Reading Daniel Ladinsky’s translation of Rumi verses and really like this one, perhaps befitting the last painting . . . “where you touched me everything grows . . .” In any case something to contemplate while we still have a body . . . what is it that needs to be born from it? The […]
…and experimenting with black.
“The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in […]
more sketches hereand some photos from under the table that inspired me, especially after seeing Gerhard Richter and his dark paintings.
Two of my paintings found a place on the CD cover of Jens Mügge’s music. He is making a very special kind of music that is called “Overtone”, you can read more about it on his website. Or you can just listen to it below . . . (https://www.reverbnation.com/jensmuegge) I find it very relaxing and […]
You who never arrived in my arms, Beloved, who were lost from the start, I don’t even know what songs would please you. I have given up trying to recognize you in the surging wave of the next moment. All the immense images in me — the far-off, deeply-felt landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and […]
As we reach out to our creator, the creator reaches out to us…
Was just watching Gerhard Richter, Painting… Gerhard Richter Painting trailer from Kino Lorber on Vimeo.View video above on vimeo Kind of warming up to his grays and the way he “buries” the colors in it and in white and in blacks. Black and white never appealed to me but now I can see it in […]
Back in the studio after some well deserved relaxing with family and friends, watching some nice movies, reading some nice books, long walks, puttering in the garden (grateful for a year round season in LA, though fearing for the lettuce drowning in all the rain) and watching the rain fall and spend some time in […]
I am always amazed and captured by how ideas come as I keep working on a painting, and how it takes on a life on its own, telling its story . . . starting with this . . . to this . . . more to come . . .
Set of 12 Inspirational cards (2 x 3.5in) in a beautiful envelope, with my painting on one side and a matching quote on the other side. A wonderful idea for a mindful present or just a special gift for yourself 😉 “Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or […]
One of my paintings won the first prize judged at the art show at Playa Vista last Saturday. We had quite a few visitors again and it was nice to meet friends and see what the other artists from the Culver City group have been working on for the last year. Wish we had another […]
Been making some little something for the art show… A deck of small cards with my favorite quotes for daily inspiration. They have my paintings on the other side :-). Contact me if you are interested to have me send you one. I will make some more after the show and if there is […]
Been busy with preparations for a group exhibition with the Culver City Art Group in Playa Vista. I will be showing my recent paintings alongside other painter friends, we have been exhibiting together for a few years now and its quite a nice mixture of accomplished artists in all sorts of media and artist styles. […]
A portrait of my friend’s toddler son. He loved to watch the flights overhead and the trash truck. to see more details click thumbnail below… 15 x 15 x 1.5 inch (38 x 38 x 3,8 cm), acrylic on styrofoam painted around the edges
Three of my paintings, will be taking part in a silent auction to benefit reDiscover to support art and sustainability in education. They are doing some great projects to teach kids how much fun and creative recycling is. Check out their website here http://www.rediscovercenter.org/. The paintings I will be offering are made from recycled material […]
Its slowly taking shape…. and changing shape… still a few elements are missing but the basics are there… shadows and highlights in the face and hand, still a bit harsh and contrasting without the final layers and colors yet. I wanted to capture the moment of nourishment, the spoon feeding I had […]
The black bee of Abhinavagupta 🙂
Acrylic, collage on canvas on styrofoam, Ready to hang, painted around the edges H15 x W15 x depth 1.5 inch (38 x 38 x 4cm) Original Painting $400 Click on images below to see details…
Preparing the canvas on styrofoam… Three paintings in work at a time… First brush strokes… Forms emerging… To be continued… 🙂
Each Note Advice doesn’t help lovers! They’re not the kind of mountain stream you can build a dam across. An intellectual doesn’t know what the drunk is feeling! Don’t try to figure what those lost inside love will do next! Someone in charge would give up all his power, if he caught one whiff of […]
sketching . . .
