Wednesday, November 16, 2011

New painting: The great Buddha

I am very impressed by the marvelous statue of The Great Buddha of Kamakura, Japan. It is a tallest statue in Japan and is surrounded by sakura or cherry blossoms . The bronze statue is 43.8 ft tall. You can read more about this here. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                         Courtesy: Travelers digest


I wanted to make a painting of Buddha for a long time and after I saw the pictures of Kamakura's Great Buddha I made this sketch. 




Before starting to paint, I researched about the facial features of Buddha. According to the Buddhist scripts, Buddha has a glowing smooth spotless skin.His complexion has a golden sheen. His cheeks are radiant, fully rounded. His eyes are deep blue and has long thick eye lashes like an ox. His eyebrows are arched like a bow.His hair are thick black with curls and bluish tint to it. His features are sharp and slender. His head is in a shape of a turban. His ears lobes are long which almost reach his shoulders. His neck is not very long. He has even proportionate shoulders and neck. His mouth always has a beautiful smile.

I also researched about The great Buddha statue. Found a very good source here.

Color symbolism is used in a wide variety of fascinating ways in Buddhist art and ritual. In Buddhism, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, five colors (pancha-varna) symbolizes a state of mind. These colors are the five colors of white, yellow, red, blue and green. This site on Buddhist symbols has beautifully explained the meaning and how these colors transform the emotions.  

Accordingly I started painting. The canvas is huge- 3ft by 4ft. It is the biggest I have ever painted on till date. 



I painted with shades of red and orange for the face with golden tinge. I have incorporated all the five colors in this painting. This is how it looked like mid way through..


I think texture is the most important thing in a good painting. As you have seen in my earlier paintings ( Gulmohar and Peacock) I am trying out new textures in each one. In this one I have created texture for hair.


Then I painted cherry blossom with thick texture paint 
on both sides..


Then I painted lotus on the bottom side...





worked on the golden sheen on the face and silver glow behind the head..




I haven't varnished it yet.. heard somewhere that pregnant women should stay away from varnish and other chemicals..I will varnish it later.



I have another canvas of the same size on which I want to start painting now that this is done!!!  



27 comments:

Lakshmi -Celebrations said...

excellent poornima..loved the painting

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

thats a beautiful painting Poornima...love the way you created such a calming effect in this picture.

notyet100 said...

U shared so mny information with this awesome painting:) too good,..tk care :)

Reshma at masalamangomantra.blogspot.com said...

How nice to read about your inspiration! Love the paintings!

Veda said...

love this one purnima!!!!!very serene and calm....

A Sunny Yellow Window said...

Purnima, this is an awwesome painting, way to go!! Loved this post, all the details, your inspiration, the metamorphosis of the blank white canvas...

Emreen said...

Wow ! How beautiful Purnima... I love the texture on the hair... the background... Its incredible !!

PurpleRickshaw said...

beautiful:)..yep,stay away from varnish..i am still staying away from oil paints even after delivery..laziness:P

Tampha said...

WHat a beautiful painting! its serene & happy at the same time perhaps a reflection of your state this time :-D really looking forward to your next painting & other updates. sending you bestest wishes for your bump!!

Preethi Vaidya (Woodooz) said...

Hi Purnima.. I love the texture.. I recently did a buddha painting (http://woodooz.blogspot.com/2011/11/buddha-painting-oil-on-canvas.html) and badly wanted to do textures for the background. But couldn't get the technique... How did u get those? could you explain the procedure for bringing texture? would be really helpful.

Disha Mishra Dubey said...

Thats wonderful Poornima!!! What a lovely effect. Am sure you are going to have amazingly talented and creative kid :-)
Take good care of yourself!!

Nayana said...

so beautiful..love love the texture.

Bhargavi said...

beautiful ! Love the texture..

Anzu said...

How lovely !
If he can watch your painted portrait, he will be glad and kiss you, I guess. ヽ(〃^・^〃)ノ♪

Purnima@a creative project said...

Thanks lovely ladies!!!
@Preethi: Look for texture gels in the paint section.It thickens the colors.
@Disha: I hope so:)
@Anzu: what a sweet thought!!

Be_withme said...

Awesome and fabulous

shalini said...

Awesome.....Couldn't take my eye off it. You paint so well.

Preethi said...

Thanks Purnima.. Do u mean gesso? or is there a separate texture gels available in Indian stores? Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out in the stores I know in Chennai

Unknown said...

amazing work poornima...it s well sketched and the color combination s superb...

Purnima@a creative project said...

Thanks guys for the sweet comments!!!

@Preethi: I used texture gels..never used gesso yet!!

Sarmistha said...

Beautiful painting!!amazing!

Anonymous said...

So beautiful! And nice to see the story of your inspiration behind the painting!

Krutika said...

Beautiful painting? What kind of paint did you use? Is this acrylic?

Purnima@a creative project said...

Thanks!! @Krutika: It is acrylics.

Krutika said...

Thanks!! I meant to say beautiful painting!! LOL

Bindu Mallela said...

Loved this one,really creative,I have done a painting of Buddha but the textures were added in a diff way u can check it on my blog....

http://crazy4colors.blogspot.com/search/label/Paintings

Gexton said...

I am very impressed by the marvelous statue of The Great Buddha of Kamakura, Japan. It is a tallest statue in Japan and is surrounded by sakura or cherry blossoms . The bronze statue is 43.8 ft tall. You can read more about this here.
Edmonton Painters
Painters Edmonton

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