then collapsed and died. For while one arrow undid her curse, the other ended her now mortal life.
