Tattoo Rank: November 2010

I do not hear - I listen. I awaken; so does the universe, because no such thing as the sound of only one hand clapping exists; all things arise in mutual relationship. Living in a world of quiet harmony and peaceful equanimity, I often find myself in the living room of my apartment overlooking Laurel Canyon shortly after the Los Angeles sun rises through a haze of smog and fumes. I sit in a half-lotus position on a blue mat, dressed loosely in yoga whites. This morning kicks-off with ten repetitions of Pranayama breathing. Inhaling beautiful, golden-white energy deep into my lungs slowly, slowly, ... I hold and release. The movement is precise; my chin drops into a center cleft between the clavicle bones while mastoid muscles on both sides of my neck melt into the upper trapezoids, and I have mastered expanding the floating ribs without raising or tightening my shoulders. Upon its release, I hold my breath, bottoming out before inhaling again.

A few feet away sits a plastic bottle of mineral water. The clear liquid is purity inspected, fortified using thirty-six essential minerals and vitamins and contains "green tea;" that's New Age yoga-speak for caffeine - enough G-force raging through the circulatory system keeps one buzzing and meditating for seven days and nights, eyeballs plastered against the wall, hair follicles standing on end - but not mine. After thirty years of koan, meditation, and green tea, well, green tea is murder on hair. I might drink coffee or soda pop or eat a sugar donut, however, I am a knowledgeable shaman, a disciplined yogi if you like - the vehicle is pure and I don't wish to risk feeding baser instincts. The mineral water is called Yo-Go! It awakens this shaman, ears popping, and focuses the senses on such koan as One Hand Clapping, and I also find it useful for cleaning tough lime deposits off shower walls.

"Help, somebody! Help in three-ten!"

After holding each inhalation and exhalation for an extended length of time and polishing off a bottle of Yo-Go!, I channel my spirit guides. Our business together is esoteric, very spiritual. My special field of Eastern practice is subtle energy healing and we are in the process of saving the world. I am in the process of knocking back my second bottle of Yo-Go! and my consciousness is expanding nicely. It is divine in the midst of the mundane. I now contain enough New Age rocket fuel coursing through my vascular system to blast-off for yet unexplored dimensions. I feel the urge to leap up and rip - gracefully - into my first of a series of eighteen asanas (yoga postures).

Momentarily I rise from the mat, yawn, and step to my window overlooking a private courtyard of lush, overgrown banana palms, and next to those a row of potted plants burgeoning under the shade of the palms' rubbery leaves. The sun begins its daily arc from east to west. All is right with the world and I smile to myself ... "Help in-" and slam the window.

This happens: only a muffled noise, a desperate plea in the distance of an otherwise beautiful universe. Taking it to the blue mat, I assume a Mountain posture, standing feet together, buttocks tightly protecting the sacral nerve center, hands at my sides, shoulders back and relaxed with my stomach just a touch forward. This places the center of gravity over my hips. I am organic - growing out of God's aspect called the earth, a piece of the planet. I am a mountain. The Sanskrit word for mountain is tada. I repeat the word, tada, several times. However, bursting full of Yo-Go!, purity inspected, and fortified using thirty-six essential minerals and vitamins, and containing green tea, the word escapes more like a preparatory drum roll - tuh duh! - and I feel my feet will fly into a crotch grabbing, Michael Jackson dance.

Immediately I jump to the Extended Triangle posture: feet spread, arms outstretched like airplane wings and I am now bending to my right until the hand on the end of my straight right arm rests behind my heel. My left arm is reaching above my head and I stare at it. I must meet the position, that is, maintain the position until yoga and I are one. 'Yoga' means 'to unite'. Nothing exists - no thing exists. The universe is empty of 'selfness' - 'thingness'. In a void of dynamic change filled only with relationship, momentary position is everything - I do not look - I see the Great Void, through which Brahman creates itself as numerous aspects of mundane fingers pointing to the divine. Existence is transcendently integrated because each aspect transcends itself to become the whole, and the whole's virtue to become itself is present in each aspect. In the end, the mundane and the divine are one.

