Catmasutra - The Bearable Lightness of Being

A lotus for you,
a Buddha to be.

"...the exuberant, unfolding, unpredictable universe, expanding when it should be contracting, made largely of something that is not something but nothing - dark energy, anti-matter. A thing unconfined.
What to say when the certainties fail?
Words are the part of silence that can be spoken. "

Strangely enough, I did this painting from negative to positive, from dark to light, beginning with a black-greenish background, outlined with white chalk before painting in the colors. And the lotus actually grows in muddy waters while it rises above the surface to bloom. When the sun sets, the lotus flower closes and sinks underwater but at dawn, it reappears in all its splendor, untouched by impurity. And I painted the cat in its usual cheeky and blissful self, completely oblivious of everything else but the here and now, lying on a large lotus leaf, with three fishes leading the way, guided by lotus flowers as nature's signposts.

There is no past, no future in the here and now, just the cat drifting through a vast thought that becomes an entire universe. Everything is as they should be, the present moment as it is, without the pull of the past or push of the future - this bearable lightness of being - the only moment that really belongs to us. When we touch this moment, everything becomes real. I miss this painting already, having brought most of the paintings to the gallery.

Do not lose yourself in the past,
do not run after the future.

To lose the present is to lose life.

Quotes by Jeanette Winterson, Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh



Catmasutra 4, the exhibition!


UTTERLY ART - 13th - 23rd DECEMBER 2007
CATMASUTRA IV PAINTING EXHIBITION

229A South Bridge Road Singapore 058778 2nd Level
Opening hours: 11am to 8pm, Monday to Sunday

;)