Dante in a Thanka Painting

This just completed 24"x36" ink and watercolor painting is loosely based on the tradition of Tibetan Thanka painting. Dante , the main subject of the painting, is treated like a minor buddhist god. With a paintbrush in one hand and a TV remote in the other, he weilds his power. The two fish, hooked to Dante's nipples by orange fishing line are thinking profound thoughts. The one on the left is thinking `Give Dante an Fish and that's a meal'. The one on the right is thinking `Teach Dante How to Fish and he feeds his ego.'

There are a few more examples of Dante's Thanka-esque paintings on his website.

Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form

This is one of the key concepts of Zen Buddhism. Deceptively simple. Deceptively meaningless. Form and emptiness are the same thing. It is one of those freeing existential concepts, particularly apropos to painting where you use lines and color and empty space to give the illusion of something. I built these two paintings around my walking script calligraphy renditions of the characters form and emptiness.