Those tender words we said to one another
Are stored in the secret heart of heaven.
One day, like the rain, they will fall and spread
And their mystery will grow green over the world.
–Jalal-ud-Din Rumi
Persian Poet / Mystic, 1207-1273
Highlights • digital • Lisa Rivas © 2012
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
~Joseph Campbell
Bodhi Day is on Dec. 8th, a Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautauma experienced enlightenment, also known as Bodhi in Sanskrit or Pali.
According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a Pipul tree (known today as “The Bodhi Tree”, a Ficus religiosa or Bo-Tree) and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate one’s self from it. Siddhartha finally found the answers he sought and became Enlightened, and experienced Nirvana.
He then became the Buddha or “Awakened One”.
“A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things.
It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down.” ~ Buddha
Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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The Buddha describes his Enlightenment in three stages:
1. During the first watch of the night, the Buddha discovered all of his past lives in the cycle of rebirth, realizing that he had been born and reborn countless times before.
2. During the second watch, the Buddha discovered the Law of Karma, and the importance of living by the Eightfold Path.
3. During the third watch, the Buddha discovered the Four Noble Truths, finally reaching Nirvana.
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Ah! Never shall the land forget.
How gushed the life-blood of her brave –
~ William Cullen Bryant
How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!
~ Maya Angelou
Aloe succotrina – digital • 2009 © Lisa Rivas ~ RAISED TO THEM!
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The sap of the Aloe is effective in the treatment and healing of wounds.
Last fall I was invited by an online blogger
to participate in a collaborative project, The Paint-by-Number Exchange. Each participant was to select a Paint-By-Number kit to complete by hand and then to alter the image, giving it their own personal "twist" or embellishment according to their artistic expression. I chose "The Almond Branches in Bloom", Saint Remy – circa 1890 a phenomenal piece by my champion, painter
~ Vincent Van Gogh. (view here)
This "Paint-by-Number Exchange" was proposed by fellow artist blogger Jacquelyn Berl.
You can view the other 10 entries at her blog: www.AscenderRisesAbove.com
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After painting the image (provided by Famous Art Kits) by hand, I scanned the image to digitally incorporate clothing buttons as flower buttons and alter the image with a flowing ribbon of text.
I then converted the entire image into an e-Stamp.
The "All Mundi" part of the title for this e-Stamp is both a play on words (Al-Mond)
and a reference to the "All World" scope of the e-Stamp.
All-Mundi Button Branch • 50 kilobyte e-Stamp
archival pigment print on archival paper • Lisa Rivas © 2011 • All Rights Reserved
If friends were flowers, I would pick you!
You can purchase this print here, it would be a wonderful gift!
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So what is an e-Stamp? It's my original concept of a virtual postage stamp for emails. I envisioned the e-Stamp as an art stamp with a global intention, as a way to honor "the internet" which has helped to connect us humans. The nationality of the e-Stamp is www—World Wide Web—and the denominations are in kB for kilobytes or mB for megabytes.
My e-Stamps also exist in the tactile "real" world as prints, produced as giclees on a 9-color archival digital printer. Their formats can be totally variable and printed on different substrates.
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.
~ Elizabeth Foley
Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Earth Day 2011 • variable size • © Lisa Rivas • “Speak”
• digital / mixed media on ricepaper and mounted on canvas
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Seek first to understand, then to be understood. ~Stephen Covey