Generosity

Generosity is about giving and receiving

When Beatrex Quntanna approached me about creating artwork that represents ‘generosity’, the first image that came to mind was giving and receiving hands, with symbols of abundance flowing from one pair to the other.

Don’t forget wealth and abundance are more than just money! In addition to researching things that were historically exchanged as currency, many symbols of what one might be generous with came to mind. I followed my intuition and settled on these.

Inspired by the Buddha of Wealth, Dzambalah, the look of the hands is modeled after much of the Buddha statuary and art I’ve seen. Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of Compassion, saw how being impoverished is a distraction from walking a spiritual path, and manifested as Dzambalah to bestow wealth, to alleviate suffering.

This painting was created for the cover of Beatrex’s “The Year of Generosity” Moon Book calendar, a companion to the workbook, Living by the Light of the Moon

I had the 8.5×11 inch cover in mind when I set out to paint this image, and I happened to have a small stack of 9×12 canvases on hand. It didn’t immediately occur to me I’d end up painting in miniature—which is no easy task! But the finished painting is bright and fun, so it was worth the effort, I’m quite happy with it.

I created the whole book design and all the graphic art for Beatrex Quntanna’s Living by the Light of the Moon as well as the layout for the companion Moon Book Calendar.