Pandaravasini Variation

The latest version of my exploration of Pandaravasini: the red female wisdom Buddha of love and fire and meditation. 

Here are my reflections on the significance of the variations in this version: 

Giving her a white top to wear: this aspect of the symbolism connects us to the purity of an absorbed meditating mind - her name means the white robed one. 

Playing with composition and the pictorial space by introducing new elements: the vases and flowers. Experimenting with a different way of visually describing the main lotus as something crystalline and like a jewelled throne.  For me these changes bring in the sense of the earth and riches (groundedness and jewels) which links to other figures in the mandala. The vases are the clear blue of the sky with hints of other clays - earth and sky together. 

Working towards more subtlety in the rainbow colours of her aura.

Mixed media on canvas. 

Vajradakini - blue sky dancer

 First of a new series of wisdom sky dancers - Vajradakini embodying the activity of mirror like wisdom and the essence of the adamantine thunderbolt of direct understanding. She is painted on a circular canvas alongside dragons, the wise nagas, and the sun and moon. She holds a vajrabell and a vajra staff.