While sketching yesterday with some friends at an antique place that is NOT the Tobacco Barn, I found a lovely concrete statue of a headless Virgin Mary. She was looking fine, stepping on that snake as usual, opening her hands to send out peaceful, calming rays. The only thing missing was her head. I wondered if they were selling her. She was stuffed back in a corner behind a metal chair, and her head was nowhere in sight, not even on the floor under the chair. But there was a tag on her, and it read "Headless Mary" with a scribbled-over price that looked like $29. A great price!
I saw my friend over in another area, so I told her about the Mary. She was very interested as she already has a headless Buddha and we agreed that headlessness can be a good state, sort of a No Mind, No Problem state taken to pleasant extremes. We went back over to Mary, but this time it was clear that the price was not $29, but $59, sadly out of our reaches.
So I drew her again, and then went over to the wonderful opium bed across the room and drew it quickly, noting the translation of the Chinese characters carved over the opening: 5 Thousand Years of Prosperity and Longevity, and noting that the price has been reduced from $3800 to $3400.
I assume that Mary didn't start out as Headless Mary. Very curious.
ReplyDeleteYour book started me adding art to my journaling a few years ago now. Thanks for the great examples and encouragement.
Clearly not! You can see where the head has been knocked off, but there is no head nestling down on the floor. Wish they would lower the price back to $29; then I would buy her and put her in my garden with a pot of something colorful and trailing where her head used to be. . .
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