Sarasvati-the Goddess of Wisdom

Who am I?

According to my Pennsylvania drivers license I am Ann Dohery. In my passport I am Ann-Kristin Gunni Maria Doherty. To my devotee friends I am Annapurna and to my family members I am Anki (they called me this name since I was a toddler and they still do). I usually call myself Anna. It is short and sweet just to my liking, but I respond to all above mentioned names so you can pick and choose. My faith tells me that I am not this body but a spirit soul so whatever name I have in this life will eventually change and I will get a new name in my next life in another body.
Me and my sister Lise-Lott fifty years ago. I am the one to the left.

I have always been attracted to fine art, specially bookart and illustration, and throughout my life I have taken art classes in model drawing and watercolor painting. A few years ago I graduated from a two year art foundation program. I belive it helped me as an artist, but I am mostly self taught.

In my early twenties I developed a deep interest in ancient Indian philosophy. Yoga and meditation has since been an important part of my daily life.

All of my works are explorations of my own inner images. My inspiration comes during quiet meditative states of conciousness in which I try to focus on the revealed truth of the Vedas.

  • Contemplation
  • Inspiration- Do I really want to do this painting? Is it worth my time and energy?
  • Research -What will my background look like? What kind of trees will I draw? Is it a full sunlit day or morning time? These, and a myriad of other questions have to be answered.
  • Drafting and sketching -This is the most time consuming part of creating a picture. It is here where the the actual planning and layout come play. I always do a very detailed pencil drawing before I begin to paint. Most likely I will have many different sketches to piece together before the final composition is complete.
  • Transfering the final drawing to the watercolor paper. Most often I use a lightbox and I tape the drawing to the back of the watercolor paper.
  • Painting and prayers-The painting process is the final step and it is as intriguing and interesting as all the other parts, perhaps even more.

Demonstration
The ability to make a painting is not given to anyone through inheritance. It must be learned, through constant practice. It begins by drawing as drawing is a tool that enables the artist to translate his ideas into form.
The underlaying skeleton to all my paintings are hours of carefully studied drawings. I usually make seperate drawings ofthe different objects of the painting.
If the drawing is not right the painting will not come out in a good way so this is a very important step. Once I have my drawings I consider the painting half done.

 
These are a few of the preliminary drawings I did for the painting "the Moonlight Meeting". Once they were done and I was satisfied with the composition I begun to paint. In this painting I started with the background color. My idea was to create a beautiful and mystical setting for Radha and Krishna's romantic meeting. This painting is 30 x 40 inches and with watercolor it is a challenge. Some mistakes are correctable. Other mistakes can ruin the piece.
After the background was painted in I begun to work with the water and ornaments of the bodies. At this point I had mustered up enough courage to begin with their eyes and faces. To me, eyes and faces are crucial and it makes me a little nervous that they won't come out as I want them to. I have a certain control but most of the things that happens in a painting is out of my control.

To the left is the almost completed painting and to the right I have added a lot of dark spaces to give depth and also to give the impression that it is a full moon night.

Watercolors are tricky sometimes (or very often). I have to plan out many things in advance. You can always correct a mistake from light to dark, but ones you have put down a very dark color it is irreversible.
This site is far from perfect. I did it myself and I am not a computer person. I neither have the time, skills or interest to spend a lot of time on the computer. It took me a long time to get it together. I had to take an online course in Dreamweaver. With Dreamweaver it is not necessary to know the coding so for me it was a good option. Many thanks to Lara's boyfriend Mike.. He helped me with paypal and to set up the shop. He is someone I always can count on if I have a problem with the site.

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