Studio Update ~ Tables

Welcome to the new blog, be not afraid, change is good.

If you're confused and scared, all my previous posts can still be found on my old blog, there should be a link on this page. If there isn't I'm sorry, I'm still wrestling this thing into submission.

Continuing with my current project...

I suspect that the paint/finish stripper may have been a massive waste of time and I probably lost a few brain cells due to the fumes, I can't believe how completely toxic that stuff is.

I washed the coffee table off and then sanded it with super fine grain sandpaper and got it all nice and smooth for its first layer of primer today

There it is all nice and clean

And here it is all nice and smooth after the go over with the fine grain sand paper

Here it is with the first coat of primer drying in the studio

The night table is currently more cause for frustration. I have it going along on the side in between drying times and such with the coffee table and so it's going at a slower pace. I know pretty much exactly what I'm going to paint on the coffee table but I don't really have any solid plans for the nightstand so I'll most likely clean it up, prime it, and then tuck it in a corner until I'm finished with the coffee table.

But here it is with the stripper scraped off of it, looking kind of...weathered, lets go with weathered.

ew, stripper

turp running down the edges looked kind of cool though

sitting there dejected in the studio, thinking about what it's done while I work on the other table.

So tonight I'll give the nightstand a good scrub down with soapy water before I sand it a bit. I want to get as much of the residual stripper and turp off of it before I sand it so I'm cutting down on the toxicity of the sawdust I'll be trying to avoid breathing in.

I'm also going to start my grid drawing of Green Tara. I already have my own drawing of White Tara that I used for the Thangka. It's considered appropriate to use the grid drawings of your Master (at least it was where I studied) but I like drawing them myself because even though you're following the same grid each artist always ends up giving them a different feel/look. Plus that way I have the satisfaction of creating a piece from the ground up and knowing that all the work is mine. It's a wonderful way to really get to know the Deity as well.

Buddhist art is created for the purpose of meditation. A practitioner meditates upon a work of art in order to cultivate within themselves the ideals that Deity represents. Monks and Nuns and practitioners will meditate upon these works of art in illuminated manuscripts, thangkas, and wall/cave paintings, and statues. They will study them their entire lives. But I've heard it said that they will never know these Deities the way that the artists know them because of the specific kind of focus and dedication that an artist must have to call them into being. A different kind of understanding is forged between Deity and artist during the creative process. The artist understands the arms and the fingers, their form and how they hold aloft the various instruments of Buddhism. They have a greater understanding of the flowers, their folds and patterns of growth because they have spend hours, days, months, and years carefully studying and rendering them; from the lotus in the water, to the lotus throne that unfolds and holds aloft the Deity, to the lotuses the Deities hold in all their colors and meanings, to the myriad of flowers that bloom around them creating a beautiful celestial garden for the Deity and a sacred space of contemplation for the viewer. Drawing and painting these Gods and Goddesses brings about a completely new level of understanding for the artist.

Meanwhile the process of creating this kind of art requires the artist to cultivate a unique kind of mindfulness and patience. I believe the most important kind of patience one can cultivate is patience with yourself and the painstaking, meticulous nature of this kind of art demands that of you in a very real and tangible way, and you have to be present with it and in the moment to do the work justice.

All of it is a completely unique form of meditation.

Now that I wrote that and reminded myself of all of this I think washing and sanding will be more meditative instead of just something annoying that I have to do to get me to the painting part. I have to remember that the prep should be as meditative as the actual drafting and painting part...*crosses arms and shuffles feet with grumpy face*... I guess...phooey

In any case, I'm off to wash down the nightstand and eat dinner and then start on my Green Tara drawing. I have never drawn her before so here's an image to tide you over if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

I love the last one. Green Tara is meant to have the face of a beautiful 16 year old girl. She's meant to have a beauty that exudes a fresh loveliness and youthful vitality and purity.

So lets see how I do with that...