I started these two drawings before the series of 7 chakra drawings was started.However I just couldn't finish them after the initial start. I usually begin in ink and the drawing will develop from there. I kept putting them up , trying to finish them and would end up taking them down. About 8 months later when I finished the series of 7 chakra drawings I again put them up. This time I seemed to be able to move ahead. What is interesting to me is that the two are male and female, but they need to go together , not as a diptych but as one piece that needs about 4 inches of space between them. At first I had the male piece on the right, but it seems better with the male piece on the left. I was wondering afterwards about the right and left side of the brain. The left side is considered to be the male side.
Seventh Chakra- Crown
I thought I's better finish this series, using sketches from my sketchbook , even though I have already posted about the seventh chakra, because I finished this drawing first. Let me say a little about the process. Initially I disliked this drawing the most, I will often start by using pen and ink. In a way to dislike a drawing is freeing, there is no "Oh but I like that bit" to cling onto. This is probably why I was able to finish this so quickly. Underneath all the finished drawing was an octopus, that mostly disappeared by the end. I was thinking of the newly discovered "God Particle" for the gold part of the brain. here are some drawings that were useful along the way.
Sixth Chakra - Third Eye
The third eye chakra is located between the eyes, all chakras are half
in and half out of the body. The color is indigo although for those
people on the spiritual path the color is violet. In the Earth's chakra
system we are now in the deep indigo of the universe.
I decided to
put the planetary system in the drawing , so you will be able to see the
earth and the moon and various other planets. I was quite pleased with
the way the skull and the eyes are still visible through the planet
earth.
Fifth Chakra- Throat
The fifth chakra is sky blue, it is the communication center of the body. In the Earths chakra system it is literally the sky, hence the color. Now we are in the upper triangle of chakras. Interestingly the shape of the chakra is a mobieus, a figure eight, which mirrors the thyroid gland.
Initially I had a lot of difficulty with this drawing, I decided to include the lungs, as well as the larynx, as without the breath there is no voice. I liked the idea of using the silver trumpets to literally get the voice out. I ended up feeling very pleased with how everything came together.
Fourth Chakra- Heart
The color of this chakra is green. In the earth's system of chakras it is the crust where all the green trees grow. As part of working on my spiritual development, I have had the seed of love planted in my heart, several times ,apparently as I seem to snuff it out. I am hoping to grow this seed into a towering tree of love. These are some of the things that this drawing are about. I felt I needed to put in a reference to the arms. albeit skeleton arms. The arms are the way the body expresses love, holding, hugging, lovingly touching. When I first moved to the US and was in RISD at Graduate school, I started doing small bronzes. I used the image of a spoon woman, the body of a woman hollowed out like a spoon with no arms or legs. For me I realized this represented how stressful that time in my life was , I had nothing to give, no love to express, no arms. At least now I have skeleton arms.
Third Chakra- Power Center
The color of this center is yellow, the area it encompasses is the solar plexus. When I was working on the large drawing, I realized the connection with the belly button, placenta and the connection to the baby. What after all is more powerful than creating another human being. I found that all the colors of the other chakras came into this drawing and really that is so appropriate as chakras all work together. To utilize power as a human being they must all work in tandem hopefully with the mediation of the heart. This is my working sketch deciding what to do next with the drawing.
Second Chakra sketch
This is a drawing from my sketch book of the second chakra in my complete series. I am going to post one a week for the next few weeks and by then I hope I will have some good photos of the finished large drawings.. Its interesting to me what I chose to keep from the original ink drawing. Initially I liked the image so much it was hard to continue to work on it. As I was dealing with the second chakra, sexuality, I wanted to represent both female and male sexual organs. I was rather pleased with myself when I decided to have the female representation as the drawing, and use over painting to imply the phallus, leaving the orange under painted color, as it also is the color of this chakra.
Sketchbooks
I use my sketch books in my studio all the time, in fact I usually have at least 2 or 3 in use of different sizes.
The recent series I just finished "Chakra Drawings", I used them a lot, often its to clarify what to do next.
I usually won't plan out a drawing with a sketch first, rather I will draw in my sketchbook when the large drawing has gotten out of hand and needs clarifying.
Here is an example , it is the root chakra.
Finished my series of seven Chakra Drawings
I am feeling pretty jazzed, that I have indeed completed what seemed like a monumental series of drawings. I have learned a lot as I went through each Chakra. The one I finished today was the sixth Chakra, the third eye. I decided to use an eye as a small universe with the earth and moon as parts of the eye. At some point I will get some good photos and post them to the web site. This photo is a part of the sixth Chakra drawing showing the eye.
Breathing Space in a drawing
Two of my favorite painters are Giotto born in 1266 and Fra Angelico born in 1395. They painted right before the rules of perspective really took over. I also love the era of the Middle Ages , one of my favorite museums in New York is the Cloisters, its full of work from this age.
One of the reasons I love this work is the flatness of the images, the feeling that anything is possible. What does it matter if the people are larger than the houses, its not about realism . Its about whatever is important taking center stage.
I really do not use perspective very much, however I use the device of creating portholes within a drawing. In some ways it is a trick, using perspective by not using it-- I create a distance, space implied by my framing device and it lets a drawing breathe, so its not all about surface. Here are some examples from recent work. I have just shown that part of the drawing.