Sometimes, I come to the painty table to play; at others, to relieve stress. Sometimes, I approach my art practice as therapy; at other times, I allow my emotions to direct my colour choices and mark making. And sometimes, I come to the page with deep reverence and to give gratitude for the many blessings in my life.
This was one of those times.
I’ve long wanted to paint a Buddha, but I didn’t want to paint Him with the usual peaceful face and closed eyes - you know the kind of Buddha painting I’m talking about, right? The ones that you find hanging in most home interior stores - pale blues and calm yellow tones, with a huge Buddha face, eyes closed, a serene look on His face.
But then I came across a Buddha tattoo design on Pinterest {see the header image}, which immediately caught my fancy. I looked at it for some time and decided how I wanted to tweak it. Then I journaled a bit about why I wanted to paint the Buddha and what feelings I wanted to convey. And once I had a general sense of what I was looking to achieve, I took it all to the painty table!
I sketched in the Buddha in my art journal and then let loose with some paint!
Here’s a speed painting of The Buddha’s Blessings - enjoy!
And here’s the final, finished piece. It’s got a lot of shimmering gold, which is really hard to photograph!
So tell me, when you look at the final painting, how does it make you feel?
And if you want to start to paint or keep an art journal, take a look at the Atomic Lotus ecourse. It’s a mini ecourse that includes art with written journaling and meditation {which are completely optional!} You will get approx. 1 hour of video, broken down into bite-size lessons, so that you can watch and create no matter how little “me time” you have!
Effective colourful painting. Thanks for sharing! The three “I’s” that can cause us grief.
Loved it. Especially the drippy paint technique.
That’s one of my favourite things to do in mixed media paintings!!
What a lovely one. I loved the colors and how beautiful this turned out.
Thank you Parul!
Love what you created, Shinjini. The presentation is wonderful, too. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video. Your hands are so tiny like a child’s! Blessed hands! Gorgeous Buddha!
Thanks so much, Vidya! I’m so glad you enjoyed watching the video.
That’s very good! I love the different colors in this painting! #LGRTStumble
Thank you!! It was so much fun to paint!!
Lovely watercolors!
Thank you!!
This is so damn gorgeous, Shinjini! Anything with a Buddha in it automatically becomes gorgeous and with your hands and talent it looks so divine. Really well done 🙂
Thanks so much, Soumya!! xx
I love the colors. They make me feel peaceful. Isn’t that what art’s supposed to do? Make you feel something? 🙂
Thank you!! And yes, that’s what art is supposed to do! 😉
I love it! Especially how the colors swirls in and around Buddha and yet he is still the calm and centered.
Yes!! That’s one of the ideas I wanted to convey – that no matter what is happening around me, I can remember my Buddha nature and remain calm and centred. So glad that came through.
Love the lively bright colors! You captured the essence of Buddha!
Aww! Thank you!!
Love this! Makes me feel calm. I really believe in the power of art to connect us with our inspiration, internal wisdom, and the source of all healing!
Oh, me too!! I use it very intentionally for those reasons quite often!
Your post is so unique. I enjoyed the video. I used to love painting but it’s been ages that I have picked up the brush. Probably it’s time. Thank you for such an amazing experience.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. And I hope you get to pick up the brushes again soon!
I love the bright colours you have used, it’s actually quite uplifting. 🙂
Thank you!!
just pinned this as so going to try it. thank you.
Have fun and do let me know how it turns out! xx
This looks beautiful! I can definitely imagine that the gold makes it look even more special in real life.
Thank you so much!!
So beautiful X #ablogginggoodtime
It makes me feel alive, yet calm, like I am meditating somewhere beautiful. Thank you for sharing this post #ablogginggoodtime
That’s such a beautiful experience – thank you for sharing that! <3