A NEW COMMISSION

BABAJI FOR ESTONIA

I got a message on Facebook from one of our friends and students in Estonia. She asked for a BABAJI painting. She requested I paint her a new BABAJI painting and she had a certain amount of Euros to spend, and would that be an OK price for me? It was in the ballpark of my prices, so I agreed. She also said she did not care how long it would take, or how I wanted to paint it, or when it would arrive to her in Estonia. She said, “I leave it now all to you guys – you and Babaji. :)” 

She gave me total artistic freedom to paint BABAJI however I was inspired. It does not get any better than this for an artist. So I thought, “I am home in Nashville for a few weeks. Why wait? Now is a good time to paint BABAJI FOR ESTONIA.”

I had some blank canvases left over from the last European tour. I pulled one out and taped it up on the wall and began to block it out. I used a photo as a model I seldom use. It is BABAJI meditating, draped in garlands of flowers. One of my favorites of HIM.

Of course the painting went through a number of “morphs.” It started out in a kind of magenta color for the sketch. Then a glaze of blue. Then Sondra and I were looking at it one evening and we both said to each other, “The magenta is not it! Where did that come from?” It was too sanguinary. Too damn “bloody.” Maybe Halloween was on my mind. OK, when that happens I have to do something that is bold and drastic to shift the energy.

I had to rethink the whole direction of the work.  Picasso once said, “Painting is a series of creations and destructions.” So now I had to “destroy” the mood of the magenta completely. That would require a new “pass” of blue. “But geez, I am painting BABAJI, not Krishna,” I thought.”

Sondra walked in the room after the second pass of blue and said, “Wow, you really changed it now.” That set the stage for a whole new direction. And after all, the colors of the Estonian flag are Blue, Black and White, so I wanted to be in that energy with the BABAJI FOR ESTONIA. I painted a Blue Divine Mother years ago in Estonia, and a lady bought the painting in the training before I even finished it. SO BLUE was definitely IT!!

I gradually got into the Blue. What a striking blue, I thought. Who cares if this BABAJI is melding with Krishna? They are all in the same MIND of God. The blue made the yellow aura and marks of chundun on the forehead even more distinct. POW and WOW! I had a great time painting the flowers. Some of the magenta remnants easily translated into plumb. I was on my way now. And with a couple days of refinement, VOILA! There emerged BABAJI FOR ESTONIA. (102cm X 144cm; 40″ X 58″)

THANK YOU Maren Penu for going with your inspiration to bring BABAJI’s presence closer into you life,  closer into your home, and closer into you heart, where He already resides. BOLE BABA KI JAI! we say: “Hail to the Simple Father.” LOVE to you Maren. Your home will be eternally blessed. It’s on its way to you now, to bless you, your family, and all of ESTONIA!

MARKUS RAY

PS. Giclees are available of this BABAJI for sale. Giclees are original quality prints  of the painting on canvas. They are virtually EXACT replicas. I have two the same size of the one I sent to Estonia, and two half the size.

 

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BABAJI, My Miraculous Meetings With A Maha Avatar

A new book on BABAJI by SONDRA RAY with MARKUS RAY

HI. We are about to launch a new book. Here is the cover. The book contains all of SONDRA RAY’s wild stories of all her person to person meetings with her Master, Sri Sri 1008 Haidakhan Whale Baba, also simply known as BABAJI. It also contains most of my paintings I have done over the past 8 years of BABAJI, and poems to Him I wrote in Herakhan and around the world. Below the cover is an excerpt from my section of Poems to a Maha Avatar. Enjoy this “sneek peek.” MARKUS RAY

Interlude No. 3

Sondra and I came to Catalina Island three days ago to focus on this writing of this book. The setting in which a writer does his work is very important. For me, the setting that surrounds me is the raw material for inspiration. I get myself as much into a state of silence that I possibly can and just listen to the sound of my own response to what I sense around me in these settings. One could say that beauty is a necessary ingredient. But beauty can be found in virtually anything, even in a pile of trash. The proper charge of a creative mind is one of neutrality in an acute state of attention. I give credit to the wise who say that inspiration can only happen when the mind has been brought to zero, to empty. Having been a visual artist as well for the past forty years has taught me that the best paintings are the ones that are not preconceived, but rather, the ones that unfold as I go and are the results of exploration in the moment. The meaning of true creativity is one free of the past. Of course, with writing of poetry, I decide to use the English language that I have been taught. But the manner in which I use it to describe the unique happenings in my mind and my world are as new and fresh as a snowflake or a maple leaf, though similar in structure to its myriad of siblings, never to be repeated in the past, present, or future ever again. No two thumbprints are alike, but everyone has them. This is the state of mind in which I place myself before commencing each work. Even now in this interlude, I invoke this presence of emptiness, of stillness, to bring forth what I need to communicate. I am happy to be free of “trying” and “managing.” There are enough managers in the world. A poet does not manage; he listens. And in that silent listening to the sound of his thoughts, his own impressions, the greatest force of nature interfaces with his awareness, and something powerful comes through him, the very spark of creation that caused the big bang in the first place. On Catalina, my impressions would be different—but also the same. The maple leaf is a palm tree, or the snowflake is a wave of saltwater, but the same force of Babaji Who permeates all things lovingly comes forth into the directions and power of my words. I do not take credit for them. Yes, I am the one still enough to hear them and write them down, but without this divine connection to the stillness and silence within, I would be amiss in the projections of my ego, trying to write something profound that was not my own. The gifts I inherited from my grandmother, Grace Balo, and my father, Michael Sullivan, gave me some kind of love for words. Many teachers came together in this work, came together inside of me for these poems to come forth. I cannot mention them all here. I have, no doubt, a debt to pay to the mentors that everyone of true intelligence has had in their life who opened their eyes to a different and new way of seeing. I refer to them simply as the wise.* Anyone who has deep interest in getting to the truth of the big questions “Why are we here?” “What is the meaning of my life?” “Is it possible to be free of sorrow?” find that they need the guidance of someone wise outside their conditioned system to liberate them from the grooves of their own limited thinking. These beings who have gone ahead of us are truly out there for our benefit; why not use them? This book on Babaji puts you, our reader, in touch with a higher reality that you can access directly. Babaji, a maha avatar, resides far beyond the boundaries of our thinking, yet is more accessible to you and me than the inhale and exhale of our own breath. Babaji is the real part of your mind that knows who you are. We are all children of a loving Creator. This is a fact, whether you are a poet or a political head of state, or you are an enemy in the eyes of someone who has felt wronged. A maha avatar is not confined to any one religion; in fact, He is beyond religion. It doesn’t matter what your religion may be. He will insist on you knowing yourself. And the home of your self is zero, that stillness and silence within that permeates everything.

