Transcriptions #29: Prayer for Humanity
Transcriptions #29: Prayer for Humanity
24" x 24" x 1.5”
Original mixed media painting on canvas
I came across a prayer written by the Indian Buddhist sage, Shantideva, 700 A.D. It is the Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity. That prayer became the inspiration for this painting. I love these words:
“May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
May I be a lamp in the darkness, a resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.”
The large square canvas cloth is textured with paper and gauze. It’s attached to a painted gallery wrapped canvas. The open scroll seemed the perfect way to display the beautiful words of this prayer. The scroll is sewn through to the back canvas and the sides are painted to match the painting. It is signed and dated on the side of the canvas.
NOTE: ALL PRICES INCLUDE SHIPPING AND HANDLING.
Related Paintings
20” x 20” x 1.5”
Original acrylic mixed media painting on canvas
Love and Compassion is a mixed media painting in a series of “Text-tures.” I chose to feature Om Mani Padme Hum, a Tibetan mantra, in Sanskrit and the English transliteration. Although the mantra is rich with meaning, I have chosen to highlight its reference to love and compassion, which we could always use more of in our world.
Each of the 15 painted pieces of canvas cloth are sewn onto the background canvas along the top. Much of the text can be found on the thin strips of cloth woven in and out of those hanging squares. And the final element is the small “prayer pocket,” a folded and painted piece of, canvas.
The gallery wrapped canvas is painted on the sides as in the front. The painting is signed and dated on the side.
NOTE: SEE SHIPPING DETAILS AND RETURN POLICY HERE.
24" x 24" x 1.5”
Original mixed media painting on canvas
Prayer Book: Although this is number 24 in the series, it actually was the first painting and the inspiration for what has become the Transcriptions Series. Several years before I began the Transcriptions, I had an idea for a new series which would include books on canvas.
I painted a first layer of color on this 24" x 24" canvas and got as far as sewing the painted book onto the painting. It hung incomplete in the studio for years, waiting for me to return to it.
Finally, after completing 23 Transcriptions, I was able to continue developing this canvas. I ended up placing pieces of each of the prayers and mantras used in all the prior paintings within the book and around the canvas. I also scattered the letters of the Ancient Phoenician alphabet throughout the surface, in pencil.
After adding many layers of paint, it was finally complete. The gallery wrapped sides are painted to match the rest of the canvas and it is signed and dated on the side.