Awakened

Awakened

"Awakened" - acrylic and charcoal on illustration board, 12" x 16" .  Available here and at Artfinder.  "Life Study 1" and "Life Study 2" - charcoal on toned paper, each 12" x 16".  Available here and here.


"So the greatest threshold to an awakened life is the courage to say yes...yes to the challenge to live your own life, vulnerably and directly, until your being touches the sea of all beings." - MARK NEPO

Let's jump into the new year with both feet, shall we?  The first of the finished pieces from last week's life drawing session at Hipbone in PDX.  And a couple of sketches in charcoal on toned paper.

You'd think the most vulnerable person in a life drawing class would be the model.  But no, it is each of us artists, drawing in quickly timed blocks without time for contemplation, erasure or starting over.  Just seeing and responding without time to think.​

And that is truly the beauty of a well-run session.  The leader carefully times, announces, forces a pose change and starts the clock again.  You are at the mercy of the tick tick ticking and forced to shut out all of your hesitation and just do it.  While others are watching.  And there, in that space between thoughts, you are awakened.

Every fiber of your being is in the moment, in flow​, observing and responding, not thinking, just being.  In a packed classroom, "the sea of all beings" is right there, ebbing and flowing around you, touching but not touching as you are completely alone but not alone.  Finally, finally - the monkey mind (of which I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN I am the QUEEN) is hushed.  Oh bliss!  Oh perfection!  Let's do that again, shall we?

Life Study 1 - charcoal on toned paper. 12" x 16"

Life Study 2 - charcoal on toned paper, 12" x 16"