In Memory of Armand

It's hard to unexpectedly lose a long-time buddy, fellow artist, DIY craftsman, avid gardener, husband, father... Our thoughts are with your lovely wife and daughter.

Be well, my friend, on your journey.

Dakini Redux

Early in December I had my 60th birthday. One thought that bothered me concerned what would happen to my artwork when I'm dead and gone? Would anyone really be able to trundle through endless directories of work on my computer to discover everything? True, a lot of stuff is posted on my various websites, but... So, over the holidays I printed out a bunch of my images and organized them into presentation binders.

Well, some older images bothered me greatly and I decided to go back in to rework them. Below is an example of the before and after state of one of my Dakini images. By removing a lot of the background (photo of a golden geometric pattern from a ornamental door) and remixing the figure's layers, I think the newest version is much more dynamic and allows the Dakini figure to be read better.

Dakini "before"

Dakini "after"

Triptychs!!!

I was rummaging around some work from a few years ago and decided that I wanted to see if it might be interesting to combine a few pieces into triptychs panels. Below are 2 of the resulting compositions. What do you think? The results are surprisingly powerful! Definitely something to explore more...

Durga Altar Triptych ©2012

Lady One Death Yantra Triptych ©2012

Newest Medicine Buddha Thangka

Medicine Thangka of Medicine Buddha

Healing Altar Installation

Now showing at The Blue Door Gallery's "Arts for Healing" exhibition, July 1st - August 1st.Opening Reception Wednesday, July 1st 4pm-8pm. 13 Riverdale Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701. Gallery Hours: Wednesday 12-5pm, Thursday 12-5pm, Friday 2-7pm, Saturday 12-5pm. For more information: 914-375-5100

Healing Altar - M.Gilliland ©2009

The Healing Altar installation is intended to bring needed healing to our selves, our loved ones, our community, our nation and our planet. Gallery visitors are invited to write offerings on joss paper and then place them into a prayer box, as well as to place other offerings (stones, candles, incense, flowers, herbs, photos, etc.) onto the altar itself. Once a week – on Saturday afternoon, the artist will come to the altar to bring new flowers and light incense offerings, to pray for peace and well-being, and to burn (offer up) the written prayers left by gallery visitors.

About this piece: the two cut-out side panels depict the artist as embodying a Buddha with hands held in the gesture of prayer and gratitude – Namasté. This is a form of the meditation of Tibetan Buddhist deity self-visualization practice - training for a compassionate mind and heart. The central panel depicts the figure of a dancing Black Dakini – a protective female aspect of nature embodying raw energies of creation and destruction – the cycles of life. Her flaming aura shows both purity of intent as well as showing her spiritual power. She dances on a skull to indicate that she has conquered fear of Death. Above her, an offering cloud of incense and flowers wafts into the realm of Spirit, a gift of gratitude to our Ancestors, Guides and Protectors.

Upcoming Art Show

My piece "Durga Altar" is in the inaugural exhibition of Blue Door Gallery in lovely downtown Yonkers. Opens Sat. 3/28/09 2-5pm.

Note: show is now over. Sorry you missed it!