* I give credit to my teachers Ihaleakala Hew Len, PhD, and Tara Singh.

 

Why I paint Babaji

Babaji in Las Vegas

I never cease being inspired to paint Babaji, especially in the seminars that Sondra teaches on Relationships, Spirituality, and Healing. It is my form of “invocation.” Being trained in the arts, my deepest drive to express myself is often non-verbal. Therefore, painting is a natural medium for me to bring in something from other realms.

I paint Babaji because I feel His presence is important to help people in these times. You could say any spiritual Master is accessible to anyone, anytime. People just have to be sincere in  asking for Their help, and be willing to receive the help once they have asked for it. My draw toward Babaji is because He is so accessible. And He is the embodiment of such simple wisdom: Truth; Simplicity; Love; Service. And He also teaches liberation through work, or “karma yoga,” is the quickest way to evolve. “Work is worship,” is one of my favorite instructions from Him. So I paint Babaji as a major part of my “karma yoga.”

Last weekend Sondra and I were teaching the Loving Relationships Training in Las Vegas. I was guided to paint Babaji, one more time. He is never “old hat,” even though I have painted Him hundreds of times over the past few years. I started out with an earth tone palate, which I seldom do. Probably because in Las Vegas, one is very aware of the desert like quality of the land.  Burnt Sienna became the “field” on which I started. Once I had the facial features blocked in, I mixed a lime green that was rather explosive when I laid it on top of the reddish brown. POW! That was it. You could say the whole color scheme became all about this powerful combination.

I remember one time in my graduate school days I did a work with a medium pink background, with some swatches of sky blue on top. My painting professor, Stephen Greene, was positively impressed with those two colors together. Often, painting is a simple thing. In this case of Babaji in Las Vegas, this green on burnt sienna says it all. Babaji likes to paint and be painted. He is a playful sort of guy. People like to watch Him unfold in the painting. It is very uplifting to watch Him emerge out of a color “stew” and end up staring you in the face. Staring me in the face for starters! This is why most of the time, I consider these works to emit an actual encounter with Him. In India they call this encounter a “darshan.” That is why I love to paint Babaji. I am giving myself and the people the opportunity to “have darshan” with Babaji. Through His “darshan” you receive His many blessings. What could be better?

Bole Baba Ki Jai! as we say.

Mike and Ali Orci have Him in their home now. Rock your world with BABAJI, you guys!

MARKUS RAY

GO HERE to have one: www.markusray.com

 

 

A NEW SERIES OF WINGS

Albrect Durer was one of my art heroes growing up in my teens, and one of my strong influences to pursue the life of an artist. I had a small hardback book, simply called “Drawings,” by Durer. I was particularly influenced by his engravings that were exquisite. In the Germanic style of attention to detail, I could get lost in the intricacies of his drawing, in the “scenes within the scenes” of his thorough depictions of his subject matter.

On the cover of this book was a colored drawing of a wing. It was, as usual, in the style of Durer who accurately depicted all its detail, emitting a presence and a stillness that transcended time and space. Painted in 1512, it might as well have been painted in 2016, over 500 years later.

Recently I was inspired to do a series of wings. Wings are indicative of flight. Flight to a new dimension. Flight to a new place. Flight to a freedom hitherto unexperienced. I painted 12 wings in the month of September and October. They are drawn and painted with watercolors and colored pencils, some ballpoint pen, on 9″ X 12,” 100% acid free rag Arches WC paper that has been produced in the same place in France since 1492.

You can purchase this series of Paintings Here:

http://www.markusray.com/new-products-2/wing-series-of-12-small-paintings

I hope you enjoy the “Wings” as much as I felt the freedom of painting them.

THANKS for tuning in.  MARKUS RAY

WING #1

 

WING #2

 

WING #3

 

WING #4

 

WING #5

 

WING #6

 

WING #7

 

WING #8

 

WING #9

 

WING #10

 

WING #11

 

WING #12