For the monthly paintings I take the inspirations mainly from the book “Spiritual Astrology” by Master EK (E. Krishnamacharya). I’m regularly reading in this book for over 12 years, but still there is quite a lot which I don’t understand. It is a very dense text, but when reading it a lot of images arise before my inner eye. And so I try to capture them with the paintings.

We just entered the sign of Aquarius. When reading the chapter on Aquarius I was fascinated by the description of the downpour of the energies from cosmic planes down to our planet. The description of the Ashwins, the Vedic twin Gods as winged horses made me think of Pegasus. I searched for an adequate representation and found a picture of a little statue of a winged horse which I took as a starting point. Below you see the figures of the two sages Vasishta on the right and Agastya on the left. They have a cosmic and a terrestrial dimension, guiding spiritual Hierarchies on our earth.

In the centre of the upper triangle you see the pot of Aquarius from where the waters of life are pouring out incessantly, though there is an opening on the other side where nothing flows in – the mystery of the Aquarian energies. In the centre of the lower triangle there is a picture of Uranus who receives the energies for our system. And below you see a triangle of mountains surrounding a huge lotus into which the energies are received. The vessel is on the planet but also in our heart. You see the Blue Mountains of the Nilagiris in the front, Mount Kailash in the right back – and from the “Swiss Himalayas” the Matterhorn at the left…

And if you have a close look, you see in the centre of the downpour a Deva figure…

Here are some thoughts arranged from “Spiritual Astrology” and “The Aquarian Master”, describing the spiritual dimension expressed in the painting:

“The One manifests as two and the two interact with each other, making various systems. The one centre from where these two energies descend is called “Aswins” or the twin Gods. The sign Aquarius represents this state, in which the two potencies are concealed, which form the expressions of time and space, of the divine breath. They are called Mitra and Varuna or the “Not untrue Beings”, because they are beyond the real and the unreal. They descend from the supra-cosmic plane as the twin horses with wings. They both conceive the great dweller of the supra-cosmic plane as Vasishta and in the cosmic plane as Agastya. These two seers preside over the spiritual dwellers of their respective planes. At the planetary level, Vasishta functions through the Himalayan Hierarchy and Agastya through the Blue Mountains. The two Hierarchies represent the two triangles. Vasishta governs the higher triangle and Agastya the tower triangle.” (From: “Spiritual Astrology” and “The Aquarian Master“)

25 September 2012, A 5, pencils, crayons and photo work on paper

Tomorrow is Winter Solstice and the beginning of the month of Capricorn. I have just published a new painting for the month, also as an e-card for Christmas. I did it already on 11 August 2012 and called it “Capricorn – The Dawn and the Light of the Higher Heart Centre”. How did the picture come about?

Capricorn is also called The Mount. On the painting you see bright mountains in the background – Himalaya summits – which I transformed a bit – in bright sunlight, symbols of striving to the heights, be it in the outer or in the inner. In the foreground there is the dark blue silhouette of a meditator, symbol of diving into the subjective worlds. A huge eight-petalled lotus of the higher heart centre carries in its centre the entrance to the inner light. The stalk is rising from out of a reddish sun and fiery flames surround the lotus. The sky above the mountains merges with cosmic spheres and at the same time the inner of the meditator. At the top of his head the jewel in the lotus radiates an electric blue light.

For some days I meditated on thoughts from Spiritual Astrology, and the picture developed in the inner: I perceived the huge lotus of the higher heart centre, a dark blue silhouette over-towering steep Himalayan mountains merging with the starry sky above.

When the inner picture is clear there just remains the task to bring it down – and that is where the meditative work starts. At the beginning I ask the Masters for help, for it is my experience that the flow of ideas takes to the right direction when guided from inside. I’m in a kind of elevated state as long as there is this flow – and when I get stuck, I have lost the inner connection. This picture developed quite fast. I took a mountain range from a collection of Himalayan valleys I had googled before – the same with a huge white lotus – and compressed it a bit to give the impression of altitudinarian summits.

I transformed a picture of Master MN, cut out the contour and changed the silhouette to black and a copy of it to dark blue. I made other copies, started creating layers in Photoshop to modify the nuances and experimented with different scenes of dawn and sunrise. For the lotus of the head I took a photo I made from an artwork of a friend and transformed it in perspective. And again several layers in different gradations. Then I took a photo of the constellation of Capricorn and transformed it to form the sky. I duplicated it, minimised and rotated it to place it at the inner of the head – the outer sky reflected in the inner

Then I printed the picture and started working on the colour transitions with pencils. This way the forms become softer and one colour subtly transits into the other, even if they are strong contrasts there is no hard border.

