About the art:

Ever wonder how digitally edited images come to be?

As a photographer working with digital editing, I accumulate random images that can then be "built" into something unique. Some photographs are, of course, planned, lit, propped, and arranged, but each work in the Focused Wisdom greeting card collection is constructed around a theme, in this case, around a word important to Buddhist thinking. My personal goal was to demonstrate with words and images the commonality of emotions and needs that exist in all of mankind to, in some small way, help ease the tensions between East and West.

Thus there are images of a Buddha against a background of sparkling water for "Peace," because so many of us want to be near water when we're suffering and seeking peace, or a Buddha in a background of soothing apple blossoms for "Serenity." "Reflection" incorporates the entrance to an ancient meditation garden in the mountains of Viet Nam. The small, reflective Buddha was added to enhance a feeling of contemplation, and the blue-flowering clematis vine from my own garden was included to bring the West into the Eastern mood.

A statue of an euphoric Buddha inspired "Nirvana;" I added a photo of our shared moon in daylight seen through wispy spring clouds. I then gave the image an other-worldly look with the color purple which took the image to a place of fantasy.

Mosaic tile is also found throughout the East. The mosaic art used in the cards comes from a time when magic still existed, and became the inspiration for the dragon in "Culture," and the opposing birds in "Yin & Yang."

Exquisite pheasant riverboat mastheads sail the Mekong Delta to this day, bringing brightly colored dragons and dolphin to life on the water, in this case giving birth to "Energy."

Almost all of the backgrounds in the images are from the West. They were made from everything imaginable, including a wet tarp ("Peace"), a carpet ("Empathy"), a nasturtium garden ("Happiness"), a porch guard rail ("Tranquility"), tall, tall arches in a Moroccan mosque ("Harmony"), and some things that are no longer recognizable, ("Karma" and "Guardian").

The poetry was created from feeling and research. I would read a segment of simplistic text from a book such as Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications, or daily readings constructed from quotes from Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. (See the Reflection Collection for the book reference.) I would then sit with what I read and allow my mind to wander through the words. My meditations would set the pace, tone, and form.

It is my wish that anyone sending or receiving the cards would discover something to improve their karma, even if the reader had never heard the word karma before. I would like to feel that the words and images of Focused Wisdom take us a little closer to worldwide empathy, since we are all the same.