Post Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend in St. Augustine at the Thangka Painting Workshop led by Wendy Harding. There were 5 participants, each of us having participated in the workshop last October as well.

The workshop was very rewarding on many levels. The first was the experience of sharing the time and space with fellow artists. We are all 40+ women (except Wendy, who may be a bit younger than that), involved in the dharma, and part of the Sangha of northeast Florida. We all share an awe of, love of, respect of, and reverence for Tibetan Thangka painting.

We began the weekend by working on a new tigsa (the traditional grid used to proportionately draw the image of Buddha or deities) of a 3/4 face of Chenrezig (Tibetan Buddha of Compassion). I've included a scan of the one I started. The original is 14" x 17".

Wendy also prepared a painting exercise of lotus blossoms amid a tray of offerings. She taught us how to transfer our drawings on to a painting surface and how to prepare the fabric and allowed us tostitch it to the stretcher frame. She reviewed and demo'd the traditional Thangka palette and worked with us as we learned how how to mix the colors (gouache). She also demonstrated the stipling process for coloring lotus blossoms.

The weekend went by so fast -- too fast. I enjoyed two lovely lunches, one on the outdoor deck of the Conch House Restaurant with my friend, Laura, and the other with the whole group on the outdoor, second-story terrace of AIA Restaurant in Old Town St. Augustine. I would love the opportunity to spend a week with these women working on our Thangkas, enjoying meals together, meditating and practicing together. I feel so alive when I am doing this work. It is a process that is meditative and self nourishing.

Our closing activity was a pizza party hosted by the very hospitable Tom and Nancy, in their St. Augustine home. Wendy brought with her a video called Lost Treasures of Tibet. The film chronicles the efforts of a restoration team working on 15th century murals damaged and deteriorating in a dilapidated monastery in the kingdom of Mustang. It's a wonderful film and shows some of the most beautiful 15th century Buddhist murals in existence. The restorers are European and have a very western, archeological view of how the murals should be restored. The locals do not see the murals as art, but rather as living deities, if they can be restored to their original wholeness. It was interesting viewing the murals from both points of view.

I look forward to opportunities in the future to meet with these women and work on our Thangka art together.

One of the largest collections of Tibetan Thangka paintings, as well as other Buddhist art, on the web can be found at Himalaya Art Resources .