Even a Sock Monkey Likes a Cool Dip to Refresh – 4″ x 6″ Ink

“Long live impermanence! Without it a flower would never blossom, a baby would never be able to walk or become a teenager and grow into adulthood.”
–Thich Nhat Hahn

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Even a Sock Monkey Likes a Cool Dip to Refresh – 4″ x 6″ Ink

Busy weekend and no time to fill in with watercolor.  I painted this from an photo by Lisilk at WetCanvas.  Li lives in the Bahamas and there were children playing on a floating toy in the ocean.  Somehow my brain went to “refresh” for Illustration Friday and of course… sock monkeys. 

Thich Nhat Hahn

The Most Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây)  founded the Unified Buddhist Church (Eglise Bouddhique Unifieé) in France in 1969, during the Vietnam war. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, a poet, a scholar, and a peace activist. His life long efforts to generate peace and reconciliation moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He founded the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon and the School for Youths of Social Services in Vietnam. When not travelling the world to teach “The Art of Mindful Living”, he teaches, writes, and gardens in Plum Village, France, a Buddhist monastery for monks and nuns and a mindfulness practice center for lay people.  Source

1950 Chevrolet Pickup

“We have a lamp inside of us, the lamp of mindfulness, which we can light anytime. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, our steps, and our peaceful smile. We have to light up that lamp of mindfulness so that light will shine out and the darkness will dissipate and cease. Our practice is to light up the lamp.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh

This quote is from my newest little book called Wrinkles Don’t Hurt – Daily meditations on the joy of aging mindfully. I am loving this book by Ruth Fishel, who also wrote another great one called A Time For Joy.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2011

1950 Chevrolet Pickup – 3″ x 4″ Watercolor

I am doing all these paintings with buildings in them and the streets are suspiciously empty.  I decided to practice painting vehicles, which I am terrible at.  I wouldn’t mind them so much if they didn’t have tires.  The perspective, shadows, placement, etc, of tires are just bewildering to me, as you can see in this little painting.  The front passenger side tire is in the wrong place somehow.  I like the rest of the truck, I think. 

Thích Nhất Hạnh ( born October 11, 1926) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who now lives in France.  Born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, Thích Nhất Hạnh joined a Zen (Vietnamese: Thiền) monastery at the age of 16, and studied Buddhism as a novitiate.  Upon his ordination as a monk in 1949, he assumed the Dharma name Thích Nhất Hạnh. Thích is an honorary family name used by all Vietnamese monks and nuns, meaning that they are part of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan.  He is often considered the most influential living figure in the lineage of Lâm Tế (Vietnamese Rinzai) Thiền, and perhaps also in Zen Buddhism as a whole.  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.