Onderwerp: elk jaar staat een andere Boeddha centraal
Drawing & painting retreat including all overnight stays & meals, transport from and to the airport, 4 day sightseeing tour with hotel stay
Prajnaparamita Meditation Center
A great way to combine it with vacation in Asia!
We are happy to announce the first Buddhist drawing and painting retreat in Sri Lanka!
Such a good opportunity to combine this course with vacation in Asia!
Below you will find more information on the Art Retreat, the Prajnaparamita Buddhist Center where it’s held, as well as information on the sightseeing tour that we will make to some great Ancient Buddhist Sites of Sri Lanka – which gives us even more inspiration for our artwork!
Guan Yin
In this retreat we will draw and/or paint a special subject: Guan Yin (also written as Kwan-Yin or Quan Yin),the beautiful female Buddha of Compassion, that is especially worshipped in China, Korea and Japan.We will work with the grid measurements of both the standing as the seated figure.NOTE:
– On request you can also opt to draw/paint Buddha Shakyamuni or the Medicine Buddha.
If you prefer this, please let Carmen know by email so she can prepare this for you.– You can also use this retreat to finish your previous drawings / paintings– You don’t need to have drawing or painting experience
Sri Lanka (also known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon) is an island country in South Asia near South-east India.
Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka. At the airport our group will be greeted and transported to where the Buddhist Art Course is being held, at the Prajnaparamita International Buddhist Center, marked in red on the map, near Kandy, the old capital that lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea.
Sightseeing tour
to the following Ancient Buddhist Sites:
Anuradhapura was the greatest monastic city of the ancient world and the heart of Sri Lankan civilisation for over a millennium.
At its height it was home to tens of thousands of monks at dozens of monasteries and served by a lay population of nearly two million. Its flourishing Buddhist culture and architectural achievements made it famous across Asia, and even today the sheer scale of its surviving ruins and stupas is breathtaking.
Incredibly detailed artwork can be found at Anuradhapura
Women carrying flower offerings to one of the temples in Anuradhapura
Dambulla Cave temple
Sri Lanka’s Largest Rock Cave Temple built on a 600 feet high Rock. It is home to the Worlds most acclaimed Cave complex of magnificent Buddha Images and Rock Paintings of vivid colours and shapes constructed and painted from around 2nd Century BC (Anuradhapura era) and continued up to the Kandyan era of the 18th Century.
A sacred pilgrimage site for 22 centuries, the Dambulla cave monastery, with its five sanctuaries, is the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist mural paintings (covering an area of 2,100 m2) are of particular importance, as are the 157 statues.
Aukana Buddha Statue is the tallest ancient Buddha statue of Sri Lanka with a height off 11.36 meters.
The Buddha is carved out of a rock boulder and his hand mudra is in the ‘posture of blessing’. The delicate and skillful carving of the Buddha’s robe humanizes and chastely reveals the underlying form of his body, while the face’s impassive expression projects an aura of spiritual supremacy.
This beautiful Buddha has been a place of worship for many centuries
The ancient city of Polonnaruwa remains one of the best planned archaeological relic sites in the country. Its beauty was also used as a backdrop to filmed scenes for the Duran Duran music video Save a Prayer in 1982.
Monks looking at the large reclining Buddha Statue in the ancient city of
Polonnaruwa, that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Boy monks with big hand fans in the stunning and green Sri Lankan lanscape
Carmen Mensink is an internationally renowned painter of Thangkas, the traditional Tibetan scroll paintings of Buddhas and mandalas. She is based in Amsterdam (Netherlands), and teaches this beautiful art, as well as Buddhist meditation and philosophy, all around the world.
Come join us!
Schedule:
On the first evening we will get to know each other and start with
a slideshow & talk on our subject Guan Yin.
All following days start with a meditation in the morning and drawing sessions in the morning and afternoon.
Later in the week we will turn to coloring and/or painting sessions, and you will learn how to apply the special thangka painting techniques. There will be a lot of individual guidance. In the evenings there will be
a slideshow & talk or free time.
On day 8 starts our sightseeing tour starts to the famous Buddhist sites of Anuradhapura, Dambulla Cave temples and Aukana Buddha. We spend the night in a hotel in Anuradhapura. On Jan 22nd we travel to Polonnaruwa and spend the day there before we travel back to the Paramita Center. Here you can find more info on the sightseeing tour.
Our last day at the Centre you can choose to do some more sightseeing on your own (or with other students) or work some more on your artwork. The evening is concluded with a dedication. You are brought back to the airport or you can choose to continue your vacation.
For Information & Registration please contact the organizer Koon Teck through this form:
"Carmen is a spiritual gift, and she is brilliant, noble, kind & clear. Her teaching is done with clarity and kindness."
Irena Delahuntey, Connecticut, USA
Cursist bij de Retraiteweek bij Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
"Clear & simple with the indepth essence of a profound meditation!"
George Pierson, Philadelphia, USA
Cursist Retraiteweek bij Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
"We had a really fun five days, Carmen was really a dedicated teacher, it was amazing how we all didn't really know what we were doing at first, but got guided through the process and we all ended up making nice stuff IMO....We did a cool meditation every morning that was tied into the specific buddha that we were all drawing/painting.Carmen's great - sincere, supportive, humble & enthusiastic."
Vlad Lewis, Massachusetts, USA
Cursist thangka teken- en schilderweek bij Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
NIEUW! 
