An Accidental Painting of Lord Shiva
I was reading about Shiva Shakti recently and I’m beginning to develop a better understanding of the way that these two elements work in balance.
Shiva is pure awareness, truth and destruction of ego while Shakti in her many forms is the creator of all. Destroy and rebuild. They make a great couple.
I have been praying to the goddess recently as I work on my painting of Lakshmi, cultivating her female energy, while also trying to come into my own full masculinity. I have recently recognized that my murti is Shiva. That is, I have chosen Shiva or recognized that he is in me and has always been my driving force.
Shiva Shakti - acrylic on canvas - 2022
I started painting this portrait of Shiva with no vision in mind. In fact this was not meant to be shiva in the beginning. I think it was going to be a somewhat abstract painting depicting some kind of DNA energy helix. I got several hours into it and wasn’t feeling that message so I started to paint over it, still without a strong vision in mind…
Later, painting live at a small show in Portland, the notion that this painting wanted to be Shiva (or that Shiva wanted to inhabit the painting) emerged. And so I just went with it, and started to slowly carve out his likeness from the primordial layers of paint that were already there. A large spiraling wave that was running up through the middle became his iconic cobra. His form slowly emerged from the abstract.
I’ve never seen Shiva represented the way I chose to paint him here. And so, where did this inspiration come from you might ask? Truth is, I just trusted my intuition. My understanding of Shiva is that he represents the highest truth, or pure awareness. Shiva is a personification of pure awareness, and awareness is not containable in any one thing or idea. It is formless. And so a Shiva not fully formed seemed appropriate here. I’ve captured him in a state of balance, of Shiva Shakti.
Perhaps I will eventually paint a more traditional Lord Shiva, but in the meantime, I offer you this humble meditation on the nature of this much-loved Hindu deity. On Namah Shivaya! (108 times)…
Below is a link to buy a beautiful metal print giclee of this painting.