Drawing Challenge: Prayer/ Meditation/ Still Point

Indestructible Truth

collage, 6.25 x 6.25 inches

ingredients: vintage ephemera, image transfer, ribbon, azalea blossom, feather


The lovely Tammie Lee of Beauty Flows is hosting this week's drawing challenge, Prayer/ Meditation/ Still Point. As soon as I heard what the theme was, I knew I was in; much of my art revolves around these concepts, so it was right up my alley, as they say.

While I worked on this piece, I asked myself what "indestructible truth" actually means to me in relation to the theme of the drawing challenge. When I come right down to it, the only indestructible truth I know, that I feel sure of in my heart and soul, is that everything in the universe is connected to every other thing. Every human being, every blade of grass, every rock, every animal, every tree. When one thing is affected, it can have far-reaching consequences; this is known as, "the butterfly effect". Here's how Wikipedia describes it: "In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state."  I prefer to meditate/pray while outdoors in nature; that "still point "is the moment I feel that connection, or 'become one with everything'. The experience cannot adequately be described in words.

This reminds me of a joke (and who doesn't love a good Buddhist joke, right?) A Buddhist walks into a vegetarian restaurant to order a veggie burger. The server asks, "What will you have?" The Buddhist replies, "Make me one with everything." (Sorry, I can hear the collective groan, but I just couldn't resist.)


Notes on technique/strategies:
Going back two posts ago, I wrote about strategies for pushing your art to another level. I incorporated a couple of them here, one being the "throw out your first ten ideas"idea. I really didn't keep count, but I threw out a lot of them, because I've developed habits of doing the same things over and over, and I felt the work was getting stale. I also limited my materials, in that I decided not to include any representational objects, unless they were real, such as the flower and the feather. Then, just to make it even more frustrating, I tried to limit the amount of compositional elements, because I've been feeling like my compositions were too busy. That required a great deal of restraint on my part; I just had to keep asking myself, "Will this improve the piece, or not?", and frequently the answer was "No!". As a result, I am happier with this piece than some of the others I've made lately.

Dont't forget to visit Beauty Flows for links to more posts on this drawing challenge!

Free Tibet

I feel compelled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, which was March 10. It is hard for me to express my feelings about it, so I'll let the words of the Dalai Lama say it:

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

Soon after the Communists took control of China in October 1949, Beijing began to contend that “the People’s Liberation Army must liberate all Chinese territories,” including Tibet. On October 7, 1950, 40,000 Chinese troops invaded. They easily overran the smaller Tibetan force of 8,000 troops and militia. Over 4,000 Tibetan fighters were killed in two days of fighting.

On November 17, 1950, the Dalhi Lama assumed full political power of Tibet. In 1954, he went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Tse-tung. His efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to Sino-Tibetan conflict were thwarted. In 1959, Lhasa was the scene of a huge demonstration calling for China’s withdrawal from Tibet, and reaffirming Tibetan independence. The uprising was crushed by the Chinese army. The Dalai Lama escaped to India where he was given political asylum. Since 1960, the Dalai Lama has resided in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile.


In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The citation read, “The Committee wants to emphasize the fact that the Dalai Lama in his struggle for the liberation of Tibet consistently has opposed the use of violence. He has instead advocated peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.”

His Holiness often says, “I am just a simple Buddhist monk - no more, nor less.” In explaining his greatest sources of inspiration, he often cites a favorite verse, found in the writings of the eighth century Buddhist saint Shantideva:

“For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.”


You can watch a video of part of His Holiness's speech here.