It’s been a while since I updated this blog.
Here’s a little something, just saying hello. This piece was done in Adobe Illustrator.
Ganesha March 2022
Tag: hindu
Maha Shivaratri – Shiva 2019
Maha Shivaratri is an annual Hindu holiday, in which Shiva is honored. This year the date was March 4th, a few days prior to this posting. Last year I posted an old Shiva drawing. Here’s a brand new rendition. Drew the line work in fall 2018. Did color March 2019.
Belated Diwali
Coming back from a few weeks absence. November 2018 kinda kicked my ass, to put it lightly. Regardless, I did have a very unusual but good Thanksgiving. There is a lot I have to be grateful for.
Getting back on track, I’ll post some long overdue artwork. In November there was the annual Hindu holiday of Diwali. The illustrations were completed. It’s only now I’m getting around to posting them.
Diwali is one of the most important holidays in the Hindu religion. In this festival of lights, the goddess Lakshmi is honored. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity, as her puja is celebrated on the third day. The new year festivities continue for five days.
In the honor of this grand festival of lights, I went ahead of did two illustrations. First done in pen and ink, then completed in watercolor.
Quoting from the BBC online article:
“Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.
Diwali, which for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations, is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and light over darkness.”
There will be more playing catch-up soon.
Durga
For ten days Durga Puja is celebrated. In honor of Durga, here’s an illustration. Pen, ink, glitter watercolor. Here’s a scan of the basic pen work before color:
Here’s the color version, after the watercolors have been added. Again, the scan doesn’t pick up on the shimmer very well. It’s best to see this piece in person. Maybe later on I’ll do some prints and/or greeting cards of Durga, along with Ganesh.
Ganesh Chaturthi 2018
Last week was Ganesh Chaturthi. For those who don’t know about Ganesha, he’s one of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon. In order to work with the other deities, one must go through Ganesh first. He’s the remover of obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom.* The main day for Ganesh Chaturthi this year was September 13th. In 2019, the holiday will fall on September 2nd.
Back in 2002, I had a job in some quasi ‘New Age’ store. It sold tarot cards, incense, bland Flax brand clothing, spiritual/esoteric/occult books, jewelry, statues and other curios from around the world. The store was located on East 6th street, in NYC’s East Village area. Sixth street was a row of inexpensive, brightly lit Indian restaurants, so this shop stood out. It did sell Ganesha related merchandise. As usual I sketched on the job when I was supposed to be doing something else. That was around the time I did my first Ganesha sketch, completed in colored pencil. Both the store and the original sketch are long gone. The shop went out of business in 2003, six months after I quit the job. Despite the joy of never having to deal with that ugly Flax clothing ever again, there’s still fond memories of the place. My former manager was a practicing Hindu; his main deity was Kali. He encouraged me to find my own path, interests, etc., but was also very down to earth. In fact, when it came to the general population, he was just as cynical as me. Retail does eventually bring out misanthropic tendencies. That guy was one of the best supervisors I ever had.
Although my former manager was kind enough to share some of his wisdom, I didn’t come back to Ganesh until years later. It was the advice of a current friend that turned my interest back to the elephant god.
It was time for a new Ganesh illustration anyway. This one was completed within the past 72 hours. It was done in pen, ink and glitter watercolor. I’ve been working a lot with glitter watercolor lately. Even if the shimmer doesn’t come out too good in the scans. In person the result is lovely. The glitter watercolors I use has a good balance, so it doesn’t look tacky. Thinking about turning this piece into either prints, greeting cards or both.
Maha Shivatri
A few days ago was Maha Shivaratri, or Shivaratri. It’s annual holiday honoring the Hindu god Shiva. The “great night of Shiva” is a lunar holiday, falling on the 13th or 14th during the winter season.
After a few days past 2018’s Shivaratri, I came across old artwork from 2003. Totally forgot about this sketch. It was done while passing time at a former job. I worked at some pseudo-spiritual gift, clothing and bookstore, located in the East Village. The shop was on East 6th street. At the time East 6th street was lined with small Indian restaurants. Inside the shop I was surrounded by deity statues from various pantheons. Now that year of 2003 was particularly significant. It was right before entering my Thelemic phase, which lasted a few years.
Maha Shivatri is very important to Shivaites, or those who practice Shavism. Within Hinduism, there’s a sect devoted to Shiva and his teachings. The Shavites worship Shiva as a supreme god.
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