Getting out and about visiting friends in Berkley and Santa Cruz, just cruising 😉 and “filling up the creative well”. Julia Cameron writes about that in her book “The Artist Way“, she calls them “artist dates” and I have been neglecting them lately. I always somehow get to do my writing in the morning, but […]
I love hiking! I just don’t like the part of getting up early, and here in LA you have to get up early as sitting in traffic would just defeat the purpose and you come back with lungs full of bad air again. So I drag myself out of bed and walk… it’s so rewarding. […]
Harmony by Remedios Varo, so detailed! In the beginning of this month I was lucky to make it to the last day of the exhibit “In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States,” at LACMA. It was amazing and beyond words. So now, belated and slowly settling down, I […]
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears. ~Native American Proverb I have been tricked by flying too close to what I thought I loved. Now the candleflame is out, the wine spilled, and the lovers have withdrawn somewhere beyond my squinting. The amount I thought I’d won, I’ve lost. My […]
Have you ever wondered about the meaning of your life? Would you say we are “creating” it, or do you rather refer to it as a “search” or quest? In the face of the vastness (and the disasters) of this universe how do you deal with the realization of how small and fragile and insignificant […]
Having some amazing time Down Under, marveling about life and death and the impermanence of it all and yet how persistent live hangs on to live and keeps on going and doing… Just look at all those tiny balls made by crabs on the beach what a huge work of art it is for those […]
This painting was a result of seeing an article about a teen mother trying to smother her baby. It totally stunned me and I wasn’t quite able to comprehend what motivated her. So I painted. Just the other day I was watching a video on TED by Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to birth — visualized, what a miracle […]
After finishing the recent painting “Listen with the ear of your heart “been thinking what “listen” really means. And even though meditating seems very nice and peaceful, still I am often wondering if I am doing what God wants me to do or how much of is ego based and selfish. It’s been a whirlwind […]
“Listen with the ear of your heart” ~ St. Benedict click on photos to view details “Listen” acrylic and collage on canvas, unframed H12 x W12 x depth 2 inch (30,5 x 30,5 x 5cm) To explain what the direction in the left corner (South West) has to do with hearing or listening I will quote […]
Inspired by those easy Instagram Filters for Photoshop (thanks to Daniel Box) started playing with a photo (old and new scars) in Photoshop . . . . just for fun 🙂
I really like Rabia and her poetry… Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts of our body is death. So beautiful appeared my death – knowing Who then i would kiss, i died a thousand times before i died. “Die before you die,” said the Prophet Muhammad. Have wings that feared ever touched the […]
…tulips and other things sprouting 🙂 A spontaneous mood painting. I like it that way at the moment. acrylic and collage on canvas 12 x 12 inch (30,5 x 30,5cm)
Sometimes when we don’t quite understand what the world is trying to tell us, or we are not quite sure where a painting is taking us, it helps to remember that… “Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to completion, entirely in itself, in the […]
Yesterday, at dawn, passing by, the Beloved said to me, “Youare distraught and unaware; how long will this go on? My cheek is the envy of the rose; and have you filled your eyewith heart’s blood in quest of the thorn?” I said, “Before your stature the cypress is but a sapling!” I said,“Before your […]
Like many of my paintings this painting developed intuitively, which means rather than having a preconceived idea I let the painting evolve intuitively and it takes on a live of its own. Sometimes during the painting process but often much later when it is finished i can see its meaning for me personal, as if […]
Suffering only hurts because you fear it. Suffering only hurts because you complain about it. It pursues you because you flee from it. You must not flee, you must not complain,you must not fear. You must love.You know all this yourself, you know quite well deep within you, that there is a single magic, a […]
It all started with a piece of Styrofoam sticking out of a recycling bin (together with a wooden crate, which I used to paint another painting, “Offereing“), and then I kept looking at the styrofoam piece with a pretty intriguing cut-out, like it once had an instrument encased in it, perhaps a saxophone… and went […]
Been watching some moving documentaries lately that I wanted to share. They are not directly related to my art but somehow will influence it and perhaps touch you as well. Starting with “Wasteland” Synopsis Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn […]
God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your recall, Go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let […]
acrylic on sculpted styrofoam (its hard to see in the photo but it’s actually a soft scoop out where the face is and another on the right where the drop is, originally the styrofoam looked like it contained a saxophone), unframed, 12 x 12 inch (30.05 x 30.05 cm) Original sold! contact me if you would […]
This is interesting and has me wonder… Dave Eggers and Jonah Lehrer – Tortured Artists and ‘Grit’ “People who are a little bit sad . . . they become a lot more centered and focused and more likely to persist. So they stick with that task for longer.” Reminds me of the classic examples of […]
Been working on some changes on the illustrations for a children book I had created earlier in the year, and finally got inspired for the title page…
Another beautiful poem by Hafiz that brought tears to my eyes for reasons that cannot be expressed any other way . . . What happens when your soul begins to awaken your eyes and your heart and the cells of your body to the great Journey of Love? First there is wonderful laughter and probably […]
…an unfinished painting and some leaves that started dancing…. 🙂 My first animation. Hope you enjoy!
