Ahimsa

Ahimsa

Ahimsa  is the first concept of yoga's ten ethical guidelines, the yamas and niyamas.  Ahimsa

 literally translates as "do no harm".  Stated simply it entails much, from all facets of life.  It comes from the belief that all life is connected and sacred--to do harm creates karmic ripples affecting all.  

To do no harm is to walk a gentle path through life.  To step lightly is to find balance.  Balance between courage and powerlessness and  love of self and compassion for others.  We take tiny steps toward this in the practice of yoga by letting go of expectations, for our selves and others, and by letting go of competition, our selves and others.

Please join my visual conversation as I work through a beautiful book by Deborah Adele, "The Yamas &Niyamas".  Please feel free to comment and join in this journey.

Namaste.

Just Breathe

Breathe

It really is that simple--just breathe.

in haste, in confusion

 in anger, in doubt

just breathe

 close the eyes

find the stillness

 as you come into your breath

inhale

exhale

inhale

exhale

repeat

Karma

Trust in what will be.

Lama Surya Das explains karma as an ongoing process. 

 "Something happens to you.  You respond with an action, a word, or a a thought.  This action leaves an imprint in your mind (in your stream of being) that creates further karma.  When you become accustomed to behaving a certain way, or being treated and reacting in a certain way, you become conditioned to it.  This conditioning is part of your karma."  

He then likens this to creating a rut, a rut that deepens through use.

"New karma is being made all the time.  When one acts with a positive motivation, goodness is furthered.  When one acts out of negative motivation, negativity is furthered...The important thing to understand here is that your are not a victim.  You are your own master."

Lama Das explains that there is free will as well as karmic patterning. 

 "This is a joyous liberating message because every moment we are presented with the possibility of changing our future.  We change, and our future changes too."

Change yourself, change the world.  If I can accept the reality of situations I am confronted with and let go of negative reactions, replacing them with positive action--I am changing and the world around me is a little brighter.

Let Go

Let Go

In yoga we practice letting go with each exhalation.  Let go of

competition

expectations

frustration

ego

stress

sorrow

anger

fear

By letting go of what is not needed, desired, wanted

we make room for something 

beautiful

and

unexpected

to take its place.

art journal 2014

New year, new project...

"Surrender to what is.

Let go of what was.

Have faith in what will be."

S. Ricotti

  

I ran across these words and could not get them out of my mind.  They struck an instant chord and became my mantra, a string of words that brought me out of the darkness.  

I have never kept a journal but I think I can keep a sketch book.  Wanting to celebrate this mantra I began creating around it.

mantra

Because I am a person of action I decided to create an art journal.  Creating a collage helps me sift through my thoughts and feelings as I work with color, texture, words and images--deepening my understanding.  (It's cheap therapy and a whole lot of fun.)

fearless Creating: Red and more Red

Today we celebrate vernal equinox--joy in the longer days, warmth and sunlight, sorrow as my studio becomes dormant.  Already the farm has taken over--deliveries, orders, harvesting, planting, long days spent outside working soil.  Bittersweet.  I do not have the time, energy or attention span to paint--so I "paint" with my camera. 

 

This is the second experiment exploring red, painting Rococo tulips.

 

 This is the third session, I doubled the size of sheet and tried to make looser brushstrokes and let them bleed over the sheet.

I worked awhile longer after this photo.  It only needs three or four brush strokes, unfortunately it requires hours of contemplation to lay those strokes in perfectly.  It has been lying like this for a month now, my goal is to finish it before August.

fearless Creating: Color and Surface

I was so delighted with Rococo Red I realized my immersion in red was not over by a long shot.  It was absolute joy creating puddles of vibrant color and playing with my brush.  The finished piece was a tangible record of my play--very exciting.

"Rococo Flow"
  10 x 13 in.

Having exhausted my meager supply of illustration board I reached for a sheet of Yupo.  Yupo is basically plastic so painting on it can be like painting on water and sometimes that is exactly what you do!

My intent was to continue exploring red and making beautiful marks, very visible marks, on paper.  I stopped every once in awhile, to breathe, and to let the paint dry so that everything did not run together in to "color" soup.   And I took a few shots to record the process.

Because it is plastic and the water and paint really do float on the surface, Yupo records the act of painting with watercolors like nothing else I have ever worked on.

The trick is allowing the paint and water time to rest and dry so that the "flow" you love is not obscured.

As I look at this piece I can see the dance of brush and color.

There are a lot of hard edges, created as "dams" to keep the flow of one area from flowing into another.  I wanted my colors fresh and vibrant so I will continue to experiment with the surface tension and beautiful brush strokes.