The monks worked hard today. The astounding level of delicate details that they added caused more than a few admiring jaws to drop. So, it seems right that after the day was done, the monks took a little time to stop and smell the lemon geranium at Elkstone Farm.
Rinpoche declared the Green Tara mandala "three-quarters done" at the end of Day Four. That means the monks will be painting all day long during the final day of their residency as they edge closer to the demolition and closing ceremony in Library Hall followed by the Water Ceremony during Sunday's waning light along the Yampa River.
Meanwhile, over at the Community Sand Painting, another edition was polished off early in the day.
The artists on hand for the destruction of Edition Two used a dollop of the mixed sand collected from that mandala to create the center seed for Edition Three. As the day wore on, the third rendition of the painting took on a distinctly different, decidedly darker, theme than the previous two paintings. Artistic minds locked in sync as community members started working together to fill in a black background this time, making the bright colors pop in a new and different way.
See how it all went down, up close...
And from the bird's eye view...