Just exactly what is this longing that pulls us thru life: love, devotion, bhakti, I keep wondering, as I find (and lose) my self again and again, stumbling, and face down in the mud. And in those moments sometimes poems make some sense of the “non-sense” 🙂 TIRED OF SPEAKING SWEETLY Love wants to […]
Just finished a new painting, for a very dear friend. And noticed again how strange that it is much more difficult to paint the (half) portrait of someone I see every day versa someone I have seen only once or twice. Perhaps I should pay more attention 🙂 “Thought we travel the world over […]
You are cordially invited to the Culver City Art Group 16TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY ART SHOW Saturday November 12th, 2011, 1:00pm until 7:00pm A body of original artwork by our members • oil painting • acrylics • watercolors • photography • ceramics • digital works • collage • drawing • colored pencil and other artistic media […]
Birdwings Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirrorup to where you’re bravely working. Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead,here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see. Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.If it were always a fist or always stretched open,you would be paralyzed. Your deepest […]
For a long time I have been trying to express in my paintings the idea of what is Love to God, Bhakti, or Devotion. Not all of my paintings are about that but it is a constant underlying search. The other day I was a bit down and asking a friend about her idea of […]
The Prophet has saidthat a true seeker must be completely empty like a luteto make the sweet music of “Lord, Lord.” When the emptiness starts to get filled with something,the One who plays the lute puts it downand picks up another. There is nothing more subtle and delightfulthan to make that music. […]
“Love plays and is the music being played. Let that musician finish this poem.” ~Rumi “The Flute Player” acrylic, collage, permanent marker on paper 27.25 x 21 inch (69 x 53,5 cm) .
This is how most my paintings start…. …and it takes a while till I find where the painting wants to go… It is never boring that way. Though often this method leads me to do things backwards, like starting with the paper and then realizing that the collages I stick to it requires for it […]
Remember some time ago I wrote a blog post about my struggles to just relax guilt free and do nothing (“The one who is not busy” is not me… yet). I am still trying. Last monday I had this idea that doing nothing doesn’t always mean doing no-thing… I was cleaning out the closet finally, something I meant […]
So there I was, sitting on the stairs to the beautiful garden, green and lush with moisture from the sprinklers going on at the peak of the day, the sun is shining bright, perfect blue sky, not a single cloud, and all I could think was how wastefulness and out of connection with nature we […]
click on images below to see details… click on images below to see edges… “The Song of Separation” acrylic, oil pastel, collage on canvas 11.75 x 11.75 inches (30 x 30 cm) painted around the edges, ready to hang original painting sold!
Been sorting thru old photos to print an album for my father. While entering the digital age have been leaving behind some people that haven’t gone with me into that world. And while going thru them realized just how much has happened that just went into some computer folder almost unnoticed. Like this poem that […]
After all the frenzy and busyness, suddenly feeling quite (which could be the quite before or after the storm)… You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore – We all know you were good at that. Now retire, my dear, From all that hard work you do Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart. Look […]
Always forget about it when May is over and I think it is time for summer… the weather here in LA is overcast, cool and… well, gloomy. Really looking forward to seeing the sun again. The garden has been shining nonetheless, or perhaps because the sun hasn’t been too scorching hot yet.So here are a […]
Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color. […]
Been so busy lately, can’t seem to stop. And after reading this very good article, “the one who is not busy” – meditation on the fly – Busyness Plan, realized, I am such a workaholic. So I tried on monday just to have a day doing nothing…. There I was sitting in the garden with […]
After a big gap of no posts, here is (so far) the last illustration in the series for the children book, actually the second version or even third… I kept making changes. Starting with a collage from three photos to ge the composition and adding the background, and then my friend was asking if I […]
Its been quite here after a very busy time, and it is amazing to watch the amount of thoughts that can creep into the silence when one isn’t watching, but that’s just another thought 🙂 When you see that from a thought every craft in the world arises and subsists— that houses and palaces and […]
“Polish your heart with meditation and quietness. Let the inner life grow generous and handsome.” ~Rumi This poem is not part of the story but it is so befitting for what the story is about that I couldn’t resist quoting it 🙂 and could not leave out this music that I was listening to while […]
The above illustration accompanies the story about the love for animals and non-violence. And this is about how to talk to your parents with logic 🙂When wanting to publish his translation of the Bhagavad Gita, at an age when others where getting ready to marry, Swami Lakshmanjoo got his father to fund the money for […]
This illustration underwent a bit of changes from the original drawing . . . In the middle of it is a life-sized drawing done by our teacher in his later years, which amongst others adorns the walls of the celebration hall in Kashmir. This is the accepted version of the illustration… The story tells of […]
It’s been a pretty chaotic and busy in my life lately, and I don’t know about you but it seems as if it is a reflection of the universal chaos, or the other way around. Its harder to keep the balance when the world seems to be falling apart in front of ones eyes. So […]
This turned out so delicate, I just love it! And it was so much fun playing in Photoshop, finding more great painting tools. My favorite tool for this was some chalk looking one that I used in the background and for the lines to enhance the original sketch . . . This is the story […]
from the sketch . . . to the final illustration . . . to coloring it by hand (because my laptop broke) then getting back with it into photoshop and . . . making some more changes, voila! Done!
I am making the illustrations for the spiritual children book . . . starting with the sketch . . . to the illustration on the computer . . . to the changes: landscape to portrait, text in the sky changes from urdu to sanskrit . . .
