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I love Oragami. When I was young I invented my own piece - an oragami space shuttle with a suprise. Maybe I’ll put up a how-to on that. In the meanwhile, here’s how to make a paper rose.
Link to article [wikiHow]
I am opperating right now under the influence of panic. There are no lions after me. I am not being shot at. I just don’t want to work. When we feel a strong emotion, we feel it in our bodies. Strong emotion is associated with the heart or the gut or the head. When you are angry you blow your top. Your heart breaks when you are sad. Butterflies in your belly. So I am in a sort of panic state right now - and with that there are feelings of being found out - of being revealed. Someone might see through my suit of armor and question my substantiality. So maybe in the future you will be able to get meta data about every letter you see on a page. You could right click on a letter in one of these words and a context sensitive menu would pop up and you would be able to see how much force was used to press the key. You would see that I am pressing the keys very hard because I am in a complete panic. Well, I guess its not a complete panic because I’m pretty much just feeling it in my body. I’m not pulling at my gums and kicking the doors. I did make a little whiney noise - real quiet at one point. I have that under control now. It’s nice to be able to have it out with a keyboard. It beats stripping off my clothes and running into the street. That would be a real change of pace - from “sitting at my desk fretting that I’m just not into working today” to “scraping my naked theighs as I scale cyclone fencing trying to avoid arrest”. That’s usually why I freak out, its a change of pace. I need to get some mittens for this office I work in. A lady here has hot flashes so she turns the AC down to 68 degrees.
Driving down the road with all the road goers
Mind slows down, speeds up, checks for danger
The road goes with the traffic
stretching canvas, looks like moving cars!
Or how are we to take it today?
My father went to AA where they told him that when he was at his lowest - when things were the bleakest and most confusing, that he should, ‘do the next indicated thing’. Just plan to the next indicated thing and don’t get mired down in the big picture. Like in order to not be an alchoholic today you need to brush your teeth. Like that’s it. Then when you are done brushing, do the next indicated thing. It’s actually really helpful. If you are freaking out and kind of freezing up, just move your mind to something simple. Gosh, if it’s bad enough, if you are wild enough, the next indicated thing might be, ‘breathe in’ then, ‘breathe out’. So that is pretty good advice that i think transcends freaking out. Meditation is good training to get you back to the essentials. On one level it is just that - you are sitting there, you are breathing. It is enough. In a very real way everything beyond that is utter complication. I mean, that’s why we have an idea of grace. Because this world is akward and anyone who moves through it without bashing into something is graceful. I don’t know if I would be considered graceful or not. I don’t bump into things too much or fall down too much. But my mind crashes around a lot, ungracefully. Is gracefullness only an asthetic quality?
Back to my panic, which I just forgot about. I’ll induce it again in a moment. Next indicated thing: PANIC!
Illustrator is a vector prgogram, as opposed to a raster program like photoshop. Photoshop works with pixles, like a grid. Raster images are limited in resolution. If you create a 102 pixel by 102 pixel image, each pixel’s color and brightness is stored. Vector programs like illustrator are for the most part unlimited in resolution. This is because rather than describing each pixel, a vector program tells the computer how to draw the image at any resolution. But the tools used with vector drawing are generally more difficult to use than raster tools and so if you don’t need to resize your image, generally Photoshop is a better choice.
In my case, I like the idea of using illustrator because I can then use it as a piece in other composites at any size - I’ll be able to use this lotus in a huge Thangka just as easily as my little header.
I just realized that the post I submitted for the fibonacci poetry did not have the right number of syllables. It was a bad ‘fib’. ‘Fib’ is what they call this form of poetry. Anyway, I wrote my own Buddhist style fib to fix it:
A Tranlation of the Prajna Paramita Mantra
Gone
Gone
Real gone
Beyond gone
To the other shore, so be it
Why don’t y’all try, its simple:
………..1 syllable
………..1 syllable
1+1 = 2 syllables
2+1 = 3 syllables
3+2 = 5 syllables
5+3 = 8 syllables
then 13, then 21, then 34, then 55, …and on and on
And you can keep adding up the products like that. So what is the Fibonacci sequence? It describes all kinds of things we see every day, including the pattern seen in a sunflower:
Poetry based on the Fibonacci series.