Body Painting Art Fun

Body Painting Art Fun

The body of the painting shows 'Still Life' with the three key objects of the title, The Curtain, Jug, and Compotier. "Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier" depicts these simple everyday objects in a decorative manner, while giving it a 'Realistic' perspective all along. The special feature of the painting is its unique brushstrokes and harmonious color schemes. At the first glance, the colors look inspired by those of Mother Nature, when they actually are blended with Paul's creative dash of hued fantasies. This painting corroborates the artist's subtle observation skill and his sensuous taste of color blending.

Ambroise Vollard, a dealer from Paris, possessed the painting initially. Later, it cruised through Cornelis Hoogendijk, Paul Rosenberg, Dr Albert C. Barnes, and the Carroll Carstairs Gallery. "Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier" then was sold at a record price, during the auction of Whitney family collection. It further stayed with many other art lovers. This priceless piece was eventually sold as the most expensive painting at Sotheby's, one of the oldest auction houses in New York, on May 10, 1999, for $60,502,500.

Paul Cezanne's keen observations combined with his inspiration from nature, led to the generation of fantastic artworks. Throughout his life, he remained a devoted Roman Catholic. In his own words, "When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art."

Even after several years of his death, Paul Cezanne is honored as a tremendous milestone in the world of creativity, and he continues to rule every art lover's heart. He is still alive in the form of his precious painting, "Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier," a definite bright star in the sky of 'Modern Painting.'

Muscular Anatomy Body Painting Art

Muscular Anatomy Body Painting Art

People are out to buy a piece of art to increase the aesthetic value of their living room. Art is not just a piece of furniture you go out and buy. It is a piece of soul the artist presents in the form of art. We get to see many paintings nowadays in galleries and internet and we just browse over it. Understanding art has never occurred in the minds of middle class people. A new genre of artists are emerging who want the masses to understand and appreciate art.

Here comes the need for understanding art. Landscapes can be easily understood on observation of painting however the deep feeling and motivation to create this piece must also be gone into. A common man does not understand why the artist has blue figures or distorted body images which are far away from reality and sometimes very confusing. Every artist represents his thoughts and experiences in the form of art and one can understand the background and attitude of the artist. Still life sometimes are so confusing that a simple person does not understand why broken pots are made into a piece of art, and to add here, displayed at exorbitant prices. The most difficult to understand is abstract art. Splash of colours, lines or sometimes just black and white huge paintings are seen which becomes all the more difficult for common man to understand who lays importance on clear bright images as seen in reality and nature.

Does a piece become art when made by a famous artist? There is no simple answer to this. Art is represented in free form of expression and every artist is free to express. The artist owns his piece of work and is proud of it. Awareness is needed regarding art and as other fields this field also needs educating the masses about the aesthetics of art. Simple art would be most welcome by the common man. Nature is already very beautiful and we cannot make a better one so why not make simple art which everyone can understand.

Animal Body painting Design

We may safely trace the proliferation of the religious cult of animals, magical ritual zoosexuality and religious zoophilia, with its expression of animal form portraiture of deity to the Paleolithic animal fertility cult. In the Paleolithic period of prehistory, prior to the rise of Neolithic agricultural societies, the survival of man, in his hunting and gathering cultures, depended heavily on the life of animals he hunted for food. This explains man's early exaggerated concern with the ecological issues of sustainability of animal life, which he expressed in the elaboration of magical-religious culture by which he sought supernatural means of mastery of animal life and fertility. The flourishing of the animal fertility cult in Paleolithic prehistory gives evidence of the incidence of significantly prolonged periods of drought and relative scarcity of game in the Mediterranean plains.

The famous Paleolithic paintings of the half-human, half-animal self-portraiture of the shaman-artist in Paleolithic murals point to early religious-mystical identification of the shaman with the life-essence of animals he sought to master by magical art. The spirit-Ego of the shaman which contemplated the "platonic" essence of animals was thought of as spiritual presence in the material forms of the animal the hunter encountered in the fields, and which the shaman-artist contemplated magically in his cave temple. Thus, the shaman "Master of Animals" was also the "Protector of Animals," in hunting cultures. Traditional hunters, therefore, do not kill animals indiscriminately or with impunity out of respect for the indwelling spirit-Ego of the shaman-protector of the species. The Bushman who killed an animal for food would offer a prayer making an apology to the "spirit" of the animal, assuring the "spirit" that he killed the animal only because he needed the meat for food.

