Falling into the 'Fantasy' 'Deity' & 'Gods' category of interest.
I still have limited knowledge on Hinduism; however growing up in very diverse primary and secondary schools. I always had access too, or came across, usually in passing chat, meaningful, inspirational but also personally applicable lessons, sayings and ways of thinking that have been preached & advised for centuries by various Hindu Gods. I wanted to revisit what these lessons were.
There was one Hindu God which stuck with me (visually, in terms of ones I could remember what they looked like) the Ganesha (sometimes Ganesh). Probably because this one is characterised as a being with an Elephants head, enough to WOW a child of any sort! Also, after a brief-ish chat with my partner, she was telling me about the God her family chose to sort of 'follow', Ganesha, the 'remover of obstacles'.
'Remover of Obstacles' - I was sold. Reason being that:
1. learning about 'obstacles' in the corporate workplace when trying to implement positive change has previously been an academic interest of mine (did a dissertation including it, and works of Kotter). And,
2. I believe that today, there are 100s of mental obstacles that dangerously, prevent humans from living a happier life.
It was the latter that I wanted to quickly address in my Ganesha collage design, because this is important to me and all humans should care about living a happier life. I split this design up to talk about the objects that make it up.
Some other goals for this design: Learn how to cleanly digitally cut out objects + Learn how to compose a collage + Learn how to make use of different digital textures + Learn to take my time patiently chiselling away at something and not rush to finish for sake of being fast!
Close up of the interplay between layers.
One obstacle cited here is 'clouded judgement' which could steam from a number of macro issues such as culture, upbringing, experiences, environments and micro issues such as perceived fear, prejudice and mental strength! All of these example are contributory factors to living a life of either happiness and fulfilment or misery and regret. My point and meaning of my collage is not, that Ganesha will remove these obstacles for you, but to highlight them to you.
I believe the first and most important step in removing your own obstacles in life is to recognise and accept them first.
Close up of the interplay between layers.
Close up of the interplay between layers. - namely the digital textures applied to the background pattern, and then the ones added to Ganesha and the sunflower behind it. You have mandalas blended, by pixel (and masked) together with other paintings and patterns.
Close up of the interplay between layers. For the purple/blue background I took a painting and modified it into a mirroring pattern, adjusting the hue to match universe(ish), fantasy and Vaporwave colours. Mainly to keep things colourful, another requirement I wanted this design to have.
Close up of the interplay between layers - another perceived obstacle; fear. The tiger in front of a door of potential.
Ask your friends and family, what stops them from doing X, Y & Z. Listen carefully. Most of our reasons boil down to some fear of something happening or not happening, rarely based off any data (not that you should find reasons NOT to do something you love) and derives from some negative fictional thought or previous experience.
Remember, nobody is born a pessimist. Thoughts & feelings of fear have been put inside you somewhere down your timeline - their not your thoughts. You actually WANT to do & experience things, so listen to your own thoughts, not others. P.S. advice is valuable at a dose.
Close up of the interplay between layers - another perceived obstacle I thought was important to include was the perception of time.
Humans, especially of this younger generation believe their isn't enough time to fulfil goals & ambitions - often taking short-cuts, not having patience, developing anxiety through not having achieved what is expected from them, feeling as if they must have their whole lives figured out before college/university; parents, institutions, peers - all inputs to this stress.
There also is 'too much time' in our young minds. Delaying life fulfilment with conversations and thoughts about "I'll do it when....", "I'll wait until", "I need to feel like this before..." and so on; where in the end, nothing is done, regret lingers - all because as risk-averse beings, we'd rather wait until it's "safe" to do something (safe? from perceived failure? opinions of others?)