Visit my new blog! Here's the link:

swahadevi.nationbuilder.com
for writing, including excerpts from my book, and photoessays

New Work on Exhibit

Opening Reception  2012 Holiday Invitational Show  

Atlantic Gallery, 548 W 28th St. (new location in Chelsea!)

Thursday December 6, 2012  5 -9 p.m.

Note: Hurricane Sandy brought severe damage to Suteishi.
My artwork shown there was flooded, too.
Here are some pieces that were on display at Suteishi

corner of Peck Slip & Front St., Lower Manhattan

Wave Diptych - Acrylic on canvas

Tide Pool - Prismacolor pencils on paper

Atlantic Gallery
135 W. 29th St.

Summer Invitational 2011

Suteishi Japanese Restaurant
Peck Slip & Front St. near the South St. Seaport

Photographs by Swaha

Fog creates water drops on leaves

Photograph - Point Reyes, California

multi-media acrylic on canvas

with porcupine quills

Tribal Shield

ON THE ROAD... RECENT JOURNEYS

AUTUMN UP THE HUDSON RIVER

Images photographed from the window of a moving train.

CALIFORNIA COAST

NATURE'S AMAZING ABSTRACT INSPIRATIONS

NEW PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Fire and Snow

Shimmering




Rainbow Triptych




Cellular Memory

Pacific Shoreline


Rainbow De-light

THE MYSTIQUE OF THE FOG

Fog over Muir Woods, San Francisco Bay & the Pacific Ocean

seen from Mt. Tamalpais (at 2,000 feet)

PAINTINGS

Click on any image to enlarge.

Though my work is abstract, my intent is to portray the awe one feels gazing at a meteor shower, standing silently before a sunrise, climbing in a mineral-rich canyon, or snorkeling at a magnificent reef, with momentary patterns and ripples that time takes away but whose essence our memory, imagination, and spontaneous joy can bring back in new forms.





As a lifelong student of meditation and wisdom traditions, I often use white or metallic gold to transmit a sense of luminosity, the source of creativity, a light that cannot be fully captured but can be experienced within.




The golden sparkle on the page may not show at first glance depending on the lighting and angle, just as a moment of "Aha!" often plays hide and seek with us and comes as a delightful surprise, arising from another dimension.





I listen to music as I paint, so an impression of a tabla beat or a soulful melody in an ancient tongue may find its way into the work with brushstrokes dancing a spirited curve or diagonal.



Having studied mandala drawing, I am intrigued by the possibilities of round canvases...




... and by pieces that work just as well sideways or upside down.


I turn the paper or canvas as I work, applying colors and patterns from several points of view.

Perhaps it's for these reasons that the images seem to have movement
and an energetic presence.

A few summers ago I lost everything in a fire. So I am starting from scratch, the proverbial phoenix rising from the ash.

I am also a storyteller, but in these pieces, I leave the story line to the beholder.

I hope you find something here that inspires and gives pause.

THE KALEIDOSCOPE PROJECT

I love kaleidoscopes
with their mandala-like patterns in a circular frame.

Pointing the kaleidoscope
at a detail on a painting
or another colorful subject...

...momentary visions glisten like gems,
never to be recreated in exactly the same way.