Happy Vishu

A Day in the Life-page 6 color pencils and pen

Happy Vishu - New Year to all. Today is New Year for most of the people in southern India. I did this page in my sketchbook for the Fiction project 'A day in the Life - in Blue Jeans with Gold Embroidery' a few weeks ago and waited to post :) The entry describes a ceremony from most Hindu households in the south on Vishu-Ugady day.

The copy reads:

I light the lamp on my altar. A mirror is the latest addition -a reminder of a special kind. In southern India where I grew up, the New Year is ushered in with a ceremony many centuries old. The night before, a special shrine is assembled in prayer room/corner with season's first fresh vegetables and ripe fruits, arranged around a mirror draped with fresh flowers and gold jewelry. The next morning, each family member is led to the shrine with the eyes closed. We open our eyes in front of the shrine looking into the mirror, now surrounded by lit lamps. shining in the midst of this beauty and abundance is our own face in the mirror. It is a beautiful reminder of the divinity in each of us. The same divinity that pervades all. I wanted to have that reminder everyday of my life.

I did assemble the special 'kani' shrine last night and looked in the mirror  this morning :) And a mirror has been a permanent addition in my altar since January 1 - the new year in the western calendar.

Courage to Transform

Koi watercolor on Yupo 11"x14

I have been wanting to paint Koi for years.  I find myself watching them for hours whenever I see them in a pond and admire their shape and colors! I also have way too many photographs of them :)  It was a lot of fun to paint the koi because the Yupo paper easily duplicates their bright colors. Surprisingly this time, I found myself working hard to tone down some of the texture in water in the composition so it won't compete so much with  colorful koi yet would show movement.  I think I need to work on couple of paintings at a time when painting on yupo -that will give each piece time for the paint to dry before I put the next layer!  There is a shine to the paper, and I find the photographs do not do justice to bright colors! 

As I was researching information about Koi in between painting them I found myself torn between really keeping to a particular fish's colorations and markings or mix them up(-which is my usual way of painting). For Koi collectors and breeders the markings and color are extremely important.  The Koi carry a lot of significance for the Japanese and Chinese representing passionate love, courage, strength, friendship and wealth. According to  a legend of those countries, if a koi fish succeeded in climbing the falls at the point of Dragon Gate in the Yellow River  then they are transformed to dragons, signifying overcoming life's difficulties. According to Buddhists, the koi represent a person courageously swimming through 'ocean of suffering.' 

Its a bit too late too adhere to realism in markings and color but I love the symbolism behind the fish :) 

Delicate Dragonfly

Delicate digital photography

Dragonfly photograph seemed to be the perfect one to post again after my last two paintings. I read that they symbolize 'renewal, positive force and power of life in general.' They are also thought to represent fleetingness and change, even though they are one of the oldest inhabitants of earth dating back over 250 million years! The Japanese and also the Zuni Indians consider them to be messengers from another world representing courage and strength. To the Navaho Indians dragonfly symbolized pure water. Check here if you would like to see some exquisite close-up photographs of the dragonfly. I am happy that so far this summer I see their shimmering delicate lacy wings and iridescent eyes as they fly around the garden.

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage water media 9x12"

The Gulf oil disaster needs no explanation. Recently I read the delicate plovers are migrating back right into the mess which prompted me to paint this piece. I have only seen photographs of pelicans dripping in oil and I don't know how much oil the plovers will get on them since they are shore /wading birds. So this is done purely from my imagination. As an artist how much license should I take ? Does it take away from the message if I decide to be faithful to the spirit of the idea, to the emotional content and go with my imagination? Recently there was a story on NPR about Michelangelo drawing a brain in God's neck in the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the discussion centered upon why there and what did he want to convey? Artists have always wanted to make philosophical and political statements. My hope is that, the messages doesn't get swept away in the debate about realistic depiction.

Renaissance

Today I watched a documentary "Dalai Lama Renaissance." Forty of the West's leading, innovative thinkers in their fields met at Dalai Lama's residence in Dharmashala in Northern India to discusss the world's problems and to see how they could solve them. What happened there was a transformation - most notably of their egos. Dalai Lama's simple message was that people all over the world only want happiness and 'secular ethics' together with compassion is the way to go. Thats a journey everyone was invited to take to bring about greater consciousness and understanding. 

Lotus - in Hinduism and Buddhism represents beauty and non -attachment. It grows in mud but floats on the water and remains unaffected by either the wetness or the mud. We are urged to live in this world without attachment to our surroundings. Lotus is also a symbol for the centers of consciousness -chakras - in the body.  I painted Lotus in watercolors on masa paper as a part of the series of paintings I created for my November show on India and on Mandalas.  I noticed that I had missed including it in the slide show on my earlier entry - so here it is :)