Drawing The Offerings Of The Five Senses: Tibetan Buddhist Art Workshop With Carmen Mensink

In this workshop led by artist and teacher Carmen Mensink, you will learn how to draw the most famous set of offerings in Tibetan Buddhist thangka art: the offerings of the five senses.

Thangkas are scroll paintings of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that illuminate the teachings of enlightened beings and serve as an aid to spiritual development.  They overflow with symbolism and contain figures created in harmony with the guidelines of Buddhist scriptures.

The Offerings of the Five Senses are the “entrance” of a thangka, as these offerings are depicted in front of the Buddha: a mirror (to see); a musical instrument (to hear); incense or perfume (to smell); some fruit (to taste) and a silken scarf (to touch).

It is through our senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching that we experience our world.  In Buddhist practice, we can mentally or physically offer all the delights of our sense world, in order to enjoy these objects with a more peaceful mind and create the causes to experience great bliss, which is the subjective reality of the Buddhas.  Learning to draw beautiful sense objects in the context of thangka art is a wonderful opportunity for us to generate merit (positive potential).  This workshop can also be very helpful afterwards when we offer the sense objects mentally, or draw them again as our artistic skills and inspirations flourish.  In this class you will learn everything about the background and meaning of these offerings in the Tibetan tradition.

The workshop includes a short meditation, lecture and plenty of individual guidance. It is suitable for everyone, ranging from beginners with no drawing experience to more seasoned artists who wish to learn a new art form or new ways to connect with positive energy.

Registration:
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Carmen Mensink was born in The Netherlands (1972, Zwolle) and graduated in 1995 as a graphic designer at the Academy of Arts in Kampen. Afterwards she completed a specialization in Typography at The Hague Royal Academy of Arts in 1996. Since then she has worked for many years in design and advertising.

After becoming a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, Carmen met her thangka teacher in 1999, the famous Andy Weber, got hooked by the ancient tradition and craft of Tibetan thangka painting, and began her long study with him. Years later, Andy asked her to start teaching.