Flowers of my mind

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:03:46 GMT

I have moved to a new blog. See you there.

people and more people

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:10:34 GMT

I have never in my life painted so many people. They are not very detailed but still they have to look right. I have a couple of references, was lucky that I took so many pictures the last time I was in Kashmir at the Havan (fire ceremony) and those come handy now, because of course I want them to look like they are people from the area. I am not sure if I am very good at it though, they seem to end up looking like they are coming from all over the world, which is not too bad ether. Abhinavagupta after all was well known in his times. I even have some Japanese looking girl in there. Oh well, so be it.

I finally got some space and time to myself for painting today, which is a very rare item in my life at the moment, so I am especially grateful for it. I had the whole day of solitude. Well not exactly because the morning kind of got eaten up mostly by washing clothes and breakfast and there was life going on outside the closed door of the room but I could focus almost entirely on painting, and it showed, I think. It seems to disrupt me and stop the flow of painting when people walk in and out of the room and stuff is going on all around me. I don't do well with that. Some people might thrive on it, I don't. So I am happy, with my day and with the result.

Oh, and tomorrow is our masters grandmaster's (Swami Ram) Mahasamadhi (time of leaving the body), so we are going to have a fast all day ("only" french fries and dairy, no grain!) and a feast of Kashmiri dishes in the evening. Yummy!
PS. Swami Ram was the one that made the birth of our spiritual master possible by giving an almond to his mother so she could conceive a boy. Here is a painting I did of the event of the birth and him dancing...

Bellingen comunity market

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:51:28 GMT

Was looking forward to going to the famous Bellingen market and finally did, but got the date mixed up and so there was no market on. I still enjoyed the trip through the country and seeing the lovely Bellingen river.

decoupage

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:48:54 GMT

CIMG1881.JPG
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Just finished a little decoupage project. A friend was teaching a little group of us and this is probably not exactly what she had in mind but I kind of liked it in the end. It is a little round container with a lid. I used some of my sketches printed out as a starting point and collaged and painted on top of that. The others made boxes and I started one just before going to Australia. So now that will have to wait till I can finish it.

getting washed up on the beach in Australia

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:37:36 GMT

I am so excited about swimming in the ocean and the sun on my skin that just to get the most out of it and had to get myself a bikini, the first in my whole live! That's how nice it is here at this time of the year. Just perfect temperatures for me. In the mornings I go for a swim and then lay a bit in the sun, just enough to feel the warmth on my skin, not too much to burn. I hate frying my skin in the sun and I get easily bored. For the afternoons I found a favorite spot under the mango tree in the garden to sit and read a bit. The evenings are great for walking, the sun just about going down. The moisture in the air is great for my skin which is always dry in LA. It started raining when we came here but now it is very sunny. Just beautiful. Wish you were here!

Triptich of Mary and Jesus

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:42:04 GMT

It is so sweet to meet the prayer group of my mother in law, who come together in her house every week to pray for other people. People that call them with their problems but who they hardly know are being thought of with such compassion and heart. They are creating such a loving atmosphere that it moves me to tears hearing and singing with them (as much as I can keep up with my first attempts at praying the rosary).

Also learning to bake scones, not much luck with chocolate cake the first time around but the second one is better. I made a simple dress and really enjoyed sewing again, haven't done it for a long time.

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Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

People

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:26:34 GMT

Started on the details of devotees listening to Abhinavagupta. I wasn't sure if women and men should be sitting separately, as it is the custom now in most of the ashrams, so decided to mix it a little.
Continued on the layers in the background and some more distinguished brushwork on land, and I think it is coming together like I envision it to be, slightly foggy water and the mountains fading into the distance, the fields with the different greens and yellow saffron...
I also painted frames around the lotus ponds, looks more pulled together, and continued the steps leading from the stage which were still hanging in the air.
I wish I could finish it before going to Australia for a month but that seems very unlikely. Well then, I will have to just keep going until it is done just like everything else in life.

Thoughts

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 05:11:52 GMT

Continued with painting the clouds, the mountains and the water and some of the grass, with blue and then again with white and acrylic gloss. I wanted to get the same clouded feeling that I get from the pictures and from my memory, foggy sort of and disappearing in the distance into a beautiful blue gray. Yet I can still see the grain of the wood and the brushwork is too much no matter how fine I am layering. May have to turn around and try different brushwork with small strokes like the impressionists, have done that before and it looked great but then the overall pictures was that way. With this I kind of started off much more detailed. I will see how it works. Because the idea is for it to be more diffuse and yet it shows too much of a brush and grain for me still.

Reading vanGogh's letters to his brother Theo. What a wonderful relationship he has with his brother, who is a real mentor, admirer and supporter of his ideas and encourages him on every bend and corner, and who would know him better than his brother. VanGogh was very interested in drawing, which has come back into "fashion" after it has been living a very neglected existence. He is using it more as a tool for understanding and sketches for later works in oil, although he also writes about selling pieces for a living and being an illustrator. What a shame that they sell his paintings for millions and he hardly had anything to eat and barely a roof over his head and needed the help of his brother his whole life to make ends meet. And yet what a blessing for his brother to have so much faith in him, even if it where just for the sake of faith, which it isn't. It also shows a great amount of compassion for his brother.

