UTI Posted March 24, 2014 Hey! The deal is this: I am putting together an exhibition about chinese medicine where I will illustrate the relation between anatomy and energy, between medicine and cultivation. There are some topics I will take up with my pictures: -direct relationship between anatomy and energywork -illustrations of movement of qi -illustration of healthy qi movement contra diseased qi movement Now, practitioners of chinese medicine and cultivators, i need your help. I am 80% handyman when it comes to my artwork, and I want to broaden my spectrum of ideas. What are creative ways to illustrate these things? And, do you have any other ideas of what you would want shown through an image? So far I have only made two images: 1. cultivation. This image is a more anatomically-oriented version of the neijing tu combined with some elements from the xiuzhen tu. 2. internal and external pathways shown with anatomy and the three dantian. So, please everybody, give me your opinions and ideas for how I can make a really awesome exhibition in october, and if lucky help evolve the way we imagine our body and mind. best wishes, j 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted March 24, 2014 UTI - I can't think of anything to offer at the moment. But I wanted you to know that your images affected me, in a good way. Thank you so much for posting them here! There's an image in 'Decoding the Dao' from Tom Bisio that shows the progression of the 64 Hexagrams along the pathway of the Microcosmic orbit. Can you visualize that? For me, very important is the interaction of fire/water ie Kan/Li. But it's more alchemy than TCM. If you could visually capture the 3D nature of the Taiji Yin/Yang symbol? A person/tree morph image? Five gates breathing? Sorry, just meandering, spontaneous thoughts.... Bump your thread now and then in case you don't get a lot of responses. You work is quite impressive! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 soaring crane, thank you for the kind words! you say you cant think of anything right now, but you just gave me a couple to think about the moon phasing in the first image actually follows the phases of the 60 hexagrams following the lunar cycle through the body, as described in the cantongqi. the kan li qian and kun hexagrams are described as not being part of this cycle. kan and li according to the cantongqi interact at the end of each cycle, entering at huiyin and forming qian and kun (or wood and metal) at the upper and lower dantian. this is also what happens at every breath, the breath of the lunar cycle is simply slightly longer it is a good idea to try and illustrate this further in a separate image。i have been considering how i could draw the interaction of kan and li through the microcosmic orbit, also drawing on the analogy of the shepherd boy(heart fire li) and weaving girl (kidneys water kan).if this subject interests you i can recommend that you purchase and read the cantongqi, it will be worth your while. lso, dont apologize for your meandering thoughts! they are precisely what i asked for -j 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) if this subject interests you i can recommend that you purchase and read the cantongqi, it will be worth your while. I've only ever heard of it, never read it except for the odd excerpt and side reference. But I just searched and found this page (from a link at the wiki page on the cantong qi) http://www.goldenelixir.com/press/trl_02_ctq.html Quite advanced materials there. I'm curious now, thanks :-) Edited March 25, 2014 by soaring crane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joeblast Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) great pic think anatomy trains, pick up Deadman's manual if you can and go look at all the sinew aspects of the channels. and dont forget about the celiac plexus Edited March 25, 2014 by joeblast Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 I've only ever heard of it, never read it except for the odd excerpt and side reference. But I just searched and found this page (from a link at the wiki page on the cantong qi) http://www.goldenelixir.com/press/trl_02_ctq.html Quite advanced materials there. I'm curious now, thanks :-) That's the one I have too. It's great, and Pregadio gives a quite good walk through the source material. Read it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aetherous Posted March 25, 2014 I'm not a practitioner but...This book contains info on how to palpate (feel the skin and underlying tissue) of the channels in order to diagnose. It's a unique perspective since barely anyone does palpation diagnosis for Chinese medicine. They do pulse and other symptoms...but not direct channel palpation. So that is one way to include the crossover between anatomy and energy. Looking at plain old symptoms can also be interesting and anatomical...for instance, one person can have bloodshot eyes, another has dull eyes, and a third person has bright looking clear eyes. Chinese medicine claims there are reasons and strives to treat the abnormal types with their theories. For instance, bloodshot eyes might mean excess heat in the lung. Also, I don't know about the legitimacy of this site, but apparently they actually found the acupuncture points with a type of CT scan. So that is another way that actual anatomy meets energy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 great pic think anatomy trains, pick up Deadman's manual if you can and go look at all the sinew aspects of the channels. and dont forget about the celiac plexus Aha, I see what you mean about the deadman pics. The illustrations in his book are really good, quite unparalleled compared to other point books. I will keep in mind how he does it 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted March 25, 2014 You're an impressive artist, to me the first is Alex Grey meets classic Taoist alchemy graphic. Great anatomy on the second, nice show of channels. Artistically the head of the 2nd is a little too complex, it might be better simplified. or not Both feel static though, which is fine. I don't feel motion within them. I wonder if the eclipsed moon is more moon/sun to get a better feeling of hot and cold/ rising falling. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted March 25, 2014 Great thread and great work UTI. I'll offer a slightly different perspective. Chinese medical practitioners often attempt to link the energetic with the anatomy. One of the beauties of Chinese medicine is that it transcends the anatomy, as does the human body. Visible and tangible anatomy is a very small part of the picture. There are many layers of more subtle processes that link the organ systems such as the hormonal system, the nervous system, etc... For example, all of the respiratory epithelium in our body is linked together physiologically so that if I get a sinus infection, my lungs and bronchial tree get inflamed and so on and so forth. So one thing that you may want to try and represent through your work is how the energetic system of Chinese medicine captures the inter-relationships of the anatomic and physiologic systems. I'll leave it at that as your imagination and creativity seem beyond mine! Keep up the good work. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 I'm not a practitioner but... This book contains info on how to palpate (feel the skin and underlying tissue) of the channels in order to diagnose. It's a unique perspective since barely anyone does palpation diagnosis for Chinese medicine. They do pulse and other symptoms...but not direct channel palpation. So that is one way to include the crossover between anatomy and energy. Looking at plain old symptoms can also be interesting and anatomical...for instance, one person can have bloodshot eyes, another has dull eyes, and a third person has bright looking clear eyes. Chinese medicine claims there are reasons and strives to treat the abnormal types with their theories. For instance, bloodshot eyes might mean excess heat in the lung. Also, I don't know about the legitimacy of this site, but apparently they actually found the acupuncture points with a type of CT scan. So that is another way that actual anatomy meets energy. Interesting book tip! I haven't read it, might pick it up. I use channel palpation in most my treatments. Also, not to forget that taking the pulse is a form of channel palpation (the third pulse position stretches all the way back to the elbow according to the nanjing). i will definately take up symptoms of disease, but more from an energetical perspective: how the movement of qi within the body is perceived in different states of illness. That study you link to is also very cool, and completely legit Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 Great thread and great work UTI. I'll offer a slightly different perspective. Chinese medical practitioners often attempt to link the energetic with the anatomy. One of the beauties of Chinese medicine is that it transcends the anatomy, as does the human body. Visible and tangible anatomy is a very small part of the picture. There are many layers of more subtle processes that link the organ systems such as the hormonal system, the nervous system, etc... For example, all of the respiratory epithelium in our body is linked together physiologically so that if I get a sinus infection, my lungs and bronchial tree get inflamed and so on and so forth. So one thing that you may want to try and represent through your work is how the energetic system of Chinese medicine captures the inter-relationships of the anatomic and physiologic systems. I'll leave it at that as your imagination and creativity seem beyond mine! Keep up the good work. Thank you! This is a very good idea, also possible to develop further into the illustration of chinese medical concepts through philosohical ideas of cultivation and physiological/systemical functions f the body described in classical litterature. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted March 25, 2014 You're an impressive artist, to me the first is Alex Grey meets classic Taoist alchemy graphic. Great anatomy on the second, nice show of channels. Artistically the head of the 2nd is a little too complex, it might be better simplified. Both feel static though, which is fine. Yet I don't feel motion within them. I wonder if the eclipsed moon is more moon/sun to get a better feeling of hot and cold/ rising falling. Thanks for the feedback! Yes, the detail of the first image becomes too compressed for a photo. IRL I love it (it's 100x140cm) but as a photo it's cramped. Also I am working a mental image of how to make the movement in the channels more palpable without it becoming too messy. Also, you gave me a good idea with the movement of rising falling that I may apply to the second image, to make it less static. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted March 25, 2014 Oh, I'm happy that this thread is getting attention and feedback. I'm really very impressed with your work, and your knowledge :-) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted April 17, 2014 (edited) bump and update. working on the next pic, a posterior view of the du mai and central meridian rising to the niwan and tianmu via the internal and external aspect of the channel, and the right and left central meridian and their relation to fluids/kidneys/hemispheres of the brain. a sort of mishmash of internal alchemy and chinese medicine, as promised.also, this is a work in progress. .Criticism welcome! Edited April 17, 2014 by UTI 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CloudHands Posted April 17, 2014 Nice work ! I think you should give to "movement/motion" the greatest importance, that's the main caracteristic of energy. Contained power is key too. If you can suggest that, it could be awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted April 17, 2014 Nice work ! I think you should give to "movement/motion" the greatest importance, that's the main caracteristic of energy. Contained power is key too. If you can suggest that, it could be awesome. I'm definitely going to work more with the movement of energy. I've been working different ways to express it in my head. BUT, I think I will have to somewhat separate anatomical function and energetic movement, it's difficult to express them both at the same time... at least in the way i work... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 18, 2014 wonderfulwonderfulwonderful - any chance you'll be selling prints/posters? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted April 18, 2014 wonderfulwonderfulwonderful - any chance you'll be selling prints/posters? I will indeed! when the exhibition comes close I will start taking up a list for orders of prints, and I will also sell the originals. Whether or not I make prints will depend on how many people are interested. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UTI Posted April 24, 2014 The finished result: Next will be an image showing mechanisms of the initial stages of neidan according to the timecycles of the tripod. All according to Yijing theory, of course 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
