Mandala - Study
Mandala canvas - blue on white - Acrylics
Mandala - Atma / आत्म /
Meditation on Life - the original is black graphic pen and ink - here rendered as white on blue
Mandala - Death / मृत्यु
Meditation on Death - original black graphic pen and ink - rendered as white on blue
Mandala - Moon Flower
Mandala - Fire Flower
K2so
Inspired by my best bros Ruairí and Dino dude. Any similarity to existing Star Wars merchandise is entirely co-incidental.
New Religion
A new piece from lockdown. The images of cows going to mass,is rather appealing to me and is just too delicious an idea to pass on. I thank whatever etheric friends beamed these images into my head.
New Government
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas, basically Irish government buildings. When society is being driven by selfish vested interest, and populist bullshit - giving the controls to the selfless and the satvic sounds good to me. Give peas a chance.
Let my Spirit carry me
I had a whole Steve Miller thing going on when I did this. Isn't is interesting how you can become really obsessed with one artists music for a chunk of time.
Happiness is Easy
A Talk Talk, reference, not a happy piece, but then again I wasn't a happy bunny. I do like the style of this and may revisit it. I like the use of colour and brightness, although the theme of isolation and alienation is dark.
All that you have is your Soul
I loved her plaintive style, and this is a simple thought, inspired by the Tracy Chapman tune. I used to busk, "Talking 'bout a Revolution". But my fave tune of hers is Crossroads.
Mystery Moon, you watch while we sleep
The full text here is: "Oh Mystery Moon, you watch while we sleep, you are our host in the hall of dreams. Your bright vigil keeps us safe from dark things unseen."
{The seed of Creation}
This pen and ink drawing focusses on the ancient Vedic syllable AUM and the idea that this is the sound of creation. The ultimate source being the beautiful vibration from Kṛṣṇas flute. A great big Yes! The Vedic view is that the first created being in the Universe, Lord Brahma, is the most intelligent and that he is then responsible for creating all of the planets within our Universe and when this is completed they are then populated by Jiva souls.Apologies to those who know some Vedic ontology - as Lord Brahma should have four heads.
The bright Eye of life
More atavistic scribbling from me.
"Oh Shining Sun, bright eye of life, give us your blessing, help us grow, light our way as we walk through time, show us what we need to know"
The idea of the "Eye of life" is interesting and it was only years later when I found out about the Vedic teaching that both the sun (and the moon) are the " Eyes of Vishnu" and are worshipable as such.
The oceans are Vishnu's waist, the hills and mountains are his bones, the clouds are the hairs on his head and the air is his breathing. The rivers are his veins, the trees are the hairs on his body, the sun and moon are his two eyes and the passage of day and night is the moving of his eyelids. In the words of the Bhagavad Gita:
"Everything rests on me as pearls are strung on a thread. I am the original fragrance of the earth. I am the taste in water. I am the heat in fire and the sound in space. I am the light of the sun and moon and the life of all that lives."
Into the tapestry we weave ourselves
This is a more arcane piece. It is interesting that today arcane means "/ärˈkān/ Adjective: Understood by few; mysterious or secret. Synonyms: occult - secret - mysterious - dark - esoteric - mystic" However, the Sanskrit word Arcanam or Purusa-arcanam means "worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; SB 3.28.4" While I had been reading the Bhagavad Gita a lot before I did these pieces, I was also very into Carlos Castenada, natural magic and so on. This piece is arcane in the modern sense I guess, and is filled with references to the things I was reading at the time such as Robert Anton Wilson, some Egyptian cosmology and so on.
A greater Freedom
I just loved this Kahlil Gibran piece from "The Prophet". And it resonates with me even more 20 years later, now that job, the day to day, our responsibilities are so prominent . Even though that book is much quoted and read, at weddings and so on, there is much more to it - the book has a gravitas along with its beautiful and mystical qualities. He is saying our secular notions of Freedom have become chains. The word has become totally abased. It is now a Shibboleth used to justify many crimes against others as well as to a justification for conspicuous consumption, greed and materialism.
Mutate or Dissolve
Dark and Punky, but I do like black and white done in this way. Reminds me of old CRASS record covers like the "Bullshit Detector" collections.
Natural Magic
More colour and light with this one. For a long time, I thought this piece was unfinished and when I dug it out years later, it seemed fine. I have a lot of music sitting on hard drives on my studio at home that is like that. I stumble across it by accident and realise "Oh, that's pretty much complete, why didn't I release it!". I don't know whether to laugh or cry at those moments.
The Sudarshan Chakra (सुदर्शन चक्र)
This is the 108 edged disc that is a weapon of Lord Vishnu. It symbolises many things such as Gods' promise to protect the pious.
Take your time
I love this piece and was very proud of it when I finally got close to completing it (as it took me a long time). I then got really annoyed as I started to use black for some random reason and quickly realised what a bad idea that was! While I didn't destroy the piece it is somewhat compromised. You live and you learn.
A Celtic Tarot
I had the notion to develop my own Celtic Tarot but I only got as far as sketches for Aries.
There's no Fear like Warfear
Another Dark piece. It did teach me to use a pencil before you ink in.. as I ran out of space for my rather clever (I thought) strapline.
Meet the Wolfman
This furry dude represented my inner elf for many years.
You have your own way
Some more "love all the people" verbiage from my more innocent self.