Recently, I came across this interview Akiane Kramarik on CNN — Drawing heaven and was interested in knowing more about her. Did some research and as I get to know more and more about her, I was drawn to try and understand her, connect with her.I am sure that you would also like to know more about a child that started painting beautiful self portraits at 4 and then by the time she was 7, writing beautiful poetry and all the while she was drawing the cosmic designs on her canvass of life…
Akiane Kramarik was born in Mount Morris, Illinois to a Lithuanian mother and an American father. She is homeschooled.
She is primarily a self-taught painter. However, she states that God has given her the visions and abilities to create her artwork, which is unusual for her family, considering both her parents were atheist at the time (they later converted to Christianity on account of Kramarik’s paintings and visions). Kramarik started drawing at the age of four, advancing to painting at six, and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for US$10,000. A large portion of the money generated from sales is donated by Kramarik to charities. According to Kramarik, her art is inspired by her visions of heaven, and her personal connection with God. Kramarik’s art depicts life, landscape, and people.
At the age of 10, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on CNN at the age of 12
Some of her thoughts… That I have taken from her blog
By Akiane — The Swing
I define spirituality as a search for love, beauty, happiness and wisdom. Spirituality is a journey that we never finish. It has nothing to do with our levels of development, achievement, awareness or intention.
How do we weigh levels of spirituality? Are alternative lifestyles less spiritual than traditional ones? Some people abstain from all intimate relationships, because they believe they have to devote their time to love all mankind in a childlike genuineness. Others form monogamous heterosexual relationships. While others create bonds outside all traditional rules.
From the standpoint of eternity each level of maturity is relative. We are all spiritual, and we are all different. Neither higher, nor lower. Neither farther, nor closer. Neither deeper, nor more shallow. Just uniquely different. Looking at a blossom from a different direction one will see it completely foreign, special, beautiful or revolting depending on where we stand. If the close-up is of a spider attached to the stem, then for those who don’t like spiders the sight will look distasteful. If the image is of a butterfly on a petal the view may appear peaceful to us, but not for a bird hungrily watching the scene.
Many of us suspect that we had seen a better world than this one, our true home somewhere we had been living. Our desire for excellence, for peace, for enlightenment, for wisdom and love is the vague reminiscence of that perfect place we had come from.
Our craving for great architecture, aesthetic surroundings, comfort, and loving relationships stems from the forgotten source of abundance. It is as if we are constantly comparing the two states, but rarely feeling full contentment.
Our yearning for profound connections is always inside us, but this world often does not meet our expectations. Even those who completely forgot our past keep on striving for perfection as a compass. But those who vividly remember it, as I had in my childhood, experience conflicting emotions, on one hand, reassurance about our infinite destiny and the purpose of our earthly journey, on another hand — missing our home, and the sharp the contrasts between different dimensions.
An interesting story from her blog…
By Akiane
I was always interested in Asian culture, and recently my interest focused on Southeast Asia — India, in particular.
My dilemma was that there were virtually no Asian Indians in our local area, and if I had worked only from my imagination, it still would not have been enough, because any authentic culture demands a thorough knowledge of traditions and customs.
Ironically, a few months later a gentleman from England called my gallery to make an appointment with me. When he arrived to our Idaho gallery we were stunned to see a Hindu Swami from top to bottom dressed in his own traditional robes.
By Akiane
Love Love is never alone Love is always crowded Love is the shared self We cannot own our love And we cannot teach our love The longest breath of love is the shortest distance to heaven The deepest life is love The deepest love is an embrace Love is not rest Love is peace Love is the purpose
A Kiss The chased wave becomes my bait — I shut my eyes with larks. When I blow the larks away an iceberg gets carved. Sitting on nails that rip up the covered cross I pause on a white stain. When I turn around the rain soaks through. My last breath is a kiss.
Read more AND see her interview, please check out the link below at my blog…
_______
Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
Originally published at shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.in on April 26, 2011.