The magical-ritual practice of zoosexuality and bestiality is closely connected in its origin with the practice of mother-son incestuous ritual in the animal fertility cult. The universal religious-mystical dualism(i.e. body-spirit dualism) found sexual metaphoric representation not only in mother-son sexuality but also in shaman-animal sexuality.

The psychoanalytic basis of the symbolic association of the animal with The Mother in mystical dualistic thought is well recognized. Infantile fear, especially of large animals(like the cow) is identified by Otto Rank as symbolic disposition of repressed birth trauma anxiety(the large animal becomes a symbol of the gravid mother). The psychoanalytic hypothesis is confirmed in the universal association of The Mother, in traditional religious zoophilia, with large animals. Thus, among the Ancient Egyptians, the Great Mother deity Apet was identified with the hippopotamus as Taweret, the "mighty one(a symbol of the maternal Cosmic-All). She was the goddess of maternity and the mother of the gods. In Paleolithic art, the Great Mother was always represented as a grotesquely steatopygous woman. The dying and resurrecting fertility deity Osiris, at Thebes, as well as the moon deity Ah, were regarded as the sons of the hippopotamus. Osiris also was a moon spirit. The moon symbolized the male principle born out of the engulfing cosmic darkness of the All-Mother(represented by the hippopotamus). The womb associations here are obvious: In the beginning, the cosmos was a vast expanse of dark water and the Great Mother was the deep itself. Her first born was the moon-child.

The indication of close association of mother-son sexuality with zoosexuality (by substitution of The Mother with the large animal) is shown in Hesoid's Theogony in which the half-woman, half-animal sphinx is said to have originated from the sexual union of Echidna, dwelling in the subterranean cave of Arimi, with her son(a plain association of incestuous ritual with zoosexuality in the animal fertility cult). In the famous story of Daedalus and his son Icarus, the queen Persiphae of Crete wishing to experience sexual intercourse with a bull forced Daedalus to design a wooden cow for her to hide in and offer herself to the bull. She gave birth to a half-man, half-beast Minotaur(another reference to zoosexual ritual practices in the subterranean animal fertility cult).

The widespread traditions of religious zoophilia provide evidence of the conceptual metamorphosis in the animal fertility cult which, in dualistic terms, came to identify The Mother with the grosser material aspects of life in the body-spirit dualism, and thus extended magical incestuous sexual ritual, in identification of animal with mother, to the frank perversion of zoosexuality in the animal fertility cult. The identification of Mother with Animal is shown further in the half-animal, half-human figure of the mythical sphinx in Greek tradition. In the famous Terra cotta relief of Tenos, the sphinx is represented as female and goddess of death alighting in a dominant sexual posture on a young male. The vagina dentata ("dangerous vagina with teeth") signification of the female animal figure is shown in its use as vase for aphrodisiac ointments in Greek culture.

In spirit possession cults the female is identified in animal terms as "horse" (Portuguese: "Cavalo"; Yoruba: "Esin"). Fuhrman refers to Peruvian representations of parturition in which a human(male)body grows out of a maternal-animal body with the animal showing strongly curved belly indicating the rest of the human body within.

We find clear evidence of the evolutionary process of thought in which mother-son incestuous sexuality is re-interpreted in zoosexual terms: the mother figure being symbolically substituted with an animal figure and the entire complex of mother-animal association extended in to dualistic body-spirit religious thought systems. Thus, in early historic times, we find a bewildering proliferation of animal form representation of gods, especially in Ancient Egypt(which, as we have shown, have their roots in the Paleolithic-Neolithic animal fertility cult and religion): Thoth-Ibis, Apis bull, Anubis-Jackal, Bastet-cat, Wadjet-snake, sokar-Hawk, Seth-Pig, Sekhmet-lioness...

Body painting - Clothing Art

There is however, one event that unites the family, and that is face painting. Children love getting their faces painted, and parents readily whip out their cameras delightfully snapping pictures of their loved ones under the coats of paints. There is endless joy in face painting because of the creativity involved and the kids often picked different face painting pictures depending on various phases of their growing stage.

