Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Three Paintings of Ladakh




Here are three paintings done over the past month of Ladakh. Ladakh is part of the Indian state of Kashmir, part of the skinny northern part of India between Tibet and Pakistan. My wife and I trekked there in 2004. These are based on photos I took while there, but all of the photos, especially the foregrounds have been altered for compositional reasons. The top image is a chorten at the Lamayuru Monastery. The middle is another view of Lamayuru. The third painting is a view of part of the Palace of Leh, the capital of Ladakh. Last week the Leh valley was devastated by floods, which is very unusual since Ladakh averages 1-3" of rain a year.

7 comments:

  1. I cannot put into words the feelings I get from looking at these watercolors. The sacredness of place, the sense of history and majestic natural formations - its all there. I also see how you are blending some of the technique developed in your tonalist works into these more narrative paintings. This is heavy inspiration.

    W

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wren, Thanks for mentioning the sacredness of place. I was trying to convey this and wasn't sure that I succeeded. I'm glad you find the paintings inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Wren. Its one thing to be able to communicate shapes, another to convey light...but to instill the intangible quality of sacredness is....very moving. You have done that here.

    Thank you Michael

    ReplyDelete
  4. michael.....just beautiful work....thank god we have the internet to view all the great stuff going on.....many thanks for the post, philip ishimaru

    ReplyDelete
  5. Phil, thanks, it's good to hear from you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great post, thanks for sharing .if you want to get Ladakh Tibetan Handicrafts

    ReplyDelete