From Source No.7 – Bunyo’s Blue
From Source No.7 is an acrylic on canvas artwork I painted as a gift for Bunyo, calling it “Bunyo’s Blue.”
Bunyo is the head monk of a Buddhist temple in Shizuoka, Japan.
He has been bedridden for some four years after an operation to remove a kidney.
Now 85, he almost never opens his eyes and rarely speaks.
I intuitively begin “Bunyo’s Blue” in a broad yellow brushstroke which moves as a powerful snake patterned with tiny markings.
This evolves into a mist of blues, advancing and receding through light and dark.
As yellow fades behind blue, my brush rushes upwards, joyous as a mountain stream.
Bright gold flecks and strokes now spiral outwards – a delicate yet exuberant shout.
Bunyo’s wife, Yoko, instantly sees a snake within the blues, and is surprised.
She tells me that Bunyo was born in the Year of the Snake – a fact my intuition had naturally picked up when I began painting my gift for him.
“Bunyo’s Blue” is now the cover art for my first CD of live-recorded melodies, “Music from Source:Return – Variations.”
Catrien Ross CD Cover Art
How do you feel about the story behind “Bunyo’s Blue?”
Do you, too, see the snake for Bunyo in my painting From Source No.7?
