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Terris's Bio

Hornbills
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Temple Art Studios now has a second location in Chiang Mai Thailand to be closer to Tibet in view of the new projects happening there.
Having working the last fifteen years for His Holiness the 17th Karmapa and Tsurphu Monastery, Tibet has been a great honor for an artist in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Now we are back in Asia coordinating two new projects for Tibet, and a documentary about the giant appliqué thangka.
My paintings are influenced by Tibet's great teachers and my love of nature.
The tantric art of Tibet has been a life long study.
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Mahakala Thangka Terris
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New project imformation
Tsurphu Project donations
New Work in Progress
Recent Works
These 2 pieces are made using the Eastern style applique technique.
Pueo w/ Pahoehoe
20 x 30"
(Feb, 2008)
Available Works
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To view more works in private collections, click here.
Artist
Profile
All of my teachers, both artistic and spiritual, implanted in me a respect for Buddhist tradition, the enthusiasm and joy to sit, day after day, for decades, lost in my creating of Buddha and the pantheon. I feel as if I am riding a wave and every instant is one of discovery and excitement. I imagine early explorers must have felt this way.
There is something within ancient Buddhist methods that has become lost in our modern world. It is a quality which brings us closer to nature and our true inner reality. I enjoy the best of both worlds by including aspects of a rich tradition with my own contemporary work.
Mineral colors and botanical dyes held a place within the ancient healing arts. Today color therapy has become popular. Learning the traditional practices of grinding stone colors connected me with both possibilities. The viewer of my works also enjoys a positive healing experience. I started working with these materials in the 1960's and have found it impossible to use anything else. I use sheer silk also which feels like painting on air. Painting birds, what better element than air to inspire. Silk and mineral pigments, with proper care, can last centuries. The Main colors are cinnabar, orpiment, malachite, azurite, red lead, and mineral white. Some earth colors were also used. Botanical's include: lac, indigo and the Himalayan leaf known as shung kan.
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Green
Tara
Nechung Dorje Dryang
Ling
Pahala Hawaii
1992
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Thangkas from the
early 1970's
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Tang Tang
Gyalpo
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Jigmed
Lingpa
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Naropa
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Virupa
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Pema
Gyalpo
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The above thangkas I painted in Nepal in the 1970's
Stiched applique thangkas
Made in Tibet with Leslie and the White Conch Factory
6'x9'
To order an applique thangka click here
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Bird
and Flower Paintings
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Sun and Moon
Stance
17" X
30"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
Hornbills in
bodhi trees.
I really like
hornbills and hope to devote lotsmore time, both observing and painting them.
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giclee
prints available
For current availability,
please contact Terris by email at:
templeart@tibetcolor.com
Five
Paintings from the Twentieth Century
To read more about this click here
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Morning
Mynahs
26 1/2" X 15
1/2"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
I
have always enjoyed watching these birds. They can take such
amusing postures and appear humorous in relating to each
other. In dreams, flying is something we all have done,
being free from gravity in our imagination. Play and
imagination are an important a part of my work.
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 14 years of age.
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Chocolate Tigers
And A Ginger
20" X 30"
mineral colors on silk
Painted in Thailand.
This cloud appeared as I arrived at the beach. It was so
large, puffy and colorful, I just had to put it in a
painting. That's when the butterflies showed
themselves.
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 14 years of age.
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Enchanted Garden
20" X 40"
mineral colors on silk
Native Hawaiian Birds are so rare and delicate.
I keep hoping they will make a comeback and visit our garden.
Red Ginger w/ Hawaiian creepers
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 14 years of age.
A Private Collection USA
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Flight Of The
Amakhi
20" X 30"
mineral colors on golden silk
A native
Hawaiian bird flying in for a last snack before the day
ends.
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 14 years of age.
A Private Collection UK
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Going
Somewhere
Chinese Thrushes w/ red ginger
20" X 30"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 14 years of age.
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giclee prints
available
For current availability, please contact Terris by email at:
templeart@tibetcolor.com
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Bird
and Flower Paintings
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Matter Of
Heart
18" X 28"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
The Tigers beautiful Chiang Mai butterflys,
Antheriums are here
too.
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Anthurium
Garden
60" X 30"
mineral colors on silk
Anthuriums under a hapu fern canopy is a sight to behold. Chinese thrushes and mejiros abound.
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Early
Flight
18" X 34"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
Bright early morning the Chinese Thrush arrive to begin the day.
Chinese Thrush a popular song bird throughout Asia
was a released cage bird early last
century in Hawaii.
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Mynha Courtship
On Silk with Mineral
Pigments
apprx. size 5' x 5'
I wanted to paint something large. My silk was narrow, hence a three panel piece. Noticing the Mynha courtship ritual, the birds left out are attracted by the two amorous ones in the center and they delight in separating the couple. This was painted while I was keeping a pair of mynhas for friends Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 10 years of age.
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Samet
22" X 77"
On Silk with Mineral Pigments
Painting birds
on Samet Island, Thailand was great fun. Morning and evening
spent looking through binoculars, the rest of the day,
escaping the heat and painting indoors. Here the light
intensifies every so often. A seven year old girl, Jemmy,
saw me working and said, "Terris, the sea never has these
colors." Several months later she came to me and said she
had seen the sea just like I had painted it. For current
availability, please
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 10 years of age.
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Phoenix
scroll
30"x50"
mineral pigments on silk
This piece I started on the day of the 200th anniversary of Chinese immigration to Hawaii. I had recently returned from my first trip to Mainland China, PRC and have always appriciated oriental art.
Calligraphy by His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa
at 10 years old
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Moon
over Meru
25 x
50"
mineral colors
on silk
Mt. Meru, (Kailash in this physical world) the Buddhist center of the Universe, w/ Indian hill Myna birds looking to roost in the full moon in the Bodhi tree.
Private Collection USA
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Hornbills in
Bodhi Tree
20" X 30"
mineral colors on silk
These
inquisitive hornbills have just woken to meet the new day. I
always remember them and their joy.
The berries of the Bodhi Tree are favorate
snacks.
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Garuda
20"x30"
mineral colors on silk
This piece was painted for the book without the lettering "Flight of the Garuda"
by Keith Dowman
It has since been republished.
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Terris accepts commissioned work in both traditional and
contemporary forms in sizes ranging from small to
monumental.
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To view works in private collections, click
here.
To contact Temple Art Studios
Write: Temple Art Studios
P. O. Box 747
Haiku, HI 96708
USA
Tel. (623) 748-4603
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All rights reserved, no use or reproduction without written permission
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