FOREVER – 永 – yǒng – Chinese character: forever, always, perpetual. This character is formed by adding a dot and a horizontal line to the character 水 for water. Water on this planet is not made anew, it is forever, it cycles and cycles through our bodies, the bodies of all creatures and through the vast ecosystem that makes up our planet. Biologically, water is as close to forever as we experience. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas www.palmstone.comRead More
Always, at all times, in every season — सर्वकाल — Sarvakaala — Sanskrit in Devanagari calligraphy by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
甲骨文字 — 金 — jīn — metal. Before the Chinese characters were standardized, there were many variant forms of the characters, especially on the “oracle bones” where they were carved into tortoise shells and bones. Sometimes the variants are simply the result of the non-standardization, but once in a while it is clear that a was using the art to make a point. Here is a variant of the character for metal. I was very excited when I first stumbled across this character because I could see immediately that this is a diagram of the lungs within the chest cavity, the calligrapher making the visual connection that is part of medical theory of the metal element with the lungs. The standard modern character is in the top right hand corner. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas www.palmstone.comRead More
NATARAJA — नटराज — Closing out the year with my calligraphic interpretation of Nataraja, the “Lord of the Dance”, the cosmic Shiva dance of creation and destruction and keeping the time beat of the universe. Sanskrit calligraphy in Devanagari script on rice paper mounted on wood panel, by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
Tattoo design in Devanagari script: समाधान — samaadhaana. Although there are many meanings of this word in both Sanskrit and Hindi, in this case samaadhaana references the state of profound absorption or contemplation. Sanskrit calligraphy by S. J. Thomas, www.palmstone.comRead More
Sthira Sukha स्थिर सूख the two qualities Patanjali explains in the Yoga Sutras that need to be present when doing any yoga: steadiness and ease. Sanskrit calligraphic rondel in Devanagari script by Stewart J. Thomas.Read More
Sanskrit Calligraphy: Faith, Hope, Courage, design by S. J. Thomas. Get your original tattoo calligraphy design at palmstone.comRead More
My top ten Sanskrit tattoo designs. Link in bio
The word “anicca”–meaning impermanence–was a very popular request in the last few years. This is a nice example of a tattoo that manages to retain the shades of blue that were in my original watercolor calligraphy.Read More
“Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram” Truth is eternal and beautiful. Sanskrit calligraphy.Read More