Since 2 years I always listen to some songs of Davide Swarup done with a new percussion instrument, the hang. It has certain similarities with steel drums, but is more melodious. Again and again I hear the same series of songs and they are very inspiring for me. They also accompanied me with this image.

Finally I scanned the picture again, did some final retouching and then did prints of a small format until the colours have the right luminosity. Afterwards looking at the new-born child of the soul I familiarise myself with the picture and show it to my wife before putting it on the altar to shine there for some days.

Today was a very important moment for me: I got a phone call from the printing office that I could pick up the pictures. They had produced 36 prints of my paintings with a special technique in A2 format and some in A3. I blogged about my “Experiments with Pictures” mid-November. Last Thursday I already had been in the print shop to control the prints, and then they had to be wrapped for transportation. I was thrilled about the good quality and the luminosity of the colours. It had been a long way while searching the right method with quite some waste producing.

So I took the car to pick up the paintings. It was heavily raining. When I saw the ready-packed pictures it was a solemn moment for me, though in the print-shop it probably was “business as usual”.

Walking through the basement of the printing office

The graphic designer who had accompanied the process putting the pictures on the forklift…

… and then into the car

At home on the sofa, ready for unpacking

Phoenix out of the ashes: the first of my “Fiery Paintings” done in September 1981, destroyed in 1997, now restored from a photo to its original beauty. It’s the only one of the old paintings I got produced now.

Unpacking and storing: though the photo doesn’t show, the quality of the colours is and the production is very neat.

An upcoming documentary called “Landfill Harmonic” is presenting a remarkable musical orchestra in Cateura, Paraguay – a “Recycled Orchestra”, where the young musicians play instruments made from trash. The film of  The Creative Visions Foundation (CVF) shows how a humble garbage picker in the barrios of Paraguay uses his ingenuity to craft instruments out of recycled materials – – all made from recycled metal drums, tin cans, and plastic pipes. The film portrays some of the children who learned to play violin, flute, drums, cello, string bass, and how a youth orchestra is born:

“Landfill Harmonic shows how trash and recycled materials can be transformed into beautiful sounding musical instruments, but more importantly, it brings witness to the transformation of precious human beings.”

You can like the project on Facebook to spread this inspiring initiative; a longer version of the video trailer is available here.

Pictures credit (c) Landfill Harmonic

First this picture didn’t show up clearly before my mind’s eye. When reading the chapter on Sagittarius in Spiritual Astrology just the impulse flashed in that it will be about Kalki. In the Eastern Puranas he is described as the 10th Avatar who comes to close the Dark Age. He is riding on a white horse, symbol of the purified energy of life. The saviour is said to destroy injustice, conduct judgement, sit on the throne and re-establish law.

I thought at once of the painting “Oirot – Messenger of the White Burkhan” by Nicholas Roerich, but in my inner view there was just the rider in a majestic posture, behind him spheres of light and mountains. However, the whole didn’t get clear. But there was the inner impulse saying, it will come.

To get an idea of the position I googled through many equestrian statues – but either the attitude of aristocrats was somehow too arrogant or too martial. When I saw a white marble statue from the Vatican I knew it was the right one, but I had to mirror and transform it. For the mountain range I looked through many sceneries of the Himalayas and made a collection, before I started on arranging the picture in Photoshop.

After some hours of work I thought that this time I wouldn’t get the picture done. I made pauses, observed the image again, prayed for help. One mountain scenery fascinated me very much. And suddenly there was the impulse of eagles coming in from above. Inter-penetrating spheres, fiery eruptions, colours of dawn. Finally the basic structure of the image was ready.

The next morning, Sunday during fire ritual, there was the inner lustre over the inner image. After breakfast I started to work on the printout, and now everything went very quick. The painting started its glow, and when I scanned it and worked it over again on the PC, the radiance shone in its beauty.

See “Images of Synthesis” for the image in high resolution.

05 August 2012, A 5, pencils, crayons and photo work on paper

In the last weeks several friends asked me when I would do an exposition with my paintings. I replied, “I’m not ready yet, they have to be in another format and way of presentation.” But their asking made me start searching for a solution.