A Tranlation of the Prajna Paramita Mantra
Gone
Gone
Real Gone
More than Gone
To the other shore, so be it
Here is the anarchistic art society called Burning Man. Every year they set up a clothing-optional city for a week, no comerce is allowed, trade is done with gifts that are brought in. But since the numbers have grown from 9000 at inception to 40,000, all kinds of planning has to be put into place now. Even light zoning and policing have been established. So now there are a few people with control over these things and so we are seeing an example of how anarchy leads back to government. It seems to be a natural outflow when people try to live together. Of course that’s getting off track from the event that is Burning Man. It is an art exhibit, a giant one - and as they continue their freedom-loving expression we will likely see more problems which will have to be resolved. It’s like they say in the article, they have finished their adolescence and now must become adults. That doesn’t sound fun at all. The only true freedom is that which is gained by the individual - freeing oneself from the ignorance that leads us to demand satisfaction from society, indeed to demand satisfaction from things outside of our control. True Freedom is not dependent on our situation. It is born of our basic sanity.
Harley Dubois, a member of the Burning Man organization’s board who runs many of the departments related to the cultural creation of the temporary society (the gate, the greeters, the information services and the camp-placement agency), said that now she sometimes encourages certain groups to camp near one another. She informs families about an area known as Kidsville and situates all camps that look as if they might have sexually explicit themes together and away from the family-friendly zone. In addition, one village known as Hushville, which has determined not to use generators or loud music, has gradually grown into a larger sector of the city, as Dubois has had attempted to find like-minded groups to situate near the Hushvillites.
Thanks, snackrabbit, for the Link to Article [sfgate]
When I try to draw freehand the images often come out looking kind of dreadful - or crazy or something.
Related Link:
AP Visual Page
I did this in photoshop. I used difference clouds until my my mind started to ’see faces’ in the patterns. Then I used the dodge and burn tools to bring the faces out of the paterns as well as create something interesting to look at in the back ground with the spade. I call this kind of art ‘emergent art’ because I have no plans for what it will look like when I start. I can start with pictures of clouds or a scribble on a piece of paper. Interestingly, I can’t really draw very well on my own, so maybe its a cop out - dunno.
Related Link:
AP Visual Page
I’ve been working on this drawing of the Medicine Buddha for a while now. I’m drawing it in Adobe Illustrator. I learned how to draw the Medicine Buddha from the book ‘Tibetan Thangka Painting‘. If you are interested in drwaing and painting Buddha Images, this book is a great resource. You should buy it right away, it was sold out for the longest time!
“If one meditates on the Medicine Buddha, one will eventually attain enlightenment, but in the meantime one will experience an increase in healing powers both for oneself and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering.”
—Lama Tashi Namgyal
Medicine Buddha is serene and beautiful. He is the color of deep lapiz lazulli blue. Atop his head is a wish fulfilling jewel. In his left hand is a bowl of medicine that cures all illnesses and obsurcations. His right hand is in the mudra of sublime giving and holds the stem of a arura plant which is great medicine, symbolizing that he gives protection from illness.
The Medicine Buddha is not seperate from you. He is a symbol of your own healing ability. When you cut your finger it heals on its own, that is Medicine Buddha - that is the symbol. We all have this healing nature and by focusing on the Medicine Buddha and his mantra we can focus our healing energies to benefit ourselves and others.
To meditate on the Medicine Buddha, visualize him slightly above and in front of your face. Imagine blue light radiating from his heart and filling yourself and all beigns with deep, blue healing light that instantly transforms all sufferings and sicknesses and brings healing and happiness. You can time this with your breath. On the exhale, have light go out and on the inhale, have the light return. Imagine this as if it is happening, strongly. All beings are freed from their troubles. Meditate in this way and recite the Medicine Buddha Mantra:
Om Namo Bhagawate Bhekendze Guru Ben Durya Prhaba Randzaya Tathagataya Arahate Samyaksam Bhuddhaya Tayata Om Bhekendze Bhekendze Maha Bhekendze Bhekendze Ranza Samungate Soha
Or the short mantra:
Tayata Om Bhekendze Bhekendze Maha Bhekendze Bhekendze Ranza Samungate Soha
Try to say the mantra 7, 21, 0r 108 times
Just to see the Medicine Buddha and to hear his name helps us to become healthier and happier.
Related Links:
Introduction to Vajrayana Buddhism
