Story of My Life

Bought a couple of 24x36 black gessoed canvases the other day that looked exciting.  Did not have any immediate plan what to paint on them so I decided to go by my usual way of approaching a new canvas and squeezed out some paint on my palette to go with the black canvas.  The result:

These two paintings came about.  so I called one "The story of My Life", of course and the other one, "Synchronized Twirls".

Tree of Life

This painting followed the Circle of Life, as a sequel but it could be a prequel to it if there is such a word!

I see it to be hung on the left hand side of the Circle of Life.

Circle of Life

In painting contemporary or abstract, I usually choose my palette and start letting my creativity select it's own path.  Most of the time when I finish the painting and look back it gives me a positive feeling and I'm happy with it.  If there's a sign of turmoil or disturbance some where, it usually lends itself to some kind of growth or a cheerful light or some thing positive.

 

In this painting my intention was to create a cyclone type of movement.  A light hole came about instead of a black hole and the dome underneath gave birth to the growth of that "Tree of Life".

Demo at Zen Gallery

I thought about what media to take to the gallery for the demo, what kind of crowd I'd be getting and what subject matter to paint, before the date.  Finally decided on either brush painting or finger painting depending on how it goes.  While I was setting up I felt like finger painting from my memory.   The painting below is the result.
All I used was my little pinkie for the mountains, land and water; and my little finger nail to paint the boats, some foliage, the birds and the figure on the cliff and finally the steps from the mountain below to the cliff.  As if I have lived there and that's me who climbed all the up and now enjoying the scenery from up there.

Mirage

Zen Gallery's theme for the month of June is "Heroes".  I really have a lot of heroes and none in particular except for my father.  He was an amazing father, unique person, divine being whose wisdom and kindness I was blessed to receive as long as he was alive.
So I painted "Mirage", above, in acrylics in his honor.
Guess who's that little girl in her yellows and oranges!

I'm going to include in the show "Meditating on a Cliff", finger painting in China ink, because I see those Gurus as heroes too: they contribute immensely to our calm and peace and they often are not really aware of how influenced many others are by their existence.  Salute!

Also I'll be showing the figures above inspired by my daughter, I'm truly proud of her.

An opinion

I'm not a political activist or a radical or even interested in politics that much but sometimes it comes to a point that an idea gets enforced on people to the limit of oppression, then I start feeling people's hurt and frustration and then against my will (otherwise I try to show the positive side of things), I paint something like this one above (Chained Down).  A tribute to those who have to wear layers of dark clothing from top to toe in the 40oC heat against their will.  If it's truly their educated choice, then I don't feel that bad.

Four Seasons in Oils

More on borrowing ideas and applying them onto other media:
Plums, Orchids, Chrysanthemums and Bamboos are symbolic for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, respectively, according to Chinese or Japanese brush painting philosophy.
In the process of my translation of Eastern art into Western media, here's my version of 4 Seasons.