25 Days of Giveaways

Today, we are in day 11 of Living without Sophia and Ellie's 25 Days of Giveaways.  The giveaway today is sponsored by Mallory at Mother of an Angel. Go check out her giveaway, write a comment, then come right back. I'll wait here.

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Hi. Now, welcome to day 12. Technically, when I started this post, it was around midnight thirty December 8th in Auckland, New Zealand, which is how I am justifying my impatience posting my giveaway on December 7th. I actually am terrible about missing deadlines when I only get one day, so I am opening this up to the worldwide day of December 8th which gives everyone a  fair chance to get their comments in. Always thinking of my Aussie sistahs and brothahs. Hollah.

My giveaway is an original watercolor painting of six mizuko jizo. The painting is entitled "Six Prayers." It is 6" x 9" (easily frameable in a 5" x 7" frame) and painted on cold-pressed 140lb. watercolor paper. I generally paint my mizuko jizo painting with a purple swirling background. Purple is Lucy's color,  but it is also a beautiful cooling color. My mizuko jizo paintings are usually done in one sitting during/as meditation. I sit. Meditate. Then paint. They have been very soothing and healing for me to do during this year. I have copy and pasted the expurgated description of mizuko jizo below from the other day. I know most of you have probably read it before, but I didn't want to leave out newcomers from describing the subject.

To enter the random drawing for the recipient of this mizuko jizo painting, please leave a comment below. In the early morning of December 9th, I will use random.org to randomly select someone.  So, please try to leave your email either linked to your name, i.e., sign in to comment, or within the comment itself. It is all very exciting. I did attempt to take another photograph of my mizuko jizo painting so the colors would be more true to life.  *sigh* Photography is not my strong suit.

I have painted mizuko jizos for many babylost mamas this past year. I often customize them with personal messages, prayers and wishes for the babies. Mizuko jizos are said to carry the name into the afterlife so that the ancestors can recognize the baby. So, I often start a painting with the prayer, "Mizuko jizo, we name her Lucy." And I follow up with prayers for comfort, guidance and calm. Here is my own Six Prayers for Lucy painting.

While the painting I am giving away today does not have any prayers on it, I wanted to sort of give the full picture of what my mizuko jizo illustrations and paintings can be. But if you would like your own jizo painting, I am happy to paint one for you too. You can always visit my Etsy Shop called the Kenna Twins to see which paintings move you, or you can order a customized one. I have done custom painting of my "She's not an Angel" painting (see on right navigation bar), mizuko jizos of all shapes and sizes, and Meditating Mamas, as well as custom illustrations of children and families. I do love collaborating with someone about paintings that are meaningful to the person. During custom meditation paintings, including my meditating mama paintings, I meditate for the person ordering the painting. Part of what I meditate on during the meditating mama ones is "Bathing (insert mama's name) in a warm light. Seeing (Mama) full of life and baby." Those paintings are great altar paintings to meditate on during pregnancy, labor or conception. With the jizos, I meditate with general compassion, calm and grounding specifically thinking of the missed baby or child. The 4" x 6" size is a great size for altars. My prices for custom paintings are the same as my other paintings. 4" x 6" - $20, 6" x 9" - $25, 9"x 12" - $30, 11" x 14" - $50

Alright, enough shameless self-promotion. Good luck and have fun.

Mizuko jizo are bodhisattvas unique to Japan who specifically guide miscarried, aborted and stillborn children into their next life. "Historically, Japanese Buddhists believed that existence flowed into a being slowly, like liquid. Children solidified only gradually over time and weren't considered to be fully in our world until they reached the age of seven. Similarly, leaving this world -- returning to the primordial waters -- was seen as a process that began at 60 with the celebration of a symbolic second birth. A mizuko lay somewhere along the continuum, in that liminal space between life and death but belonging to neither. True to the Buddhist belief in reincarnation, it was expected (and still is today) that Jizo would eventually guide the mizuko down another pathway into being. The idea behind the offering was to bid the mizuko farewell and wish it luck in the life it would have to come.” (from Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein)

When I began reading about about Mizuko Jizo, I was fascinated with the image of Jizos. They are usually portrayed as happy little monks with a red bib. A pillar of rocks standing next to the statues, as well as offerings of toys. They are often childlike, yet wise, in appearance. I began painting jizos as a form of meditation and my own Mizuko Kuyo or ritual. I paint them from my soul, giving them blessings and prayers I want for my own daughter on her journey. I am particularly fond of the six prayers paintings because each prayer is associated with one of the six realms—Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity and Heaven.