Anahata

AS SOME of you may have read, I have been commissioned to paint the seven chakras personified.
The whole project is to take place over some time, so that there is a development within me as I paint each one, working my way through the seven points. They are being painted in oils on Ikea breadboards!
You can see my first three in the series here and here.

I did not know a huge amount about this old Sanskrit mapping of the body and spirit before undertaking this job, and my commissioner (I shall call him Bob) is very knowledgeable about all the intricate aspects of the yoga and meditation he studies, as well as the spiritual symbolisms behind it all.
As well as this he is an ex-drawing pupil of mine and a maths and science teacher too.
A while back when I posted the third of my paintings for this series, some of you commented that it might be interesting to read his eloquent reflections on my works. I am not used to such detailed, interesting and thoughtful responses to commissioned work, so it is always a delight to hear back from Bob when he has received each painting, and he sees things in a quite different way from me. I paint my interpretations of each chakra and its meaning, whereas Bob is able to put into words (with a mathematical brain too) what he sees and feels in each piece.

I thought with the fourth and latest of these paintings I would also include a selection of these kind and insightful responses, which he has written and agreed to be shared. You need to click on them to read at full size.

Seven Paintings

I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO PAINT seven paintings ... seven characters representing the seven chakras in each of the seven colours.
Chakra is a Sanskrit term meaning circle or wheel and describes a system that is used in many belief systems. Each chakra point is a place in the body and represents also a spiritual aspect. Taken together the seven chakras describe a flow of energy and a development within.


If you were to look for imagery of the chakras you would most likely find swathes of rainbows and swirling misty colourful evanescences. I chose instead to paint seven interesting and strange characters, in broken oil paint on wooden breadboards. This commission will take time and I will work one by one through the seven from tailbone to the top of my head. In each painting I will include a horizon which crosses the body at the chakra point and an animal associated with the chakra's spiritual aspect. In each painting a colour will dominate, but quietly. I hope that when hung together on their owner's wall, they will look like a series of old icons, strange and perhaps mystical in a very different sense from many other visual representations of old eastern belief systems.