October – Art & Wisdom in Venice

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The Art of Venice


art-course-italy-veniceCreating Buddhas in the most beautiful City of Art – such a great combination!

Venetian Palazzos
Each fall in Oct. or Nov. art lovers from different countries come together in a gorgeous Venezian ‘Palazzo’ to draw Buddhas and enjoy the meditations, lectures and wonderful Italian food, made freshly every lunch by our hosts Gabriella & Enrico.

Pizza, Pasta, Spritz & Prosecco
The evenings (after your pizza or pasta) are great to wander through the streets, alleys and squares of this amazing city, and have a spritz or prosecco – as the Venetians do.

Wisdom & Art
This year the subject was Prajnaparamita, the female Buddha of Wisdom with 4 arms.

Prajnaparamita – the female Buddha of Wisdom

prajnaparamita-sketchcarmen-mensink-classBeautiful Prajnaparamita has a glowing, youthful face and golden body.
She has 4 arms, 2 of which hold a Vajra and the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, and the other 2 hands rest in her lap in meditation posture. She is adorned with a crown, bracelets, necklaces and silken scarves that float in the wind.

Heart Sutra
Prajnaparamita is the embodiment of the Heart Sutra, one of the most well-known texts in the Buddhist philosophy that contains the essence of the Buddha’s teachings.

Mantra
The mantra connected to the Heart Sutra and thus to Prajna Paramita is:

Tha Ya Tha Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha

The picture above shows the drawing of Prajna-Paramita that I made, as well as a sketch of the same Buddha by one of my students, by using the traditional grid measurements that are a big help to create such a Buddha.

See the pictures!
To see pictures of this course and the artwork that the students created go to the Venice Thangka Course 2015 album on my Thangka Painting Facebook page.

Join us next time
If you are interested in joining next year’s Tibetan Art Course in Venice, you can sign up for the newsletter to receive all information on upcoming Buddhist Art Classes.