Category: <span>StudioIFC</span>

Meditation Music StudioIFC

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My love affair with geometric drawing continues with this recent rendition of a jaali screen with ‘tabla’ (drum) design found in Akbar’s Tomb, Northern India.

Drawing out dual-level patterns is another level of complexity that can be frustrating and satisfying at the same time.  Over time it’s easy to train the eye to see different levels or layers and inscribing that on a 2 dimensional piece of paper using just a compass and straight edge.   Measurements not allowed.  I completed the pencil drawing early May.  And then, as usual, it sat there, unpainted and ignored for months.  Each time I saw it in my unpainted stack I waited for inspiration to come.  I’ve looked at thousands of pictures of patterns and their coloring, or lack of.  So many possibilities!  Choosing colors is the best and most confusing part….there’s a beauty in every color when used creatively.

Then, after a stressful week of turmoil, grief, and exhaustion, I needed to play with my watercolors.  Just watching the water carry the pigment around is meditative and soothing.  No ‘trying’ to “paint a picture”.  Recognizing my turbulent mental state, I decided to limit my palette to only three colors. Structure helps.   However, at the very end of this process/painting I did add those antique gold lines for just a little bling.  Otherwise, it’s all about: Ultramarine Blue,  Yellow-Deep,   and Burnt Sienna  mixed in varying proportions. A lovely neutral palatte that eliminates all that unnecessary picking and choosing of what to dip the brush in….just mix…add water….paint…..repeat…    and there are no freehand or biomorphic swirls here either,  just lines. Follow the lines.   A Mindless, Magical, and mesmerizing meditation to paint.

It is all about the process and breathing thru it.  Yoga & Art…  Within each layer are mistakes, judgements, opinions on how it’s coming.  My attachment to ‘outcome’ rears it’s ugly head at times.  And, then I remember.  The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.  The difficulty lies in when to put the brush down?  When is enough?  There is a line between too little and too much.  Looking for that middle ground where balance and harmony co-exist.  That’s art.

namaste, everyone.   stay safe.

Dharma Geometric Art StudioIFC Watercolors

 

During the winter months I took a writing class with Ann Randolph and the prompt was

Think about a time that you were wild and green in the ways of the world…the whole world was before you, green a newness, a novice, sense of adventure, anything was possible…a curiousity, maybe stumbling and fumbling during this time too…excitement, anticipation, or maybe the wild and green in the ways of the world got you into trouble….if you think about the phrase Wild & green in the ways of the world…is there an openness & Curiosity to that now…and if so, what does the picture look like? we just to a future moment of being wild and green  in the ways of the world…what would it look like for you, in this case green= learning something new that brings you joy, delights you, brings you adventure? 

A month or so after that I participated in an online watercolor class where we would learn how to paint The Green Man using various techniques involving crackle paste, ink, and other stuff.  Purist that I am, I prefer to limit myself to one medium.  Choosing colors is complicated enough.  The Green Man is part of Celtic lore and gets Spring up and running. 

Green is the color that aligns best with the Heart (4th) Chakra. Anahat in Sanskrit. Within the heart space are the Four Immeasurables (also know as: heavenly or divine abodes, divine abidings, or the four Brahma Vihari’s.

Equanimity,

Compassion,

Sympathetic Joy,

Loving Kindness (Metta)

The philosophy and practices that focus on these four *states of being* have attracted millions of *followers* who *like* it a lot, to use a modern-day cliche. the instructions are simple. stabilize your mine through: mindfuness, or calm abiding, or meditation. Then bring each immeasurable to mind, first to yourself, always, and then over time extending out toward all sentient beings.

Many have said that these four are the only emotions worth having.

June 21 is the Summer Solstice and I guess I’ll have to find a different face to paint? For the solstice I will be facilitating a one day retreat at the Grounds for Sculpture. I can’t think of a better place to connect with nature, art, silence, space, and the heavenly abodes. Namaste.

Blogging Buddhism StudioIFC Watercolors

Back to the drawing board….. that’s a phrase that comes to mind whenever I have to start something…again…from scratch…   That’s what it feels like these days..like I have to re-create my *life-plan* again.  Who knew a global pandemic would upend life and country in such a way? Surely not I, even with the decades and hours of study and practice of ancient wisdom traditions.  Oh well.  One breath at a time is a good way to live these days, as long as it’s a long one.
I’ve been taking online courses on geometric art.  Some teachers are well versed in Sacred Geometry and they weave the ‘teachings’ of that ancient science as they teach us how to draw patterns.with only a compass and a ruler.  It is a fascinating combination of spirituality and science.

Sacred Geometry caught my attention when I was learning feng shui & vaastu shastra.  With half the solar system in earth signs at my birth, my connection to all things ‘earthy’ is embedded in my DNA.  Geometry is sacred because it enables us to turn time and space into matter.  It’s interesting because there is no Sacred biology, or Sacred trigonometry, or Sacred chemistry.  Physics is believed to be the bridge between matter and energy, but we don’t call it Sacred. Yet Sacred Geometry has been understood as such for thousands of years, probably more because if it’s sacred it’s origins are likely beyond our understanding.

I stumbled into this current artistic obsession while looking for instructions on how to draw the Sri Yantra.  I found a course on Udemy and in no time I was hooked!  Because of the pandemic many of today’s masters of this art have put their classes on Zoom.  The first class I attended in March had 300 students from around the globe all eager to learn the ways of the compass and straight edge.  Many are well versed in Sacred Geometry and can articulate the metaphysical symbolism inherent in the basics shapes/forms of the patterns.  After the geometric pattern is completed biomorphic motifs are added.  In this way masculine & feminine elements are combined to produce a finished pattern with harmony, balance, and satisfaction.   It is fascinating process to engage in and it’s become part of my meditation practice. Start with a dot.  Draw a line.  Draw a circle.  Keep going.  Om Shanti.

10-stars
black geometry
Complete BlueGreen 8Fold acv
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Ancient Wisdom Blogging Geometric Art StudioIFC

….feeling the need to re-post this today.   Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi. 

 

Within the city of Brahman,

which is the body,

there is the heart,

and within the heart

there is a little house.

 

This house has the shape of a lotus,

and within it dwells that which is to be

sought after,

inquired about,

and realized.

 

Even so large as the universe outside,

is the universe within the lotus of the heart.

Within it are heaven and earth,

the sun, moon,

the lightning

and all the stars.

 

Whatever is in the macrocosm is in this microcosm also.

Ancient Wisdom Astrology Dharma Doodles StudioIFC Yoga