New painting - Yamantaka

Creating art has been my personal relief from the world, it's my sanctuary where nobody else has any control. It's private and comforting. Sure, I very rarely love the end result, but then again most of my work have never reached completion... 

I'm not entirely sure how I came across this inspiration for a painting. I think I might have been looking up pictures of Buddha at first and then stumbled across Lord Yamantaka somehow along the way. After having read more about this personality, I was persuaded to create a painting of Him. I found one painting that I thought looked very interesting, it was a close up of just his face, so I began to sketch out my own version of this painting. I think that's pretty much how this began...

I have a fascination with history and in particular Eastern beliefs, culture and traditions etc... Ancient scriptures and the Vedas and Sutras have gripped my mind. The stories are so mystical and fantastical that I have to turn it into a physical piece that I see within my mind..

This fearsome figure is actually a a wonderful personality that was victorious over the Lords of death and judgement, breaking the continuous cycle of rebirth of humankind. 

Yamantaka is a violent aspect of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, who assumes this form to vanquish Yama, the God of death. By defeating Yama, the cycle of rebirths (samsara) that prevents enlightenment is broken.

Because of this he makes enlightenment easier for all who seeks it.

Scripture is interesting, these kinds of writings has always captured my mind. I try and capture these images in artwork has always been my Artist journey. It takes on personality and emotion with every stroke of the brush. You can feel the drama in expression, this has been an interesting painting...

The Great Protector

I just finished my oil painting titled "The Great Protector".
It took approximately 4-5 months to complete.

The inspiration for this oil painting came from Vedic and Buddhist philosophy.
A powerful being in the form of half man and lion, He is described as seated on a universal serpent with many hoods. The Great Protector is known as Lord Narasingadeva and to this very day is found in ancient caves and temples in the East. The oldest artefact thought to be Lord Narasingadeva is carbon dated to be approximately between 35000 and 40000 years old, discovered in a cave in Germany.
There is a wonderful story found in Vedic scripture how an all powerful being known as Lord Narasingadeva appeared to save a child from his abusive father, an evil King, who tried to behead his son because he believed God was more powerful than him. I won't go into much detail here, but it is remarkable how the little boy had faith that the Lord he was devoted to will always be there to protect him, so when Lord Narasingadeva appeared and killed his father, the boy was not afraid, nor sad, nor confused. He believed and knew the fearsome figure was in fact the Lord he loved and worshipped and was there to protect him from harm.

I think that is inspiration enough to paint this painting, how did Lord Narasimha look, what did the King see, what did the little boy see?
How would Lord Narasingadeva have looked when He attacked the King?

The original painting was actually commissioned by a private client, but I have made a duplicate available for purchase.
I will be painting a much larger version of this painting soon, showing a zoomed out birds-eye view of this scene, displaying all the detail of what is happening. The palace, King, soldiers and the young prince all will be included, so watch this space, there is much more to come!

Please feel free to leave a comment.
I hope you enjoyed this entry, thank you for reading.

COWS, COWS, COWS EVERYWHERE!!

You know how many are either a dog or a cat lover, I am a cow lover. That's right folks, I love cows, they are just simply adorable.

Cows and peacocks, if I had land, I would definitely keep cows and peacocks....

Why cows you may wonder, I don't really know why....

Back in the day when I was much younger, I practiced as a nun, part of my daily duties included milking cows... All the cows at our monastery had a name, they would come when called and they each had a unique personality. They were taken care of throughout their lives, the bulls were kept to work the fields, but I rarely saw the bulls as the monks generally cared after them. From what I remember, the bulls were gentle and sometimes playful. 

So what is this post all about you probably wondering.....what does my story about cows have to do about art...?

Well, I have a new private commission for another oil painting! The client originally asked for anything that has a cow and lotus in it, so I will be surprising them with this beauty!

Actually, out of all the excitement, I started 4 smaller paintings of cows as well...

The main COW painting was inspired from sacred ancient scripture, I read descriptions of a spiritual planet, shaped like a lotus flower and home to desire cows. Yes, desire cows, these cows were colourful, wore jewellery and silken cloth. Their milk flowed from their udders and tasted sweet like nectar. They were desire cows because simply by glancing upon them, all your desires and wishes were full filled. 

A cow planet shaped like a lotus.....I think the client will be pleasantly surprised!

This inspired me to create a new painting, a lotus shaped cow mandala. The vision I have of this painting is magnificent, there will be much detail and colour. But, at the moment, it is still very basic and rough, but it will eventually take shape of a wish full filling desire mandala. 

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Watch this space, I'll keep you posted as the painting blossoms into a wonderful cow filled lotus mandala!

Another Day in the world of Flowers!

I decided after 'The Hibiscus' flower sketch, to make a whole series celebrating their beauty called 'Flower Power'.
Here is the second photo added to the series, this is called 'Cheeky Fuchsias'.

Flowers are natural wonders, all so beautiful, have a variety of smell, shape, colours, unique in behaviour and attractive to all big and small.

So, if anyone is reading my posts and would like to add their favourite flowers to my collection, please feel free to either write to me in person or post a comment with your flower name. I will draw your favourite flower and add to the collection.

Let's have some fun!

I'm a tad slow with pencil drawings, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

Here are my 'Cheeky Fuchsias'
Pencil sketch approx 9hrs

My HIBISCUS flower sketch

Hi all lovely people,

So a quick flower sketch of Hibiscus. Took approximately 12 hours to complete....

This is actually my first ever still life flower pencil sketch. My comfort zone is actually with oil paints, but I decided to stretch myself. So here it is, Hibiscus!

Promoting my art has been a tough journey, still is... But I'm positive I will find some amazing networking opportunities that will rocket my Artwork in the right direction.....

If I could pay for advertising or afford an agent, I would be up in the stars with all the other well known Artists, but art takes time and patience, eventually our work will be stumbled across sooner or later. In the meantime I see this time as practice, tweaking my skills so when I'm found, I will be even more brilliant than at present! All gems need polishing!


Thank you for reading! xxx