My Photographer's Eye: Prayer Flags Over Montara

Vignette #16: Prayer Flags Over Montara
I have always loved prayer flags and have occasionally played with them in my art. Imagine my joy when I see this lovely strand while walking the back roads of Montara. They are slightly shredded from the wind which takes their intentions and sends them out into the world. My photographer's eye catches God's light shining through the trees, as if to signal approval of those who take time to pray.
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My Photographer's Eye is a semi-regular series designed to feature my instagram photography and a brief accompanying narrative. You can see the other vignettes in this series by clicking on this link.
P.S. For those of you who do pray, I would appreciate it if you could say a prayer for Henry's club soccer coach who is experiencing some major health issues. His name is Franklyn.

PPF: "Sing Your Song to the World"

I haven't participated in Paint Party Friday the last few weeks, and I've really missed it! I have felt really scattered artistically  lately, unable to focus and create anything. So, I decided to return to one of my small scale projects - my sampler of Prayer Flags. Once the weather turns warm, I'm going to have a nice selection of designs to choose from.  Here's my latest creation.  If you want to see some of my other prayer flag samples, click on the prayer flag label below. If you want to see other painterly goodness, check out this link for a list of other Paint Party Participants.
I found that starting with a simple project has helped get me back to my art desk. What do you do when you feel stuck?

PPF: Prayer Flag Sampler

One of my favorite current projects is a sampler of ideas for prayer flags. I posted my first page here.  As predicted, prayer flags seem to be gaining traction in the crafting world. The magazine Cloth Paper Scissors just ran this cover story.  You can read a blog post about the article at the Prayer Flag Project here.  Recently, I made a cover for my prayer flag sampler (above). Although I still haven't made any actual flags, but I'm still collecting ideas in my sampler.  Here's a new one:

And one more with a face I particularly like.

This post is part of Paint Party Friday.  For more painterly goodness, check out the links at this post.

Prayer Flag Sampler #1: Trust in Love (PPF)

I missed Paint Party Friday last week, but I'm back today to share the beginning of a new project.  I'm making a Prayer Flag Design Sampler.  I started with a small (about 3"x6") chipboard book which I had covered with gesso. On each of the eight pages, I plan to paint a design for a prayer flag. I think I'll try to stay with the traditional prayer flag color palette (blue, white, red, green and yellow) and put a message on each one that I want to send out to the world. Don't know whether I'll ever turn the designs into larger prayer flags, but I know I'll enjoy this process.
Here's my first flag:  Trust in Love.  One aspect of my one little word for 2012 "Home" is a commitment to nurture my family. To be honest, my 13 year old daughter is very challenging right now. But I trust in love to get us through this tough time.  
Yes love. And cocktails.  Because it is Friday after all. And we made it through a pretty good week with her.
How about you? Are you ready to celebrate Friday?

Paint Party Friday: Hopes and Dreams on Prayer Flags

I'm posting to Paint Party Friday on Thursday because Friday is the 10th, and I plan to participate in Shimelle's Ten on the Tenth meme. I'll link up on Friday, though, so you should find this on the right day. Thanks to everyone for their comments on last Friday's painting and input about prayer flags. I did more research, and you can read my post about it here (in case you didn't see it already).  Today's painting (art journal page) is drawn with oil pastels and painted with water colors (twinks). There's more prayer flags and houses and my face for Day 6 of the 29 faces challenge. 
The art journal page started with my Day 5 sketch, which incorporated an idea from Gina of Daydream Believer about how to incorporate faces into my art journaling. She suggested writing in long, flowing hair, and I came up with this:

I like way it morphed into a full blown art journal page. I find myself doing that more and more often lately - starting with a sketch and then building from there. Do you do that much?
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For more of 29 faces, go to this link.
For more of paint party friday, check this out.

Prayer Flags and Butterflies and face 4 of 29

Thanks for all the wonderful comments and feedback on my art journal page featuring prayer flags. To provide a bit more information, check out this link which describes their origin in Tibet or the wikipedia entry.  I learned that there is a "prayer flag project" run by artists, which you can read about here and also a "peace flag project," check it out here.  Both of these look like wonderful, artistic ventures which are based on the idea of prayer flags but which encourage artists to create their own designs rather than stick to the traditional ones.  I'm a bit of a traditionalists, so I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I'm going to think about it for a while.
And, in the meantime, I'm definitely going to participate in Deb's very cool "Butterfly Project" gathering. Check it out here.
What do you think about artists re-interpreting ancient traditions?
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Today's art is my Day 4 Face for the 29 Faces Challenge. See more faces here.

PPF: Prayer Flags O'er my Home

I've been thinking a lot about prayer flags lately. It seems to me that they could be the next big thing in the world of crafting design. They would build on the bunting/flag trend but bring an ethnic and spiritual flavor as well.  Plus, I think we're ready to move away from all the vintage colors into something a little brighter (but still subtle). So, when prayer flags start popping up on stamps and patterned paper, you can say you read it here first!
Today's acrylic painting is a page in my art journal. I definitely see myself turning it into a canvas in the not too distant future (sans journaling). Prayer flags are hung in two different styles - horizontally between two points or vertically on a pole. Traditionally, there are five flags, flown in the colors and order shown above.  The center of the flag features a winged horse, and there are four spiritual animals (an eagle, a dragon, a snow leopard and a tiger) in the corners. Mantras are written on the reverse side. I'm happy with my stylized versions of these animals on the prayer flags flying over my home.  My "home" and the journaling both refer to my "one little word" for 2012 - I'm tending this year to my physical home, the relationships which form the home for my heart, and also striving to find my artistic home.
Thanks for stopping by for Paint Party Friday (for more great painting, go to this link). Tomorrow, come by to see some of my 29 faces and stop by Sunday for Storytelling Sunday (Photo Version).
And do tell, what do you think about my prayer flag theory?