Lately have been working on some Illustrations for a spiritual children book that a friend has compiled. They are stories from the life of our spiritual teacher from Kashmir and his message to children… I started with sketches… then scanned them and took them into Photoshop, and added color and texture… His parents priest and […]
Just when all the recent chaos and suffering and pain of the world seems to be unbearable and not making any sense, I came across this poem, when I randomly opened up my favorite book, “Love poems from God” by Daniel Ladinsky . . . I HAD TO SEEK THE PHYSICIAN I had to seek […]
Recent drawings…
This beautiful poem of Rumi I came across while watching a video of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee “A Dangerous Love” which caught my eye because of the title.“How can love be dangerous”, I thought… Subtle degrees of domination and servitude are what you know as love but love is different it arrives complete just there like the moon […]
Detail views… “Offering” acrylic on found wood box, (painted around the edges and ready to hang, wired) 32.5 x 12.5 x 2.5 inch (82,5 x 32 x 6cm)
“Don’t forget love; it will bring you all the madness you need to unfurl yourself across the universe.” ~Mirabai Impressions from Würzburg Dom… From Würzburg, Istanbul
Some impressions from my walk . . . just a small selection from . . . Winterwonderland
At Some point Your relationship With God Will Become like this: Next time you meet Him in the forest Or on a crowded city street There won’t be anymore “Leaving.” That is, God will climb into Your pocket. You will simply just take Yourself Along! Hafiz: ‘The Gift’ Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
“So you are going home?” they asked me. Having lived overseas (or away from “home”) and in many places and countries for more than 15 years now, it had me thinking what that means… HOME. What does that mean to you? I find it difficult to say where I am at home now. I have […]
Detail of a beautiful mosaic that I saw while visiting with a dear friend. I used to make mosaics and still have a fondness for them. We also went to see the wonderfully done exhibit in London at the Tate Modern: Gauguin — Maker of Myth
A more unusual depiction of Ganesh as he holds the world like he would usually hold a ladu (Indian sweet he loves). I am sure he isn’t going to eat it but he could. In Kashmir Shaivism he is considered “the doorkeeper” to our true nature, as he is guarding our breath (internally). Externally (in […]
Still had to add some touches, and wait for the rain to give way to a ray of sunshine to take a photo of it, but here it is… for more details click on photo… “Two Sides” H 32 x W 45 x 1.5 inch (ca. 81,3 x 114 x 3,8 cm) acrylic on paper, […]
Find more music like this on Overtone Music Network my favorites at the moment are “Call of the Birds” by Dean Frenkel and “LIfe stream” by Gerhard Sattler – piano/Felix Mönnich – voice – Life!
One day I feel confused and down,the next I can reach the skywithout you I am never calm.In your absence people ridicule me,but when you comeI don’t mind what they think or say.I refuse to feast or be merry without my Beloved. However he appears, I will follow.If he comes as a cup-bearer, I’ll become […]
I have been working on a larger piece of painting on Styrofoam. Actually two pieces that merged to one, and some collage and even a little statue (which I am going to change again). So far so good . . . What i was thinking was how we sit in meditation, folded hands, and there […]
Wow, has it already been five weeks since I last wrote in this blog? So much happened, not so much in the studio, so you didn’t miss anything 🙂 Not as an excuse… but to say that life sometimes takes it’s own turns and throws its own turns, and while we make plans God has […]
Been working on the little “manneken” that is to go into the new paintingmarked the space to see what it looks like… I made the mistake to start with paper instead of a mold from something else. So it was all wet and slippery and I had to wait for it to dry each time […]
You live in meas a constant pulseevery fiber ofmy beingdancingto yourdrum beat. Your heavy breathtouches my ear,and every poreof my skin vibrateswith the sweetestlullaby it everheard. And yetlouder thanthe storms outsideyour tune keepshaunting mein the nightin the day. Whenwillmyeyessee?
There are different wellswithin your heart.Some fill with each good rain,Others are fartoo deep for that. In one wellYou have just a fewprecious cups of water,That “love” is literallysomething of yourself,It can grow as slow asa diamondIf it is lost. Your loveShould never beoffered to themouth of aStranger,Only to someoneWho has the valorand daringTo cut […]
It’s been a while… and the current painting is sure taking it’s time… growing and evolving… Originally they were two… and who knows why I had the grandiose idea that they should be together but I could see those figures emerging and went ahead, little did I know where that would take me… because it […]
Nasrudin stories inspire me with their wonderful simplicity and yet profound wisdom, which often makes fun of our egos. Nesrudin is often portrait as a fool, and saints often times appeared to be fools when their wisdom would have been offensive and against the common knowledge. The fools of the village had a certain freedom […]
I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? (Rumi) Details… “Square and Round” acrylic on canvas, framed and ready to hang (4 canvases assembled with a hole […]
