Painting 7 is titled “Tattered Prayers”. It is 8″x8″ acrylic on masonite, framed and is $104 USD + Free shipping in the US. International purchase and shipping may be obtained, please just email me at Jaime@JaimeHaney.com. Click here to go to the purchase page.

Tibetan Prayer Flags have a mesmerizing affect on me. Any prayer flags really. But these are the traditional Tibetan prayer flag colors. The colors and their meanings are as follows as from prayerflags.com

The prayer flag tradition is ancient, dating back thousands of years in India and to the shamanistic Bon tradition of pre-Buddhist Tibet. Bonpo priests used solid colored cloth flags, perhaps with their magical symbols, to balance the elements both internally and externally. The 5 colors of prayer flags represent the 5 basic elements: yellow-earth, green–water, red-fire, white-air, blue-space. Balancing these elements externally brings harmony to the environment. Balancing the elements internally brings health to the body and the mind.

While looking for information about the prayer flags, I found this very short video explaining the prayer flags which translate to “Wind Horse” and that the Tibetan people believe that these wind horses blow in the wind and carry messages of universal compassion and peace… well just listen to him.

I took photos a year and a half ago on a trip where I saw all these flags hanging and thought they were so beautiful. At the time, I didn’t know the exact way the prayer flags were used but now that I know, they are even more beautiful to me. The older I get the more spiritual I become, I guess wisdom does come with age… haha.

While I was thinking of what to paint today, I was going through my idea book that is just a small note book with a pocket that is well worn and used now that contains scribbles of thoughts, ideas for paintings, song lyrics, prayers and inspirational quotes and all around statements that I think are profound or even funny. Anyway, I had these prayer flags written in as part of a series I am going to paint one of these days. I mentioned it a long time ago here on my blog and it has just been simmering away on a back burner. Well today must be the day for it to bubble to a little more than a simmer. I found my photos and settled on a cropped image of my original photograph.

Okay, so “Tattered Prayers” may sound a bit like a Lifetime movie, but I felt it right as I looked at my photographs and remembered that day when I took them. So I knew it had to be.

I’ll explain it a little in case you are having a hard time figuring out what you are looking at. There is a building in deep shade in the background to the left and it had tree trunks and branches all around it that had all of these beautifully tattered prayer flags tied up all criss crossing each other. A spot of sunny light blue skies peeked out from some of the flags and I could see the trees and their leaves through the holes. Lush thick leafed plants dotted the area and I was just in heaven. I really could’ve stopped and stayed for hours just soaking it all in. It was in the afternoon and the sun was warm and the gentle breeze felt like a warm hug as I listened to the birds chattering while watching the flags sway.

If that’s not a zen moment, I don’t know what is. That is until it all came to a screeching halt with the scream of my kid and my husband yelling for us to move along. But I love learning about different cultures and find myself open to much more than I used to be. I enjoy the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer, have you read any of his books? And Sunday has become Super Soul Sunday for me with Oprah, haha… don’t laugh too loud. Watch it sometime. Peace, love, spirit, acceptance of oneself and others… all very good teachings it seems to me. It’s all so very inspiring to me as well. I want my paintings to evoke a good feeling (most of the time) and teachings and finding inner peace like those offered through this almost Spiritualism Movement strikes a cord with me.