Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Finally Tracked Down Some Old Photos
















Some of you may remember this pic as I've posted it on my blog before. It was taken several years back. At the time I was painting a mural for a friend. Well, ever since I've been trying to track down a picture of the finished product. Here it is:
















You may have noted that the figure is elongated in appearance. This is due to the slope of the attic wall that I painted on. I needed to compensate for the foreshortening effect of the surface. The text that appears on either side of the mural reads as follows:



THE WAY OF LIFE
LAO TZU


# 32

The Way eternal has no name.
A block of wood untooled, though small,
May still excel the world.
And if the king and nobles could
Retain its potency for good,
Then everything would freely give
Allegiance to their rule.

The earth and sky would then conspire
To bring the sweet dew down;
And evenly it would be given
To folk without constraining power.

Creatures came to be with order's birth,
And once they had appeared,
Came also knowledge of repose,
And with that was security.

In this world,
Compare those of the Way
To torrents that flow
Into river and sea.


---------------------------------------------------------
Tao Te Ching: A New Translation by R.B. Blakney (1955)

7 comments:

Brian Campbell said...

That was fantastic! Thanks for sharing that...

Unknown said...

very nice!

Nick said...

Thanks guys. It was a while back and since then my friend has sold the house. I believe that she said that it's been sold a few times over since she unloaded it. I happened to bump into her and she e-mailed me this picture. That's the problem with murals - they're subject to being painted over. C'est la vie!

Anna Piutti said...

It looks great, Nick!

Nick said...

Grazie!

Nick said...

Kim,

This was done a while back. I don't do murals anymore but I kinda miss them. Landscapes are more my forte nowadays.

Nick said...

Oh yeah! You're welcome!