Moved by Compassion

Bodhisatva  sketched at the Chicago Institute of Art by Meera Rao 

calm

 peace 

grace

on the path 

to Awakening

a merciful guide

moved by compassion

~Meera Rao~

Information about the statue of Bodhisatva 

I have badly sprained my ankles and on my trip to Chicago in a way it was a blessing in disguise. Normally I spend hours in various galleries trying to catch a glimpse of all the wonderful art. But this time I did not walk around the museum ( I know I missed some fabulous exhibits).  I decided instead to sit and sketch something at the museum. 

I had always been attracted to this statue which is close to the entrance of the museum leading to the exhibits on art from India, Tibet, Korea, Japan and China etc.  I slowly hobbled over and sat on a bench across the statue and took my time sketching with pencil and eraser.  The guard came around a few times to ask if I was ok and if he could help me find anything - I am sure he was checking my progress and making sure I was doing what I said I was doing! None of the visitors stopped and chatted though I noticed some paused close and long enough to satisfy their curiosity :)   

While I sketched it sitting down, the photo of the statue was taken standing up just before I left.  I gave the red wash to the background later - did not dare take my water brush or the small watercolor box in the museum. 

Bodhisatva sketch in pencil and watercolor 5x5" by  Meera Rao

Making Art and Viewing Art

Art Institute of Chicago -watercolor sketch on Arches postcard by Meera Rao

"Making art and viewing art are different at their core. The sane human being is satisfied that the best he/she can do at any given moment is the best he/she can do at any given moment........Making art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do, and what you did. In fact, if artmaking did not tell you(the maker) so enormously much about yourself, then making art that matters to you would be impossible. To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished art work. to you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of shaping that artwork. The viewer's concerns are not your concerns (although it's dangerously easy to adopt their attitudes.) Their job is whatever it is: to be moved by art, to be entertained by it, to make a killing off it, whatever. Your job is to learn to work on your work "

~Davie Bayles & Ted Orland in "Art and Fear" 

"Art & Fear - Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of ARTMAKING"  is a book I read often. Today as I am trying to get comfortable and not let the shingles that showed up on my abdomen consume me, I am reading it again. The book always inspires me and motivates me to keep on working. I am convinced in the end to give my best shot -as the very last sentences in the book declares: "It becomes a choice between certainty and uncertainty. And curiously, uncertainty is the comforting choice. "

Co-incidentally, I sketched the Art Institute of Chicago building while waiting for the exhibits to open one cold morning in Dec, looking out the glass window of a coffee-shop right across the road.  I was hesitant to take out my sketch kit in the crowded shop but the desire to sketch to kill time till the doors opened won over my fear.  And I am glad I gave in to the urge to draw. 

"Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult" - Hippocrates (460-400B.C)