The “original version” of the paintings is a digital version, result of digital and analogous work. I saw on the web an interesting method of mounting pictures on aluminium dibond. So I ordered picture enlargements with direct print on aluminium and with photo paper foils on aluminium. Though the pictures were well produced, I wasn’t happy with the luminosity of the images. They looked either blurred or the colours like dark blue didn’t show up well.

Two of the pictures of the first experiments this morning in our garden – the colours didn’t give the right brilliance.

I knew from previous experiments when I sent the pictures to a photo laboratory that a brilliant reproduction isn’t that easy – the quality wasn’t satisfying me. So I normally use an ink-jet printer and do the printout on photo paper – there the quality is excellent. But the maximum size I can to is A 4.

I asked a print specialist at my office and he recommended me a specialised print shop in Berne.

2 weeks ago I went there, explained the problems and showed to the print counsellor the ink-jet results. He told me that these computer printers work with a RGB colour space, but that they use CMWK colours and that it isn’t easy to find the right tones. I decided to get a sample printed on foil in A 3 so that we can see how to further proceed.

When last week I saw the result I wasn’t satisfied: The image turned out to be too green and the tones of orange and yellow didn’t show up well. The counsellor proposed to do adaptations with the help of the foil and the ink-jet image to find the right tone. I said I wanted a mounted A 2-version to be able to better judge the quality and not to have to do too many costly experiments – some hundred francs had already gone in these test-prints.

The picture on the foil between autumn leaves in our garden

When I yesterday saw the mounted picture the colours finally were in the right tone and luminosity. I felt relieved for the further production. But when I looked over the picture I saw irregularities of the mounting and the way they had done the suspension. So again another round…

He proposed to do a printout on foil of all my (newer) paintings, the Images of Synthesis, in a small format on a long foil. So we would be able to find the optimum general colour settings for all of them – otherwise it would be very costly to do it all individually. This will be done till end of next week – and hopefully the production can start.

I’m very fascinated by the impact of these large-size works – but after production I’ll have to find a storing solution for them.

Another experiment with the paintings was the “by-product” of quite another situation:

I was curious how viewers with a non-spiritual background would react on the pictures. In the 80ies I had experienced an irritation and a lack of comprehension when I showed the pictures which I later destroyed and now have digitally restored from photos.
When showing my newer paintings to friends they said that they needed my explanation of the symbolism expressed. My language of symbols of a “fusion of east and west” didn’t reveal itself to the onlookers.
I started calling the paintings “inside-out, outside-in, east and west” and wrote comments on how they came about. They are not only influenced by my spiritual backgrounds, but also by the long inter-cultural work and my journeys.
I got very positive feedbacks mainly via the web, but I didn’t show them yet physically to a general public. An English woman wrote to me this week, “I really cannot impress upon you how beautiful I find your artwork. Your images are imbued with light and a certain sacredness that pierces the heart.”

Since I had received a cancellation notice of my job at the Red Cross due to restructuring and yesterday left the office after precisely 260 months of work there, I didn’t want to go away with any resentment but joyfully and upright.

So I celebrated my going away by personally saying good-by to many old colleagues. I used it at the same time as a “coming out” with my paintings. I had prepared a selection of images which are more easily understandable as cards and let them chose one as a good-bye present. Neither me nor they did know at that time that it also was an experiment – I only realised it this morning:

It was very interesting for me to observe the reactions. I distributed cards to 58 persons. Only one did not want any, with a few I felt that they had to open for a new way of expression uncommon to them. Most of them didn’t know of the eastern symbols like Lakshmi, Krishna or Kuan Yin. Many said that they hadn’t seen such images before nor this kind of technique of a cross-over of analogous and digital painting. Many were deeply touched – and it was always a good turn-around of the normally gloomy good-bye moment.
Even with my superior, who had given me the notice of termination it turned out to be a very good experience. I had done an intense inner preparation work for this. He was positively surprised when he saw the cards. He chose one and put it on his shelf in the office.  I left light-heartedly not only from this final talk, but also from the office.

So the experiment turned out to be successful. Now I’m looking forward how the production of the mounted images will work and where and how a first exposition will take place.

The image experiments placed this morning in the garden. You cannot judge the colours by the photo

I got a beautiful powerpoint with pictures of the Chinese painter Abraxsis Der Jen. I couldn’t find out much about her, but saw this sublime video which shows the paintings from the powerpoint and more. See also the videos on YouTube. And here are her paintings on Pinterest.

The expression of the women depicted is like from supermundane planes – expressing a gracious noblesse and purity, with alabaster-like faces, clad in precious brocade tissues and decorated with gorgeous flowers or ornaments.

