She came first

 No. 1 - White Tara

Material: Cotton Canvas, framed in traditional Tibetan brocade

Colours: Watercolours, and 24-carat Gold

Size: 45 x 60 cm

Availability: not for sale
This thangka was given as a present to my dear mother.
A few A3-size posters (please see end of this blog for more info and pictures), plain or brocade-framed, are available directly from me.
For prints, posters etc. please also see the About Thangkas and How to Order Prints section (sidebar) and visit my online shop http://www.zazzle.com/ariyanandi*

Creation period:
roughly 350 hrs, between June and July 2010

as part of a 3-months intensive "Basic Thangka Painting Course" with the Tibetan master painter and wonderful teacher, Mr Mangal Lama, at his "Historical Thangku Art School" in Bhaktapur, Nepal (http://historicalthangka.150m.com/)

My FIRST Thangka .... oh, what an exciting time! After one month of pure sketching,  I was ready for the next step, "moving on to the colours"! The brush trembled between my fingers, each stroke wanting to reach perfection .... a hard and long lesson in PATIENCE - above all with myself. But I'm glad I didn't give up - as allegedly many students do - when confronted with the special shading technique, which apart from being extremely time-intensive is really not that easy to learn - especially if you are learning it directly on your thangka ! - and has its little secrets (ever heard of the brush-licking Thangka painters ?) - perseverance and devotion to this lovely craft/art form was unconsciously rewarded - it works like absorption meditation in action - 5 hours daily of concentrated bliss :))) is probably a good diet for the mind ...

White Tara smiling down benevolently on teacher and student

And how easy it is sometimes to become "famous" :) ! Sitting there painting in the thangka shop, I automatically always attracted crowds and a lot of undeserved attention. With everybody there rushing towards westernisation, it was weird for them to see a foreigner interested in learning an old art from locals.

a smalltown sensation

Below, some general  information on the symbolism of Tara which I gathered mainly from wikipedia...

Who is Tara?

Tara or Arya Tara, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan, is a female Bodhisattva or female Buddha in different Buddhist traditions. She is also a tantric meditation deity used to develop certain inner qualities and understand secret teachings about compassion and emptiness.

The most widely known forms of Tara are:

• Green Tara, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
• White Tara, also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra. She is pictured as being endowed with seven eyes (at the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and her forehead) to symbolize the watchfulness of the compassionate mind. She is said to be as white and radiant as the moon.

Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tara is regarded as Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig – the Buddha of Compassion) and in some origin stories she comes from his tears. She eventually came to be considered the "Mother of all Buddhas," which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas, while simultaneously echoing the ancient concept of the Mother Goddess in India. As one of the three deities of long life, White Tara is associated with longevity. White Tara counteracts illness and thereby helps to bring about a long life.

H.H the Dalai Lama said about Tara (at a conference on Compassionate Action in Newport Beach, CA in 1989): There is a true feminist movement in Buddhism that relates to the goddess Tara. (…) She looked upon the situation of those striving towards full awakening and she felt that there were too few people who attained Buddhahood as women. So she vowed, "I have developed bodhicitta as a woman. For all my lifetimes along the path I vow to be born as a woman, and in my final lifetime when I attain Buddhahood, then, too, I will be a woman." 

Mantra

The main Tara mantra is the same for Buddhists and Hindus alike: om tare tuttare ture svaha. But for the White Tara, several words connected with long life, merit, wisdom and abundance, are added to the play on the name of Tara. Her particular mantra is therefore: Om Tare Tuttare Ture Mama Ayuh Punya Jñana Pustim Kuru Svaha.

To give you a clearer glimpse of the thangka, I am attaching a few more detail shots (the header three-eyed picture on top of this website of course is another one!)

White Tara - detail lotus/hand

White Tara detail peaceful offerings

White Tara framed in Tibetan brocade