I have been intrigued by Buddhism for a couple years now
and upon further research of the religion became interesting with inner peace. With
my anxiety and depression, I question, is inner peace possible I learned about sand
mandalas and how Buddhist Monks will spend days making
these beautiful pieces of work and then once it is finished they wipe it away.
I then heard someone say "Just think of your life as a mandala. Whatever
you do is very, very important. But once that stage of your life is over, wipe
it all away and start new".
I started working on portraits of my friends and family using acrylic paint and charcoal. I ask each one to tell me something they don't like about themselves and I incorporate what they said into the piece. It has been an extreme eye opener in realizing I am not the only one out there with strange faults. I also started inviting friends and family into my studio and videotaping them while I paint their back. I realized that with my ideas and meanings of my work that this human connection was a huge part of it. So I asked everyone something they did not like about themselves, painted the word across their back and then covered that up with my perception of them. Once I was done, I wiped it all away, just like a sand mandala. It is more than the outcome of the painting, it's the process, and the therapeutic feeling it gives me, releasing the everyday anxiety and depression that I struggle with.
Kelsey Kingston
I started working on portraits of my friends and family using acrylic paint and charcoal. I ask each one to tell me something they don't like about themselves and I incorporate what they said into the piece. It has been an extreme eye opener in realizing I am not the only one out there with strange faults. I also started inviting friends and family into my studio and videotaping them while I paint their back. I realized that with my ideas and meanings of my work that this human connection was a huge part of it. So I asked everyone something they did not like about themselves, painted the word across their back and then covered that up with my perception of them. Once I was done, I wiped it all away, just like a sand mandala. It is more than the outcome of the painting, it's the process, and the therapeutic feeling it gives me, releasing the everyday anxiety and depression that I struggle with.
Kelsey Kingston