The Eastern Canon of Art

On Thursday morning, Laurence reviewed the proportions of human figures in the Western Canon and shared a few practical drawing tips. We then spent time copying drawings from books – a valuable exercise. I seemed to be having an off-day, but I appreciated the practice and did well at not comparing my work with my classmates’ – I include some of their work here to show the results of both talent and practice.  Inspiring!

The Eastern Canon:

In the afternoon, Laurence delved deeper into the Eastern Canon.  In Hindu art, for example, artists measured figures in Tàlas.  1 Tàla= 1 Face.  Most gods were 9 faces tall and goddesses 8 faces.  Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma, however, were 10 faces tall.  We also learned about the 4 postures that make Hieratic Style so recognizable:  samapada (equal balance on both feet), abhanga (slight bend), tribhanga (strong bend), and atibhanga (exaggerated bend).  Using printed copies of his presentation slides, we then spent time drawing these. Alas, it was confirmed that I was having an off-day and I ended up counting the minutes until the end of class, even though this style of art really interests me.  I just couldn’t stop yawning.

Being a morning person and usually the first to arrive in class (and unfortunately sometimes the only student there at our starting time – I’m still working on taking tardiness out of my pet peeve category… but with only limited success), I had time to draw my tribhanga pose again the next morning, with much more ease and better results.  That felt great!  There are simply days when things just don’t seem to flow, and days when they do.  It’s important to accept that.

This drawing thing looks easy, but I’m just not a natural at it…. still, I fully recognize that I’m improving.  Yup!  Slowly, but surely…

On Friday, Laurence’s presentation took us on a journey to a couple of Hindu temples he had visited in India – an introduction to the various gods and ornamental features.  He showed examples of the Torana (garlanded gateway), gana (dwarf caryatid), salabharjika (maiden with limb in a tree (I learned that Buddha’s mother, the queen, painlessly gave birth to him while holding onto a tree), kalascha (pots with plants, water, smoke, unknown matter raising up from them), makaras (elephantine crocodile figures with mouths open and spewing water, jewels and small figures), animals such as the vyala and nagas (hybrid figures), mitherna (embracing couples), gandharva (male musicians that accompany gods) and apsara (female dancers).

In Search of Our Inner Deity:

After a slide show on the various gods, mudra (hand positions), and attributes (the symbolic objects that eastern gods hold in their hands or have around them), Laurence guided us through a few sun salutations (yoga stretches) and a 15-minute creative visualization meditation to help us evoke subject matter for one of this trimester’s paintings.  Our goal was to find or create a Hindu deity with whom we resonate, mudras, attributes, a symbolic animal to accompany the deity, and ornamentation.

Even before we started, I had an inkling that I’d be visiting Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of art, wisdom, and learning, which I had immediately resonated with when introduced to her during a yoga class in the 80s.   My vision of her, however, was slightly different than the traditional way in which she is portrayed.  With my memory (or lack therefore), however, that’s not surprising. What’s more surprising are all the elements that were similar.

Taking what I had seen/ experienced in my vision and adding to that through a bit of Internet research, I made a quick initial sketch. Having practiced drawing the tribhanga pose, I decided to have her 4-armed figure standing as such, inside a lotus floating in a still pool of water.  Her backdrop will be a huge peacock feather (traditional association with peacocks) and a small one will be the ornament on her crown.  In one hand, she’s  holding a white feather as a writing/drawing/painting instrument (instead of a stringed musical instrument). It might be a swan feather since this bird is also strongly associated with her.  She’s also holding a pearl necklace in that same hand (which I decided were pearls of wisdom – as well as representative of humanity – as per the lyrics to Olivia Newton John’s song “Pearls on a Chain” that I had been asked to perform a dance to back in Saskatoon) – instead of the traditional crystal mala (prayer beeds).  In a second hand, she’s holding a bowl of water – a powerful symbol that I haven’t quite figured out a way to describe in words.  I feel it though – on many levels.  Her other two hands will be in the Portal Mudra – symbolizing her presence as a portal into both knowledge and creativity.  As for her accompanying animal, I was surprised by the presence of snakes in my vision, flowing from the bottom of her dress.  I’ve never seen snakes negatively – despite my Catholic upbringing, but I was a bit taken aback by them. Here, I figure they represent kundalini, “an indwelling spiritual energy that can be awakened in order to purify the subtle system and ultimately to bestow the state of Yoga, or Divine Union”, as well healing through transformation.  The guide who had greeted me at the door of the Hindu temple in my vision had given me a dorje (a Buddhist tool representing “firmness of spirit and spiritual power”) that I would later offer the goddess Saraswati.  Mine had a much bigger black ball in the centre than I see in photos online.  I’m not sure how or if I’ll incorporate that into the painting yet – maybe around her neck.  Interestingly, this is also what one of my classmates had been given by her guide and many of the elements of her vision were similar to mine.  Fascinating!

World Museum:

In the afternoon, we headed to the Weltmuseum (one of the many museums on our yearly pass – located inside the Hofburg Palace) to find inspiration and to practice drawing objects from their Asian art collection. When people think of drawing, it’s quite natural to envisage someone sitting in front of something or someone and drawing them.  This, however, is so not natural for me.  I constantly want to stop looking at what’s in front of me and start letting my hand lead me on the page. This would be great if I had already mastered (or even understood) how the play of light translates into shading and colour – or even how to render realistic shapes and forms.  It will come – and for now, just learning to really see what I’m looking at is part of my training.  Then trying to duplicate that on paper will be key.  Discipline and practice will help me achieve my goals.  Today, at the museum, I fully got into the flow of this work and quite like my representation of the Buddha.  One of our future guest lecturers will be focusing on drapery, and I’m looking forward to that – it’s amazingly complicated and part of what I’d like to know how to do better for where my art is going.  Anyhow, I had a great day on Friday and was the last to leave the museum – rare!

Today, Saturday, is a home day apart from grocery shopping.  I have a whole file of materials on the business of art to focus on. Tomorrow, however, is supposed to be 12 degrees and partly sunny, so it’ll be great for another hike.