Be it a Children's birthday party, a school carnival or a community event, the face painting booth, if any, will almost always be the hottest favorite. I often find long queues forming in such face painting booths as Children wait eagerly to have their faces and even parts of their bodies painted. They will talk with other kids about their favorite face designs and the color that would go with it. Needless to say, most boys prefer animals like Tiger and Dinosaur, or Super heroes such as Spiderman and Batman, while the girls love the butterflies and flowers.

Alright, we know the clown, the cat and the cupcakes are all-time favorites. Where do you get more inspiration of interesting face painting examples? There are really endless sources if you keep your mind constantly active for new ideas. Personally, I like the Children's art books or story books best. This is because kids relate best when they see something they are familiar with and it often strike a chord immediately.

For the same reason, I like to watch cartoon movies with my kids. When the latest cartoon movie hits the cinemas, it is almost like a family routine that we would go watch it together. Instantly, a new conversation topic arise within the family and my kids and I often talk about it weeks after the movie treat. If I know I will be engaged in a face painting session in that season, I will take some time to download some great pictures from the movie's website and practice painting on some pictures with a slice of creativity of my own and create a template of it for my next painting session.

body painting pictures body gras Design

Did you ever want to be a cowboy? Maybe a rain forests? What about trading your skin in to become a seductive tigress ready to pounce on fresh meat? Well, whatever your adult fantasy may be, adult body painting may be the temporary and fun solution.

Though this art form has been around for centuries, many people haven't tuned-in to this creative outlet. Some people claim that body painting is actually the oldest art form (Considering that people were painting their bodies pre-anno domini. Just think of early century Egyptians). And, with adult body painting companies and artist all around the globe, one would probably have little difficulty finding an artist close by.

Adult body painting is an art that uniquely transforms your everyday skin into a beautiful picturesque scene or life form. How? Glad you asked. By using safe, FDA approved make-up, oils, and other various paints and applying it directly to your skin. Any part of your skin. Oh yes, that's right, any part. Body painting artists are extremely professional and willing to cover any part of your body that you so desire, from head to toe. Or, if you can't make your mind up on which body part to paint, you can have your entire body brushed with a plethora of colors that completely disguises the real you underneath. Unless, of course, you really are Smokey the Bear. Which can be done. By method of airbrushing, painting, and drawing, your body can soon be entirely transformed into your fantasy.

Depending on the piece of art you choose, the process can take from a few minutes to a few hours. The Hanging Gardens weren't grown in fifteen minutes and either is the mastery of adult body painting when given the task of turning you into a fire-breathing dragon. Which can also be done.

However, don't misunderstand. Not all body painting means having to get nude. In fact, any small portion of your skin can be painted into a beautiful piece. For instance, many people who want to see what a tattoo would look like on the arm, hand, foot, shoulder, neck, or elsewhere often choose to have their body painted first to make sure they will like it for the rest of their lives. Others just appreciate the art and have paintings done on parts of their body for display or to be kept private. Whatever the case may be, there really is not a limit to what a person can have painted on their body. A butterfly or the Sears Tower, or anything in between.

Getting A Kanji Tattoo

Kanji was originated from Chinese Characters.

Kanji Tattoo

Kanji is the term for Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese language. There are two different types of characters that are used in written Japanese: kana, which includes the types of writing known as hiragana and katakana, and kanji. All written Japanese evolved from written Chinese, and were modified to create the different sounds of the Japanese language. Kanji in Japanese are typically characters from the Chinese language that have been adapted to mean Japanese words. The meanings in Chinese and Japanese can be the same but pronounced differently, or they may have entirely different meanings. Some kanji were developed in Japan and are not seen in the Chinese language at all. Still other kanji are written in different forms but have the same meaning.

Japanese Kanji Tattoos VS Chinese Symbol Tattoos.

The Kanji Tattoos you have seen in the tattoo parlor or anywhere else are actually Chinese Symbol Tattoos, when you are planning to get a Kanji Tattoo, Choosing Chinese Symbol Tattoos instead of Japanese Kanji Tattoos, Why? Japanese Kanji only have hundreds of writing symbols which evolved from written Chinese Symbols, You can not get whatever you want to express by using Japanese Kanji. Whereas, Chinese Symbols have about 4000 year history and there are 47,035 Chinese symbols in Chinese Kangxi Dictionary. Put it simple, You can get whatever you want to express in Chinese symbols.

