I have been on quite the journey since the last time I posted. I packed up and left Chicago, was planning to move to San Francisco, then through a convoluted series of events I found myself in Sunny Los Angeles. I like LA. Its always warm and sunny, the people are neat, and there is a ton of art.
All that aside, I’ve felt impatient with the transition. Impatient about making new friends. Impatient to “be” where ever it is I envision myself in the future. Impatient to make art. Time is simultaneously way too fast, and way too slow.
In hopes of finding some wisdom from the beyond I spent the afternoon exploring different concepts of patience. I researched the meaning of the word. Read through various philosophical and religious perspectives. After a while I decided to meditate and draw a card from the Triple Goddess Tarot. I drew “Infinite Bliss” today, a card I don’t often pull, which transcends the traditional 21 cards of the Tarot. I was immediately drawn to the description of the goddess archetype for the card: the Great Bliss Queen of Tibet.
Naked and red in color, She stands, one foot slightly in front of the other, on a radiant Sun-disk. In Her right hand, She holds a small drum of skulls, which is played raised to her ear. In Her left hand, She holds the handle of a curved blade that rests at Her side. Beyond are a series of luminous, rainbowlike bands of color arranged in a semicircle. Finally, a band of flames encircles the entire image.
While meditating I had pondered an artistic endeavor centered around bringing consciousness to patience. To be patient, according to Google search, means to have the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. With this in mind, I imagined a project with a tedious task, such as creating an image through a series of seemingly redundant steps. After reading the description of the Goddess I knew I had found the subject for this idea.
Here is the final result of my Patience Project:
To create this final piece I sorted through piles of magazine images to find the various symbols described above. As I sorted I kept coming back to the mantra of patience. More than once I noticed myself speeding up, becoming less diligent in looking for what I needed, or feeling anxiety about finding the right images to create what I saw in my minds eye. When I noticed these impatient thoughts, I would pause and recommit to my experience.
Once I found all the images I wanted, I cut them out with great care. I often rush and fudge cutting images out because I am so excited to get to the final result. Once the images were cut out I traced them onto the page. I decided at the beginning that I didn’t want to merely create collage of the Great Bliss Queen. I wanted to deepen into the practice of patience through repetition. Tracing the images took time, and I had to stop and reset at several points. After I had traced all the images I began embellishing the lines with Paint Pens, and allowed myself some creative license. Finally, I cut the final composition out and mounted it.
The whole process, from when I finished reading the description of the Great Bliss Queen to taking the picture above, took about two hours. I had created quite the mess, and even though I had other things to attend to I felt that cleaning everything back up was an important part of the process. Normally I would simply leave everything out, as tidying up my materials before starting often gets me in a good headspace for creating art. That being said, it felt good to leave my studio space tidy and spacious.
The Mess
After completing my piece I was curious to see how the Great Bliss Queen of Tibet is normally represented. I couldn’t recall ever seeing a picture of the Goddess. I was surprised by how close my drawing was to traditional representations of her. I was especially tickled that the image for the body I chose closely mirrored the body position chosen for her in other works.
Great Bliss Queen of Tibet
I was inspired by this artistic meditation. I am curious what other images of the Goddess I might feel compelled to create, especially as I continue exploring this theme of patience. Rumi said “Patience is the key to Joy,” and if that is true then I am determined to find the Key to Patience.