"Similarly in drawing, one must not count on selling one’s drawings, but it is one’s duty to make them so that they have a certain value and are serious; one must not become careless or indifferent even though disappointed by circumstances."

lotus ponds left and right

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 01:40:32 GMT

Here it is with the lotus ponds in place, was easy work to dig them out and plant some...
Next thing will be more difficult, adding people on the left and right. Right now they are only "ballon-heads".

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Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

the masters, in all their glory!

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:46:01 GMT

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Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Swami Ram, Swami Lakshmanjoo, Swami Mahatabkak

the musicians, almost done

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:44:08 GMT

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Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Voila! new carpets.

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:43:35 GMT

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Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Traditionally in Kashmir there is always a rug or a cloth with a traditional pattern for people to sit on.

glueing the pieces together

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:42:42 GMT

CIMG1650
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

on the top is the finished transfered carpet in place already, on the bottom the print was just glued down ready to be washed off with water and sponge. You can see the spray bottle in the picture but because I took it all upside down it is upside down.

inkjet print transfer

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:41:23 GMT

CIMG1624
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

inkjet print transfer didn't quite work

laser print transfer

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:40:59 GMT

CIMG1634
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

laser printer transfer was better, this one got rubbed too much and the print came off

testing 2

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:40:29 GMT

CIMG1620
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

After the first mishap with heat transfer I "practiced" a little on the back to see what would work and how. You can see the sponges in action.

testing 1

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:39:30 GMT

CIMG1619
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Carpets

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:31:48 GMT

Designing the carpets in the the painting in Photoshop was easy. My idea was to use heat transfer, that way it would look detailed and neat.

G25

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:25:30 GMT

I had been busy preparing for the annual membership screening at G25, Los Angeles Art Association. I was thinking about doing it for a while before I got the guts to do it. I really like their opportunities for "emerging Artist", to get to know other artist and learn more about the "art world' out there. I heard from others that it is extremely difficult to land a place and so I wasn't too much disappointed that I didn't make it. They offered all the people that had applied and didn't make it, a new Artist Apprentice Services for the affordable price of $65. It sounded like a generous offer but I realized that with my time and transportation limited I should better focus on doing my art rather than learning how to make a career out of it. There will be opportunities to learn those things down the line, it probably wasn't supposed to happen at this point in time. I really learned a lot while preparing for it, sorting my artwork and writing the statement. It clarified some of my priorities and straightened the path ahead. It would have been a nice way to get out of the isolation that encases one when working for too long alone on ones art, but on the other hand that can also be a good way of doing the art without much concern about what others are thinking and intensifying and deepening the visual voice. In any case the process provided me with an opportunity to get my Mothers portraits professionally framed, which I wouldn't have done otherwise. At least two of them, the third one I can still procrastinate over.

New Frame, new glory...

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:55:17 GMT

A friend gave me a beautiful frame that fits perfect for the painting of Anandamayi Ma. But looking at her again I realized I had to make some changes, just to do her justice in that new frame of hers.

whitewash

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:05:53 GMT

whitewash.jpg
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

What a mess. That didn't work. Trying to iron down the heat transfer melted parts of the acrylic and stuck it to the paper I had used to avoid it sticking to the iron because I had been warned. And there was no way that it would stick evenly to the surface. I had to scrape off all the yuck from the mis-happened heat transfer, sanded it and then whitewashed the parts where the printed carpet is going. I am now going to be testing patches on the back of the painting just to be save. This time I am going to try acrylic gloss medium and gesso to get the ink from the print to transfer to the painting. Wish me luck!

musicians

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:05:33 GMT

musicians.jpg
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Really got into details now with those. I had taken some photos in Kashmir in the last years of different people that came handy now. I pasted them into the photo of the painting at the present stage. Worked on it in Photoshop and changed dresses etc. until I liked it and then printed it out and used it as my reference photo.

their hands...

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:04:58 GMT

duttis-hands.jpg
Originally uploaded by claudia dose.

Some more details in the dutties (female consorts) hands (holding a lemon and a lotus flower). I did a few photographs (not easy to hold those two things) then I pasted them into a photo of the painting in Photoshop and painted from the printout. Lately I have worked more this way. I works very well. I am not sure about the symbolism of those two items (lemon and lotus). Also one of them is holding a box of betel nuts (which are used to prepare the chewing stuff they use in India. The result of which is seen on the streets and in public staircases in the form of red spit marks.)

I'd like to die

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:45:45 GMT

Etsujin.

Covered with the flowers,
Instantly I'd like to die
In this dream of ours!

http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/#etsujin

It's so relaxing to watch someone paint, isn't it?

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:34:07 GMT

different styles...