I began painting 22 years ago after admiring the antique thangkas and Indian miniatures that devotees of my spiritual teacher owned. They were completely unlike any art I’d ever seen, coming from a childhood growing up in Midwest America, and the colors, stylized figures and creatures, and compositions were very beautiful to me.

"Thangkas art" is a style of painting Buddhist deities that began around 1300 years ago - well, hard to put a date on a culture's evolving love of painting religious deities, but something like that. They are created on fabric so that they can be rolled up - a handy quality in art for a nomadic culture.

Indian miniatures are small exquisitely detailed paintings of scenes of court life and deity art.

I began studying meditation and yoga and that brought me closer to the art. After having a lot of fun decorating a party with a bunch of artist friends and painting big “thangkas” on old bedsheets, hanging them in trees and everywhere else, I realized I could paint like these paintings I loved so much. I got a commission from that party art, and then just kept going from there.

You can feel the energy scintillate, quietly and peacefully, in old thangkas —- years of use in monasteries, painted in an ancient time before electricity and the intensity of technology and rapid change created a whirlwind in our minds.... They really inspire me.

I hope the giclée prints of my paintings and drawings have a tiny bit of that stillness and peace in them.... Welcome to my shop!

Laura

PS: I Don't paint in standard sizes. Consequently all the sizes you can pick from on my shop listings are APPROXIMATE - so its best to wait to buy frames until you have the art in hand.