Creating causes and conditions

Spring is springing!

I'd like to say that there is a lightness in my step, but that is not really true.  Some business troubles, some emotional issues, some health concerns, the fighting in the Middle East, the tragedies in Japan...

Causes and conditions.  I wonder if it is correct to think of them as opportunities.  In these times, it is very difficult.  I am not sure.  I am just barely scratching the surface of the Lam Rim in my classes and in my life.  Much of it remains a profound mystery to me.

But recently, as I sat in class on the pillow on the floor, the copied text laid out in front of me, and listening to my... (teacher?  is that what I call him?  We have no formal relationship, he is just there when I show up!)

... listening to my teacher...  He was talking about causes and conditions, we are reading Lama Tsongkhapa's commentary and it is so analytical and straightforward - for this reason I enjoy it immensely!  The clarity!  I hadn't really understood that there is a point to being a Buddhist - this is going to sound silly and naive, but it's true.  I had thought it was a viewpoint, but there wasn't necessarily a direction.

But there IS a direction.  There is a GOAL.  There is a TASK at hand.  It is very, very clear.  There is something to DO.

Or, as I like to think, something to DEW...

See, this is where the name "beeanddew" came from.  One day, 3 or so years ago, I was feeling overwhelmed (as I frequently am) and I needed to calm down.  I set the mission for myself, that all I needed was to be and do.  Nothing else was required.  I am enough, as is.  Being springtime, like this time of year, and gazing out the window at the joyous greenery, the buzzing of the insects and the song of the birds, that transformed into "beeanddew".

In any case, I have been searching for a clearer direction for my artistic life, and I was sitting on the pillow, lounging really, my head in my hands, looking up at Don over his little table with the yellow flower prettily sitting there.  We had been talking about causes and conditions as described by Lama Tsongkhapa - Don makes this material so accessible! - and then somehow, someone asked about the Buddha.  I think the question was if one who reaches Buddhahood (Buddhaness? hahaha) is subject to causes and conditions.

I don't remember the answer.  Because listening to Don give the answer, I heard the phrase "creating causes and conditions".  There came an image in my mind to go with this phrase, and Don's words, something about the Buddha is in that place where positive causes and conditions can be constantly generated.  Something like that.

To be honest, I'm not sure this is right, in terms of the Dharma and Tibetan belief system.  But what came to me out of it was an idea of what my artistic life could be like, could accomplish.

I have been working with the ideas of seeds for a long time now.  I am currently working, in class, on a prayer wheel, similar to the Tibetan prayer wheel, but with an emphasis for sowing the seeds of creativity.  Each time the copper wheel is spun, thoughts of support and positive energy towards creativity - my own and everybody's - are released into the air to float around the world.

Committing to that idea, having my artwork pursue these principles, those of working towards creating the causes and conditions for creativity itself, and the Dharma in general - that's the direction that came to me.  Applying myself to furthering the causes and conditions necessary for positivity and creativity through my artwork. Each piece a spinning prayer offered to the world.

That's what I'm going to dew.


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A Ramble from White to Whitney

So, just when I write a post about fashion and white coming back as a trend, I see this column by Linda Yablonsky in the NY Times entitled "Damn White".  This actually covers a topic I was thinking about at the time I was writing about fashion.

My art studio setup is atrocious.  I have far too much clutter, and not enough room to function efficiently. Most artists have too much stuff.  The real problem is the size of the room.  It is the spare bedroom, and it is small.  In order to switch from wax carving to metal finishing, for example, I have to put an entire set of tools away and pull another set of tools out.  Sterling silver charms and wax carving do not mix - one is supposed to keep the work areas clean.  It is very difficult to do in a small space.

I was at... class?  practice?  at the Tibetan meditation center last night, which is located at the Second Street Studios here in Santa Fe.  My mind wandered - it counts as meditation if I see my mind wandering, right? I hope so - towards two topics while I was in their space.  The first was the color of their walls.  They moved in recently, perhaps a year ago, and the main space has altars and this wonderful Tibetan artwork, and the background color is a delicious saffron yellow.  We were talking about dependent arising, and the teacher was using a flower on his desk as an example.  A lovely little daisy, and it too was the same sort of saffron yellow, slightly paler, maybe less orange.  I wondered in my mental wanderings if that yellow had any sort of symbolic significance, as it seemed to be present in the paintings and fabrics also.

