It has been a couple of years the nuns at Drikung Kagyu Samtenling Nunnery started painting on Sunday afternoons. During the first day of the painting class I displayed some modern paintings and some prints of Nicholas Roerich’s landscape paintings of Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas. The nuns giggled when they saw a display of a painting of a mosquito in a top hat and coat on the cover of the New Yorker magazine! I told them that we can paint whatever we feel like.

At a later date we were also fortunate to have a two hour talk and workshop experience with a noted Swiss painter by the name of Jan Leiser. Early this year Jennifer, a volunteer from USA, introduced color co-ordination to the class and helped the nuns to paint and make cards from the paintings.

During this year’s Winter Teachings at Jangchubling Monastery we exhibited the nun’s paintings, and the cards were sold at the venue. The visitors were much impressed and very happy to own the cards.

Other nuns wove mobile cases, friendship wrist bands and pen cases and these were also put on sale to help the nunnery purchase a copy machine and a computer for the teachers and the nuns. Not only did the nuns surprise the audience with their talent, they had such fun painting and I was the happiest to see the results of the art class team.

With the sale of the Nunnery cards and crafts, as well as donations from disciples who came for the Drikung winter teachings, we purchased a printer, scanner, copy machine and a new computer for the nuns in the computer class. The three computers in their class are very old and do not work properly. We thank the nuns who contributed to the Arts and Craft items and for the sponsors who made it possible for us to purchase the machines.

A volunteer at DK Samtenling Nunnery