Tuesday, November 09, 2004

as the new work began to breathe

tibetan monks at the off the preserve gallery, napa, california

i grabbed this moment of a monk taking a break for contemplation last year and found the image while researching new ideas. it seemed so emblematic of the practice of artistic creation that i wanted to dwell on it a bit. a group of tibetan monks were in the process of creating a sand mandala when one got up and carefully moved over to a group of devotional paintings
lining the gallery walls. he stood still and seemed to gather the moment and the image in. i carried these thoughts over as i started a new painting last night. i worked late till the streets were empty and the traffic on the airport runways outside had died down and i painted till the image began to seem real and present. then remembering the monk i put my tools down, stopped and listened as the new work began to breathe.

1 comment:

SEV said...

its amazing how any creation seems to speak to you, but you have to listen very very hard.
and the world has forgotten what it is to listen as well.
it is good to see that a few still remember..

cheerz
SEV