Milarepa was an 11th century yogi in Tibet who became enlightened after many years of practice and service with his teacher Marpa. Through devotion and hard work, he overcame tremendous negative karma. This gives me a lot of hope!

In this tradition pose, Milarepa holds hand to ear in the gesture of listening to his teacher as he meditates in the wilderness. My teacher has often spoken of the state of being present like a soap bubble, you have to be focused and relaxed to maintain it. Milarepa’s nimbus or halo is like a soap bubble and mini abstract painting within a painting.

The landscape weaves together Tibetan cave and water elements with the mountain background of Long’s Peak in Colorado. The water flowing on either side of Milarepa invokes the isthmus of Madison, WI, where I worked on this painting.