Back to white... I also remembered that white has a spiritual significance, because that space is chilly.  I have taken to wearing a scarf - but I almost, accidentally, pulled out a white scarf to wear last night.  Then I remembered, a white scarf may not be appropriate, since this is a token?  talisman?  gift? that the Dalai Lama hands out.

Haha, this made me laugh - I went searching for a picture of the Dalai Lama with a white scarf, and the first one I see is with Arnold Schwarznegger.  I wonder if there is a certain white for scarves the Dalai Lama prefers?

My mind also wanders to using that space as a studio.  From what I have heard, quite a few artists and creative types live and work in the Second Street complex.  It would make a wonderful studio, the windows and the rooms are large.  There is lots of space for cabinets and tables and work areas.  I imagined a wax carving station over there, and a polishing station over there, and rows and rows of cabinets to hide away the clutter.  Or, at least to put the clutter away once in a while, I always seem to be working in clutter.  And multiple simultaneous projects.  There's a painting leaning up waiting to dry in one spot, piles of inspiration from magazines in another, the silver charm carving of the moment on the jewelers bench....

This column in the New York Times talks about what color white to view art in.  It is also important to know what color white to create in.  One of my first art teachers, Brett Barker, advised me to use a grayish white when I moved into this house.  I look at it now, it is fairly neutral, but perhaps a bit yellow more than grey.  I can't even remember if I painted it, or if it was this color.  It hasn't distracted me or thrown off my color sense, though.

The column "Damn White" agrees - gray would be better.  Some white is so blinding, and the light streaming in the studio, especially when combined with a snowfall, makes this room a little too bright sometimes.  The Denver Art Museum has some of their art hanging in rooms that are painted in the rich jewel tones that I love.  Ooooh, they have a bamboo exhibit - I might have to try to get to Denver.

That article covers an art exhibit I would like to see.  That looks very interesting.  I just finished a "treasury" at etsy.com about tiny things, and here is a selection of tiny things at the Whitney.  Be sure to look at the Whitney site to get a sense of the size of Charles LeDray's work.

Well, this post is quite the ramble - I hope you enjoy it!

how to float

I am a visual thinker.  For the most part, I can't understand or learn anything without seeing it. When I was trying (and failing) to learn Spanish, I had to visualize the words and sentences in my mind in order to comprehend them.  My teacher, who was very good, cautioned the class against doing that, but I couldn't help it.  Consequently, I got as far as the conjunctive tense and felt like I couldn't go any farther.  Maybe someday, I'll try again.

So, I have a tendency to mentally see things in visions or imagery, but not in a predictive or supernatural way.  Not even usually in a dream, although these things come to me sometimes just as I wake up.  It's just the way my mind functions.  It's how I understand and process things, lots of visual analogies and metaphors.

This is the vision from the weekend.  I pictured someone in the bottom of a well.  Terrible.  Dark, slimy mossy walls, damp, a circle of daylight and sky above faraway out of reach. Cold. Then the well started to fill up, water seeping in at the bottom, wafting around her shoes and creeping higher and higher.  Touching her hem, rising, rising.  She panics, starts to claw at the walls, trying to get a grip, but the rock and the moss are unyielding to her fingers.

The water gets higher, more volume, so it's swirling around her, and she's frantic, and suddenly I realize!  Don't panic!  It's water!  Don't struggle!  Just float, and it will raise you closer to the top...  float...  FLOAT... please...

I realized later, this is what I hope this Buddhism study does for me.  I hope it teaches me how to float.

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I have started listening to some lectures that are offered by a local Tibetan Buddhism center online.  I liked what I heard, so I have gone ahead and contacted them about a meditation class. I start next week.

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The rowboat is the result of a similar vision.  I'll go into detail about that one when I finish it, and post it for sale.  As I move forward in this charm business, I have the feeling that many of my pieces will have stories like this attached to them.  I have already added a "well charm" to the list - the ever-expanding list! - of charms I need to carve.

A bit of a backwards step working on the rowboat over the weekend though.  I attempted some texturing, I'm not entirely happy with it, and I may have made it too thin for casting.  I may have to start over.

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