speed of thought

Enlightenment and thought are two words that instantly connect us with Buddha. Thangkas are an interesting traditional art form depicting Buddha. A thangka is a painting done on cotton or silk appliqué and it normally has Buddha as its primary subject. The thangka consists of a picture panel which is painted or embroidered over which a textile. This is then mounted and is usually in silk. Thangkas are meant to last a very long time and retain much of their lustre. They are very delicate so they have to be kept in dry places where moisture will not affect the quality of the silk. They are also in the form of scrolls.

The purpose of these paintings was to be teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha. One of the subjects is The Wheel of Life. Within which the visual representation of the Abhidharma teachings (Art of Enlightenment) are shown.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Siddhartha Gautama
(The Buddha)
563-483 B.C.

CREDITS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thangka

http://www.true-enlightenment.com/buddha-quotes.html

recipe for great food

Creating Food is definitely an art! And to go by Heston Blumenthal's philosophy, it is a multi - sensory experience. 

"Of course I want to create food that is delicious, but this depends on so much more than simply what's going on in the mouth-context, history, nostalgia, emotion, memory and the interplay of sight, smell, sound and taste all play an important part in our appreciation and enjoyment of food." Says Heston, a self taught chef, who has taken a very unconventional route to the top. (he is a celebrity chef and owner of several restaurants).

He believes in innovation, rule breaking and experimentation, believes in the science of food (to cite his method of cooking with the help of liquid nitrogen) Heston, who got drawn to cooking after a extraordinary food experience at 16, worked hard to realise his food dream. His natural curiosity led him to experiment on how the brain 'perceives' food and how the same food is experienced differently in different situations!

source: http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/Heston-Blumenthal/Biography/
http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/Heston-Blumenthal/Cooking-Statement/

dreams will fade

All of us dream! But some of us live our dreams, and others just let them fade away! We keep postponing working on dreams, because we are  too busy with 'Reality" 

El Vendedor de Humo

A dream salesman comes to town offering an extraordinary merchandise, to realize the dreams of its inhabitants, though, for a small fee. However, the locals do not have time to fantasize, being very busy with their chores. The vendor will have to unlock the potential to attract and win some cash, before all the dreams fade away and the people awaken.

credits: El vendedor de humo Jaime Maestro PrimerFrame IVAC Goya 2013

source: http://www.artshortfilms.com/2013_02_01_archive.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwWqMgddes4

play

A pioneer in research on play, Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults — and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. (Recorded at Serious Play in May 2008, in Pasadena, California. Duration: 26:42.)  source: http://www.ted.com/speakers/stuart_brown

Dr. Stuart Brown's research shows play is not just joyful and energizing — it's deeply involved with human development and intelligence. Through the National Institute for Play, he's working to better understand its significance.

The National Institute for Play is a  non-profit public benefit corporation committed to bringing the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life. It is gathering research from diverse play scientists and practitioners, initiating projects to expand the clinical scientific knowledge of human play and translating this emerging body of knowledge into programs and resources which deliver the transformative power of play to all segments of society.

They envision a near term future where all existing scientific research related to human play — currently scattered across a range of scientific disciplines and only partially identified as human-play-related — is integrated and the field of Human Play is a credentialed discipline in the scientific community.

source: http://www.nifplay.org/

hear and say

Cacophony of silence , painting by Kamal Mustafa

Ears are often ignored in visual art. But isn't it true that so much of our experience comes through hearing?

“Hearing has got to do with second-hand knowledge, knowledge handed down to us, and it’s not something that can be ignored. We cannot live life without the concept of hearsay, and this has provided me a big canvas to play with,” says Kamal Mustafa, artist, photographer, film maker. In his exhibition, we see thinly veiled under the numerous depictions of ears are socio-political messages which stir the senses.

Thousand Ears Of Hearsay by Kamal Mustafa depicts the human communication process and the role of the ear in it.

Simulations might seem like a collection of abstract paintings, but within each piece lies often-ignored truths.The inclusion of “narratives” within the work and the interplay of these components with the
static images to bring about a different kind of engagement to the viewer: the syntagmatic
(video) vs. the paradigmatic i.e the painting without attempting to resolve either. While it is
perfectly possible (some will say logical) to do the work in video form, I wanted to retain the two dimensionality of the painted canvas with all its inherent properties and limitations. The painting
is a “presence” that the moving images have to contend with and operate within. So in a sense
this self-imposed parameter is my labyrinth.

source: http://www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/downloads/apbf/malaysia/Kamal_Mustafa.pd
https://www.facebook.com/fergana.art
http://www.kamal-mustafa.com/simulations/
http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Arts/Frame-Up/2014/02/16/Kamal-Mustafas-got-an-ear-for-art/

unexpected holiday

An unexpected holiday can change your life ... at least for that day! And who can know it better than someone who is stuck up in a routine that they don't quite enjoy?

Watch Audrey Hepburn, the princess who runs away and lives her life all in one day in the film Roman Holiday (1953) directed and produced by William Wyler.

The day she enjoys in the company of reporter Gregory Peck, does come to an end, and she goes back to her world with a heavy heart, but also with the small piece of happiness that the day brought to her.

anger

What does 'anger' look like? Here are a  few images depicting the emotion 'anger' from the website  Livelightbeing.com, that show various expressions of the emotion.

 via http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/anger-1-fatimah-al-khtani.jpg

via http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd228/swaggerdap/angry7_72dpi1.jpg

via http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00065/14sm_savi_JPG_65476e.jpg

via http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YjcJAeRzX-4/TU6zp0Kw34I/AAAAAAAAAa0/T4f-LOAHWM8/s1600/anger.jpg

via http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r19/audeemirza/taufiks-painting/patahan.jpg

artist's own interpretation of anger source: http://livelightbeing.com/tag/anger/

 viahttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_91wEXEZ2Srk/TMRdbBp8UwI/AAAAAAAAAWE/2I6duXIAoDQ/s1600/anger.jpg

 via : http://www.paintingsilove.com/image/show/121863/angry-red-women

Entitled “Drawing from your Emotions”, it is a website which deals with the main human emotions- anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise- and potentially some of the others, such as compassion, boredom, embarrassment, rage, hunger, etc.It is  imagined as an open and collaborative type of site, where people from all over the world could upload their own images of that emotion. The author has also sourced images that go with the title'anger' and put them up as a collection.

Nicole is a trained arts therapist working as an interdisciplinary arts therapist with children and adults in a variety of settings, including elementary schools, community centers, rehabilitation centers, and non-profit agencies. She believes that art can 'save' life, it can help you discover your own story once you engage with your art, where you focus on the process, rather than the product.

source: http://livelightbeing.com/tag/anger/