I have a gift that I discovered in my twenties. I could read art and know how the people who made it felt when they made their art. This gift has developed a great deal since I started working with people to lessen their suffering, using art-making in the process. Today much more information comes to me through people’s art. And more still comes through my own art-work, done in people’s presence, or when I am aware of them.
I used to be a graphic designer and an illustrator. I wrote for children and a little bit for adults. I came to NYC in 1985, 40 years old, married with three children and started a new career as an illustrator only. A few years later I became involved with Chan Meditation Center and studied meditation and Buddhist knowledge with the late Master Sheng-yen from Taiwan. For twelve years I was in a process of deepening my meditation. I had many more experiences and insights and my life changed. After having illustrated more than 40 children’s books and writing two of them, I left this career too and went to NYU to study art therapy.
ByGiora Carmi
Under the drawing lines there are only two shapes. One is yellow. One is multi colored. The drawing lines above the second, bigger shape, were used as borders among the colors. The drawing and the multi colored shape became glued to each other through this. They became one. But from the top of the multi…
ByGiora Carmi
I am. I think of A. I make A out of myself. In order for A to be A, it needs B all around it. So B is created too just as I create A. Now A, a part of me who is different from everything else, and B, also a part of me who…
ByGiora Carmi
Yesterday and today I did two new paintings. I did them small. You finish faster this way and are able to see what you made immediately. I look at the second one now, the one I just finished. The first one is also interesting to share and maybe it will be in the next entry….
ByGiora Carmi
All the drawings and paintings in the blog are thought forms. They are different forms of thoughts than those that we create with language. It is a different way to know and communicate. It is the language that we need for creation. If my art is created only from language-thoughts, it will be like repeating…
ByGiora Carmi
The flowers grow in all kinds of shapes The light in the flowers Is your light The light in all things Is your light Every little speck of dust Is a door The door is always open Come, go through it Come and meet us where you are. There is light in the white areas…
ByGiora Carmi
As you see The areas overlap And struggle with each other For control of the same space And what if they knew That the same space Is open and given to every one of them With no limitations All with love and joy and acceptance Be they as they want to be And the radiating…
ByGiora Carmi
The big stones That were uprooted That were torn away From their heavy comfort The loose stones That everybody fears Know already Even as they slowly turn And are about to fall With a thump The peace That will be here next. The tree and the stones Are closer to my eyes That are in…
ByGiora Carmi
I thought these lines would be the skeleton, to which I’d add pencil lines of many details. But it looked finished and full of mystery. If I saw a big painting like this in a museum, I’d be very enthusiastic. I’d stop, breathless, right there and take a picture, write the painter’s name, add the…
ByGiora Carmi
You can probably tell From my vibes I see the reality in my dream Collapsing And there is something interesting About the space that opens Maybe you can see that too It feels alive Maybe more alive than it usually was It almost has a face And you can feel it You can almost touch…
ByGiora Carmi
My father lived at the top On the right This is after he died I came to live on the rocks Where you can see the lake I sit on a bench The evening comes like love I let myself feel the evening On my skin Trees and stones look with me Quietly With not…
ByGiora Carmi
Which direction do you grow? To where the joy will take me. What do you hold on to? Nothing. And who is looking at you? I alone look at me. There is nobody else Anywhere. I used to be a graphic designer and an illustrator. I became involved with the Chan Meditation Center…
ByGiora Carmi
Painting from article ‘From Dense to Airy‘ What else can we see in this painting? The colors in the architectural area on the right side are warm and feel comfortable with each other. The colors in the man are colder and more contrasting with each other. Can it be that the man is somewhat conflicted,…
