A Wish for Enlightenment

The painting to be examined today began with an underpainting that was created "just for fun." Was my subconscious at work the whole time? I'll never know.

“Golden Heart of Bodhichitta”

In 2008 I attended a workshop in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, taught by Mary Ann Beckwith, a real visionary with new and interesting ideas, and a really great teacher. Among other techniques offered at this workshop, her polyester webbing technique interested me greatly.

When I returned home after the workshop, I continued to play with the technique, developing my own ways of using it. One idea that really appealed to me was that of pulling a latent image out of the background. In the raw beginning of what would eventually become this painting, I saw blood vessels against a glowing golden shape. The idea of a human heart occurred to me, and I worked to pull out the heart shape, complete with major vessels, by negatively painting around the heart with the darker teal and plum colors.

The heart began to emerge as a beating, living symbol of life and love and I thought of bodhichitta, a loving compassion dedicated to all life.

Inspiration: textures and colors that revealed themselves to me as a subject.


So in this instance, the underlying painting was already there, waiting to be revealed through interpretation by my own subconscious, perhaps. It makes me wonder if the same kind of quiet mind and just "being with" the painting would more often reveal a great subject...