cross art

Golden moonlight gilds the spreading branches of a pipal tree, a variety of fig that grows in India and is considered sacred. Buddha achieved enlightenment while meditating beneath such a tree, which then became known as a bodhi, or "enlightened" tree. Some of these trees in Thailand are said to derive from cuttings of the original bodhi. Saisunee's reverent painting receives applications of metallic foil for contrast.

Silvery moonlight gilds the spreading branches of a pipal tree, a variety of fig that grows in India and is considered sacred. Buddha achieved enlightenment while meditating beneath such a tree, which then became known as a bodhi, or "enlightened" tree. Some of these trees in Thailand are said to derive from cuttings of the original bodhi. Saisunee's reverent painting receives applications of metallic foil for contrast.

Mother nature begins with the tree of life in this World Peace Project painting by India's Bharti Dayal. As Mother Nature sits cross-legged, resembling a heart, she extends her limbs upwards, branching out into a full-grown tree with pink leaves and lotus flower motifs.

The artist explains that the unification of the female form and the tree suggests that femininity is in its essence peaceful. Just as Hinduism advocates the continuous growth of oneself and the pursuit of inner peace, 'Feminine Tree' depicts the figurative source of peace as the self, independent of the surrounding world.

The artist uses natural vegetable colors to depict this symbolic scene of Mother Nature existing within an empty gray domain, sprouting with vibrant pink, directing one's attention to the peaceful heights reached in the feminine universe.

Dayal carefully arranges her composition to tell the story of the tree of life, employing the classic Madhubani painting style. "Madhubani paintings are in fact a simplistic manifestation of the philosophical heights achieved by Indian civilization for the universal power of love, longing and peace -- the quest of all beings," Dayal says.