Honoring the Majestic Magnolia Tree

There is a magnolia tree I visit often at the Culture Park near my house. Standing elegantly no matter what happens through the years, the tree seems to have been there forever. Feeling inspired by its graceful endurance, size, and texture of its canopy, I had the desire to paint it for a long time. The final stroke of inspiration came during a visit by a Vedic dancer. I had organized a workshop for a Bharat Natyam dance performance at a facility in the Culture Park. The dancer’s lively energy, clear intellect and joy of life captivated me so much that I was overcome by a feeling of connectedness and wholeness. I had found an inspiring new friend!

One day as we were chatting, the parakeet in my living room flew over to rest on her shoulder. Then she demonstrated a mudra (traditional hand gesture) called meenakshi mudra, which represents birds in the Vedic dance she performs. I later found out that there is a goddess named Meenakshi Devi, an invincible princess who no one was able to defeat. There is a lovely story about her in the Vedic literature. Traditionally, she is depicted with a parrot on her hand. An elaborately decorated temple in South India is dedicated to her.

Soon after the workshop, by coincidence we ended up at the Culture Park again. This time I took her to the majestic magnolia tree. As she struck the Meenakshi Mudra pose against the tree, I was delighted to witness the likeness of Meenakshi Devi as if honoring the magnolia tree, and what a great union it was! Thus, my desire to paint the tree was now complete in my mind’s eye.

I believe trees are both protected and adorned by their leaves; the flowers and birds are the gems set on those leaves. I guess the expression of offering Meenakshi mudra to honor the majestic Magnolia tree opened up my senses and allowed me to perceive a deeper value of its inner, subtle beauty. As you can see from the image above, the golden reflections of the setting sun against the plants (highlighted with 22-carat gold) captured my attention in one of my walks at the Park. Also, the fine details of the painting started to unfold so naturally that I was again reminded that my day is only as mundane or as elevated, as my perception is; it is full of beauty when I am able to perceive beauty more fully from within my consciousness. My artistic journey has developed hand in hand with my research in consciousness through the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

One of the unique features of this painting is that it is executed with natural mineral pigments such as turquoise, malachite and lapis lazuli that are used in traditional miniature paintings. Switching from gouache to shell pigments initially was challenging, but I love the feeling of working with the natural medium.

It was two days after the Vedic dancer left that something rather pleasantly unusual happened. I was sitting in the living room, which overlooks many trees when a strange noise from outside captured my attention. I opened the window to see what it was. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds flying across the trees… They were so happy and lively, as I watched them fly in groups from tree to tree, simultaneously in all directions. This event may have been a mere coincidence; perhaps they were migrating and happened to rest in front of my living room. No matter… What I felt was, “life is here to enjoy and I am grateful for the richness of this experience”. I’d like to end with a beautiful Chinese proverb: “Keep a green tree in your heart, and perhaps a singing bird will come.” I hope there is a green tree in your heart which you water regularly, so that it blooms and welcomes birds of joy!

More about my work and TM: The miniature work I do I call ‘slow-art’. It involves such minute detail that I have to be very quiet and settled inside. Only then can I carefully apply the very fine strokes of paint needed for my paintings. If for some reason I am unsettled or in a hurry then immediately it will be reflected in my work, the strokes become crude and incoherent. During my studies at Memnune Birkan Atelier I was taught how to use one or two hairs on the very tip of the smallest brush available. I was told to hold my breath… To my surprise I noticed my breath would naturally stop each time I made the contours. The process was actually very natural and easy for me.

I put this down to my life-long practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM), a natural technique for calming and settling the mind and senses. Every practitioner of TM notices refinement of breath as a natural result of this effortless practice, which refines the whole physiology. TM provides many benefits to people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. For an artist, TM is extremely valuable – practiced regularly, it improves creativity, brain functioning, perception and self-confidence, while decreasing stress, anxiety and other negative traits. TM opens up the heart and unleashes the creative genius within us all.