The Importance of Space

Five Objects, oil on linen

"..discover in your own present experience that which the movement of thought never touches... the already ever-present, silent, still source that not only precedes thought but surrounds it.
...become more interested in the unknown than in that which is known..(so that) you are no longer referencing thought to tell you who and what you are... then will thought be capable of reflecting that which is true, rather than falsely masquerading as truth."

- Adyashanti

The Ones that Took a While

Collection One, oil on linen

Collection Two, oil on linen

These paintings particularly the Collection 1 picture presented a few problems in the making.

Mainly due to my inaccurate start as to correct proportions and trying to paint things that really couldn't be seen. I had 2 sessions on Collection 1 and wasn't happy at all with the result of the 2nd session. How come it looked so bad? I took a break from it then went away on a holiday that was planned months away and I didn't like being dragged away from it. I felt sick about it, and stressed too.

When I came back to it six weeks later and took a good look at it and at the set up of the real objects that I was painting from, I knew exactly what to do, without putting anything into words. It was all in my head, the whole lot, it was weird. I happily painted it for the third session and finished it. I couldn't believe it because when I was away, I was thinking I would give up on this one and start a simpler one to go back to basics. 

As a result, I have decided not to scrap the current painting I am working on. Although wishing that I could escape on holiday again, though without the stress, I am learning to trust myself and the process.

A Simple Revolution

One must be willing to stand alone—in the unknown, with no reference to the known or the past or any of one’s conditioning. One must stand where no one has stood before in complete nakedness, innocence, and humility. 

French Jug with Bowls, oil on linen

One must stand in that dark light, in that groundless embrace, unwavering and true to the Reality beyond all self, not just for a moment but forever without end; for then that which is sacred, undivided, and whole is born within consciousness and begins to express itself. 

Still Life with Flowers, oil on linen

That expression is the salvation of the whole. It is the activity of an inward revolution brought down into time and space.

-Adyashanti

Old Bottles, oil on linen

Stillness

“As we begin to meet life as it is rather than as we think it should be, as we let go of our need to control and continuously interpret our experience, we start to open to life in a completely new way. We become deeply grounded in silence.

Jug and Glass Jar, oil on linen

 The nature of this silence is a lack of conflict with life, and the more we open to this state of non conflict, to this state of inner stillness, we begin to fall into the grace of a different dimension of being - a dimension rooted in a deep intimacy with our own lives and with existence itself.”

~ Adyashanti

Blue Jug with Bowls, oil on linen

Small Vase with Plate and Bowl, oil on linen

Three Pots, oil on linen

Still life with Ming Dynasty Vase, oil on linen

Still life with Artichoke, oil on linen

 

Still life, Blue in Grey, oil on linen