This is the world-famous sitting Buddha. It is one foot tall. The head is a little big for the body, - yes, you guessed it- I ran out of clay. Still, a very good time was had by all, irrespective of caste, creed or gender. Clay is tricky, very tricky. You got to be careful with clay. You cannot be too careful with clay. Clay is like that.
I had an epiphany yesterday that Nothing in life is easy. It is all bloody hard work, and you need a bucketful of luck, and at least one bucketful of clay.
He looks like kal bhairav not the buddha. But I like looking at him.
ReplyDeleteThe photograph is a little unflattering. It looks better than the photograph. The tricky thing about sculpture that I learnt is the angle of vision is important. So if you sit cross-legged on the floor, then you are looking down at about 60 degrees to the horizontal when you're working on it, so it is really best viewed from that angle.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that the Laughing Buddha was the way to go. But it's very hard to sculpt a Laughing Buddha. Clay is putty in front of a Laughing Buddha.
ReplyDeleteThe Laughing Buddha is Chinese I think. First I thought he might be Japanese, then I remembered that the Japanese never laugh. I wouldn't be much inclined to laugh either, if I had to constantly hobble around on my knees, drinking tea.
ReplyDeleteI like the Japanese very much. I like the Chinese too, but they are too much like the Indians. The Chinese invented paper, which is a nice thing to invent, and gun-powder, which is useful if you want to blow up something or someone. What did the Japanese invent? They invented the Walkman, and the whole Samurai thing. I could easily live without paper (we wash our bums here) and gun-powder, which I hardly ever use, but what in heavens can we do without the whole Samurai thing and - I used to have a Walkman. I wonder what happened to my Walkman.
I once read an article by a happiness researcher. 'what is the secret of Australian buoyancy and why are the Japanese so unhappy? Can we poll the degree of happiness anyway? After all, happiness is not a value in Japanese culture per se.'
ReplyDeleteI once knew an Australian. He was called rat-boy because he did research on rats.
ReplyDeleteIf I were asked to choose between happiness and a nice sharp Samurai sword I could run through complete strangers, or even my best friends, I would not be choosing happiness. Not by a long shot. No Sir. Sorry.
I forgot to add that I think happiness is generally over-rated. Can't see what the fuss is about. I've been happy a few times and frankly, happiness isn't all that great. Part of the problem is that there is too much hype. If there's nothing else to do on a cold, icy winter evening (which we almost never have), I could take a chance with happiness, for let's say a maximum of 10 minutes, and that's it. No more. I think it's one of those things people crave for, quite mindlessly. If they just stop and think about it for a bit, they will see right away that it isn't really worth all the trouble.
ReplyDelete“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”
ReplyDeleteBalderdash! Much better to cut its wings off and stick it in a book. Bonus points if this involves gun powder. Don't you think?
-top reader