How to Get a perfect Kanji Tattoo you truly deserve?

My Name is Yingying, I am a Chinese tattoo artist, and have been helping the western people get their Kanji tattoos for three years. Kanji have a complex beauty as well as individual meanings. People who get Kanji tattoos are often drawn to this. Unfortunately, the flip-side is that there are a lot of Kanji tattoo Mistakes. I have personally seen such elementary mistakes as Kanji being tattooed backward and meant something else other than intended. My goal is to help people explore the beauty and complexity of Kanji safe in the knowledge that they are dealing with the professional. Why many western people make mistakes with their kanji tattoos, the main reason is because they made no preparation before inking and just walked into a tattoo parlor without knowing what they would get. And then their Chinese tattoos became the permanent source to embarrass them. Yes, they can get their tattoo removed, but removing unwanted tattoos is a very expensive, lengthy and painful ordeal! You are wise to research your best possible options before going through with it.

First: you need to find a pro to do the translation, instead of anyone who speaks Chinese. The Chinese symbol (Kanji) has a time span of 4000 years and a geography span across countries like China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. It simply takes knowledge and expertise to do the translation well.

Second: the Chinese Symbols need to be custom designed by writing them into Chinese calligraphy. Your body deserves Chinese calligraphy art, NOT kanji writing! Chinese calligraphy is not just Chinese kanji writing, neither just writing well. It is an art that can display spirits. People can feel the mood, feeling, thought from the calligraphy. Having a Chinese calligraphy tattoo is a love and a respect of yourself. Moreover, Custom designed kanji Tattoos also include stencil outline. Most people don't realize that every tattoo design has a matching stencil. To apply tattoos on the skin, the tattoo artist needs both a good clear reference of the actual design, and well drawn stencils (line drawings) as the "blueprint" for the actual tattoo. When inking, your tattoo artist will use stencil outlines to trace the artwork onto your body. Stencil outlines

Japanese Tattoo Style

Chinese Tattoos

The first thing to do here is to clarify what we mean by Chinese tattoos; we do not mean a tattoo of a map of china or pictures of Chinese people, what we are referring to is of course the tattoo writing of Chinese symbols and using this to express a sentiment or a motivational saying.

Many sports personalities have adopted the practice of having some motivational saying in Chinese tattooed to their body as their mantra and to help them focus in a very competitive environment.

Chinese Tattoos

Celebrities from the world of film and music have adopted Chinese tattoos for a very long time now and have done this as a motivational saying, or showing the place of their greatest triumph or declaring their love for another and even the names of their children.

Chinese Tattoos

It may come as a surprise to know that tattoos were not at all popular in China itself and in fact were seen as the mark of gangsters and criminals who used tattoos to show their loyalty to a particular criminal gang or to show their rank and perhaps specialty in the criminal underworld. Tattoos were therefore not worn by ordinary people or celebrities in Chinese culture.

Chinese Tattoos

Why have sportsmen and celebrities adapted them here in western culture, this is very difficult to say for sure as no one can really speak to the motivation of another. However in western culture the key to being a successful sports person or celebrity is to be original and or trendy. Only the very top tier of celebrities can be original if they do something it is sure to be followed but minor celebrities could fall on their face and look silly if it the trend they tried to set was seen as silly and not trendy.

Most celebrities have now got tattoos and what was once seen as a military/sailor tradition is now widespread and seen as very trendy.

Who should get Chinese Tattoos well this is very easy to answer, anyone and everyone who wants one, we are living in the age of choice and it is up to us to make the decision. You do not need to be in the Chinese criminal underworld, nor be a sportsperson or celebrity and you certainly no longer need to join the military, all you need to do is select your tattoo and go ahead and get it.

Chinese Tattoos

Small word of caution, the Chinese symbols are complex and cannot be slightly altered or adapted to suit, this changes the meaning, so please make sure you get a proper translation of what it is you want to say and not end up having nonsense tattooed.

Chinese Tattoos

Olivia Curtis loves tattoos and has become a big fan of Writing Tattoos with a pet hate for those that get the writing wrong ending up with a nonsense statement instead of a dedication to loved ones or an inspirational quote.