Those tender words we said to one another
Are stored in the secret heart of heaven.
One day, like the rain, they will fall and spread
And their mystery will grow green over the world.
-Jalal-ud-Din Rumi
Persian Poet / Mystic, 1207-1273
Highlights • digital • Lisa Rivas © 2012
"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls."
~Joseph Campbell
Bodhi Day is on Dec. 8th, a Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautauma experienced enlightenment, also known as Bodhi in Sanskrit or Pali.
According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a Pipul tree (known today as "The Bodhi Tree", a Ficus religiosa or Bo-Tree) and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate one's self from it. Siddhartha finally found the answers he sought and became Enlightened, and experienced Nirvana.
He then became the Buddha or "Awakened One".
"A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things.
It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down." ~ Buddha
Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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The Buddha describes his Enlightenment in three stages:
1. During the first watch of the night, the Buddha discovered all of his past lives in the cycle of rebirth, realizing that he had been born and reborn countless times before.
2. During the second watch, the Buddha discovered the Law of Karma, and the importance of living by the Eightfold Path.
3. During the third watch, the Buddha discovered the Four Noble Truths, finally reaching Nirvana.
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Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Earth Day 2011 • variable size • © Lisa Rivas • "Speak"
• digital / mixed media on ricepaper and mounted on canvas
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Seek first to understand, then to be understood. ~Stephen Covey
“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter.
Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom,
but we hope it, we know it.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Pink Wings - photo of Red Maple Seeds / Centennial Park, Nashville TN
Opening Leaf - photo of budding leaf / Centennial Park, Nashville TN
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A couple of the new designs I did for Liberty BottleWorks
where I was invited to create some "Bottle Art"... a sneak peek of 2 / 6 designs!
They will be available later this year...
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The ONLY "American Made" metal water-bottle in the marketplace!
100% Recycled Aluminum • BPA Free Materials — That is Cool...
• 24" x 18" • Lisa Rivas • "The Stem"
• digital and mixed
media on ricepaper and mounted on canvas
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Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.
~ Douglas Jerrold
"Mud Pie V" • Lisa Rivas © 2010
HYDROS was the Greek protogenos of the primordial waters. Water was the first being to emerge at creation alongside Mud. The primordial mud solidified into GAIA (Earth) and with HYDROS produced KHRONOS the primeval god of time.
"Whoever speaks in primordial images speaks with a thousand voices. . . ." ~ Carl G. Jung
I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest.
I do not judge the universe. ~Dalai Lama
original painting - corporate collection - Memphis, TN - USA - "Breakfast in Bed"
watercolor, wax, rice paper, quilted • 38"H x 48"W • © Lisa Rivas
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The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear. ~Brian Tracy
• 36" x 36" • Lisa Rivas • "Tin Ti Neo"
• digital and mixed media on ricepaper and mounted on canvas
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In wilderness I sense the miracle of life,
and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. ~Charles Lindbergh
Best wishes for many blessings in 2010!
I will not be governed by the tyranny of immediacy.
~Mary Anne Radmacher
“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” ~ William Blake
The word Solstice, means in Latin Sun stands still. This is so because, the arc of the sun's visibility in the sky seems to stabilize for the winter solstice - making the sun rise and set in the place for several days.
So why is the solstice on December 21st and Christmas held on December 25th?
Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time. And as long as there is a Winter Solstice there is the promise of life renewed.
People tend to focus on the here and now. The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes. ~ Elizabeth Kolbert (American journalist - author)
original painting - private collection - Memphis, TN - USA - "The Dip"
watercolor, wax, rice paper, sewn • 24"H x 24"W • © Lisa Rivas
All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster. BARACK OBAMA, speech, Apr. 3, 2006
A dynamic modern painting is occurring on Jupiter...
...plus the "Great Red Spot" is being challenged! imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2008.
Jupiter's Great Red Spots, Credit NASA, ESA, M. Wong, I. de Pater (UC Berkeley), et al.
The Great Red Spot is a great anti-cyclonic (high pressure) storm akin to a hurricane on Earth, but it is enormous (three Earths would fit within its boundaries) and it has persisted for at least the 400 years that humans have observed it through telescopes.
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An upstart storm now (since 2006) rivals the gas giant Big Red Spot as king of storms. A third red spot has appeared alongside the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. in the turbulent Jovian atmosphere.
NASA/ESA/U.C. Berkeley
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