A Collaborative Painting

When I walked inside the Ananda Marga center’s meditation room I was surprised by its part transformation into an art gallery. Delight spread across my face as I admired the large canvases that contained evocative figures in open spaces, so open my mind relished being suspended within the possibilities of multiple interpretations.

The artist, Nikhil, was embracing the warmth of a radiator (snow was building in the clouds above London) and enjoying the satisfying peace of a successful creative spell. Something stirred within my being – the thrill of creatively engaging with the artist himself – and I asked Nikhil if he could paint a piece for my office in Rockville.

“I would be honored. But give me some ideas for the theme.”

I had a mission that night: to create an image in my mind that could be immortalized on canvas. In the calming mist between wakefulness and sleep it appeared: several children running together, yet looking over their shoulders at, and stretching out their arms for, a few other children straggling behind. The expression housed in each of their eyes read: “Come and join us. You are welcome. Hold on to my hand”

The next morning Nikhil asked me for the theme, as if its appearance in my mind was inevitable. I shared the vision, and he bolted from the starting line, holding his brush and running wherever his inspiration took him.

Within a few hours the initial sketch was ready, and it spoke well. It spoke of trust. It spoke of the willingness of the strong to reach out to support the weak. It spoke of the power of human connection. And it spoke of …….. whatever now appears in your mind as you gaze upon it.

Enjoy the sketch, and the other stages in the creative process that will end up as a painting hanging on my office wall; not just a painting, but a fusion of two minds that appreciate art as a gateway to deeper layers of consciousness.

The space between our hands is potent with human goodness	Beyond apparent reality lie unseen worlds that weave us together.
When one identifies with the loving might of the universe, transformation occurs.	A marriage of the concrete and the abstract looks even more real to the perceptive eye.

To see more of Nihkil’s art visit:  www.nikhil.org.uk