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Painting of Abraxsis Der Jen (c)

This impressive Thousand Hand Quan Yin was a dance created by Chinese choreographer Zhang Jigang. The dance was performed by 63 deaf dancers of China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe. Because they could not hear the music, there were 6 directors in white clothes helping them stay synchronized with the music.

The dance describes the legend of the Bodhisattva Quan Yin, who had one thousand hands. Bodhisattva Quan Yin is a “Proto-Buddha”. She cannot become a Buddha because she remains devoted to the world. Her vow is: “If a single tear is still being shed in this world, I will not become a Buddha.”

In Secret Doctrine, of HPB, and Spiritual Astrology, of Master EK, it says: “Kwan-Shai-Yin is identical with, and an equivalent of the Sanskrit Avalokiteshwara, and as such he is an androgynous deity. Under his female aspect, he becomes Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the “Divine Voice.” In the Vedic and the Puranic symbolism, this plane of the divine Word is also called Gayatri, the Great Mother of the Dawn. The World Mother is called the Virgin, who finds her expression as a principle in nature and in man through the sign Virgo.” I have done a painting about Quan Yin for the month of Virgo.

Picture from the video (c)

Next Monday is Scorpio full moon – so here are some words about how the picture I did for Scorpio on 14 July 2012. If you would like to send it as an e-card, it’s here – since yesterday you can send again e-cards from the Good-Will website – thanks to my son Nikolas, who wrote the program.

When the picture started to appear in the inner, after studying the chapter on Scorpio in “Spiritual Astrology” by Master EK, I thought that I wouldn’t get it out. There was a face at the upper right side with the bridge of radiant light between the pituitary and the pineal on the front, the sign of enlightenment. At the left end there was the tree of consciousness, as in the story of Adam and Eve, where the serpent was falling down, the fall of the spirit into matter. There was a starry vault and flying serpents ascending, the Nagas or Enlightened Ones, – the liberated souls, the Masters of Wisdom.

I didn’t want to start painting, for I “knew” that I wouldn’t get it down. But there was the impulse, just go ahead, it will develop.

First I arrange the structure of the pictures in the computer before printing it out for painting and then I work again on it in the PC again. I collected pictures, googling, searched through my photo collection.  I finally saw a picture of a serpent flying through the air, jumping from a tree, which I took to start with and worked it over. I merged it with a photo of a huge tree I took some weeks ago – it became the Tree of Life from which consciousness descends into matter to gain experience. The serpent is falling down like a flash – it got a light-filled head and a body of red colour with a yellow line.

For the upper face I found a beautiful profile which I transformed into this dark mother watching over the scene with the light of the “electric hint” on her front – the “higher bridge”, the “pituitary hint”, as it is called by Master EK. And the lighted side-face reminds of the ascending serpent in bluish light. It observes the magic dance of the ascending flying serpents with blue jewels as their heads, and in the background stars of the constellation of Scorpio, joining the enchanted dance. They are ascending from the lower into the higher sphere, from the “burning ground” of the planes of suffering on our earth, where the souls are caught in ignorance.

For this part I took a picture of a totally crowded beach in China, all the people standing close-by-close in the water. Though it is now covered with colour you still recognise the crowd – symbolic of the humans caught in the waters of the emotional and lower mental spheres. The sphere seems to be closed by the “ring of the horizon”, the plane in which the ordinary people are locked up. The flames behind were not flames, but worked out from a photo of a surfer in a wave seen against sunlight – again a symbol of the watery sign of Scorpio and its fiery ruler Mars. Its fire reflects at the higher sphere, but doesn’t penetrate it. There you see the vastness of the starry vault. Above, there are the apples of the tree of experience, now the fruits of wisdom gained.

When I thought the picture was ready I sent it to Sri Kumar. He answered, “Let there be an eagle too over the snakes.” First I thought, oh, this isn’t possible, the painting is already finished. But then I visualised a shining eagle and I set on integrating it. And this was just the closing point of the picture.

Scorpio – The Ascent of the Serpent Through the Pituitary Hint

About 20 years ago I saw the very impressive movie of Peter Brook, The Mahabharata. I now came across the part of the end credits of the cinema with the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad sung by Sharmila Roy. It is a song full of depth and beauty. You can find more parts of this grand production on YouTube, for example the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna at the beginning of the Kurukshetra war, given in the Bhagavad Gita. Here is the video in full screen mode – if you open it on YouTube. Enjoy.