Photo courtesy of Taproot
The theme running through Taproot's Sept. issue is MEND. Taproot asked me to illustrate Marco Wilkinson's insightful article "The Gift of Failure", on the parallels between the trials of running a small scale organic farm and the practice of Zen Buddhism. The image depicts a circle composed of elements from the story with rice grains spilling out, creating a breach through which the world can enter... letting in the World.
Thangka means a work done on cloth and set in a silk or cotton frame.
Most of the painters sit in rows listening to their ipods
Green Tara. The smallest of these masterpieces take minimum 3 months to complete at 8 hours of work/day! The painting is set up by plotting diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines. Grids with proportions specific to each figure are penciled in and filled with the details. Background miscellanea like clouds and mountains are then added.
Norbulingka is an art school dedicated to preserving and handing down Tibetan culture mainly through art and language. The center in Dharamsala has a garden monastery and provides training, education and employment to Tibetans in exile. I got a chance to visit the art studios and stare at the young-ish artists at work. Their coffee shop offers a killer espresso, a rare find in masala chai country! Norbulingka literally means "The Jewelled Park".
Here are a few concept sketches for an upcoming picture book to be published by Planète Rebelle in 2015!
In this angel figure by my father, Julian Kolesar, the decorative elements almost eclipse the subject matter! I am inspired by all that movement
My small painting called Metamorphosis will be part of the Vancouver Postcard Show Vol. 4, happening April 5th 2014 at the Remington Gallery. An exhibit featuring postcard-size affordable artwork which will be auctioned off.
in ancient Egypt the gods were portrayed in the forms they had when they walked the earth. Our ancestors were gods clothed in animal forms, writes Rudolf Steiner.
The icon's visual conventions and techniques create symbolic landscapes within which the viewer strives to perceive the inner, the hidden. ICONS & THE MYSTICAL ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY by Richard Temple is an excellent read.
My favorite of these visual conventions is the Virgin depicted with tiny feet to show that in her unearthly purity she hovers above the ground and barely touches it.
Here is my take on Christ the Ruler and Sustainer made with pastel and gold ink on Stonehenge paper. His asymmetrical eyes point to the humanity and divinity of Jesus focusing on two different worlds. Seen and Unseen. The pastel medium is one of the most accessible forms of almost pure pigment.
