Amitabha Variation

A variation on one of my most popular Buddha images 

Manjugosha on Blue Lion throne

 A recently completed exploration of Manjugosha, the gentle voiced prince of wisdom. Acrylic on board. The subtleties in the colour ranges are difficult to capture in a photograph.

Within the Darkness

 These two images from my archive speak to the notion of wisdom appearing out of darkness. And to a sense of compassion descending into darkness.

The owl, creature of the night, is an ancient symbol of wisdom.

Kshitigarbha, compassionate Bodhisattva, descends into the deepest hells to offer help to those who find themselves in the darkest place.

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.

Pandaravasini - Red Female Buddha of Fire and Love

A current project is a painting on canvas of Pandaravasini. She is the consort of Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West. Amitabha is all about meditation and the transformation of neurotic craving into love for all. Pandaravasini is the personification of his discriminating wisdom which sees the uniqueness of all beings and all phenomena.

Here are three images I'm using as material, earlier work all about fire and warmth. (Pandaravasini sits on a lotus on a crystal throne supported by Phoenixes). The phoenix is a work on paper in an old sketchbook. The two versions of the figure are digital “paintings”.

Come back to see what emerges.

Locana, female Wisdom Buddha

 

Locana is the personification of the Mirror Like Wisdom of Akshobya, the blue Buddha of the East. Her name means "she with the eye" or "she who is illuminated by the Dharma". The eye as in The Eye of Wisdom"

I am currently exploring the five Prajnas, the five female wisdom Buddhas and making images of them, both digitally and with pigment on surfaces.  Locana is the first Wisdom Buddha in the series. Her element is water.

Manjushri on blue lion

Here is a small commission from 2016. Acrylic on canvas. I've been reflecting on this figure this week and pulled this image out of the archive.

Manjushri

A couple of digital drawings of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom with his sword

Owl in Moonlight