"Of Sentient Virtue"

 Last May you may remember I posted a landscape design with the main theme being a string of Tibetan prayer flags. Here's the link if you need a refresher: http://nolasvoboda-accidentalartist.blogspot.com/2012/05/blessings-of-san-juan.html

This design is special to me because I worked it up after the amazing experience climbing this mountain last September...

Mt. Sneffels 14,150 ft. San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Near the top of this mountain lay a string of these...

And there ya have it, I just had to make a design based on these two elements! In the back of my mind, I knew eventually this design would find a way to being thrown on a ski template in this year's G3 Skigraphiks Contest. So when it came time at the beginning of September, you bet I was mighty excited to enter this design into the contest on G3's brand new District skis and show it off to the world!  I had to tweak it a little here and there to make it fit into a ski template. I had to give it an extra 20 inches of width and orient it to match the direction that G3 seems to want their graphics to lay.

I am very excited about the changes that have come to this year's contest as well. I love that there is only one sponsor this year, which happens to be the super stellar folks at Backcountry Magazine! Though I don't know exactly how it is decided, but I think the idea to have a "People's Choice" winner chosen each month is a neat one. The prize is not a pair of skis, but swag, a 1-year subscription and a pair of skins are still very awesome prizes to win! I think there will be even more of a feeling of accomplishment for the lucky winner who becomes the Overall Winner, as they will be the only one to receive a pair of skis with their design and all the other goodies!

Anyway, back to this design of mine. The thought of there being Tibetan prayer flags on a pair of skis seemed very fitting. In every single ski town and mountain I have ridden, prayer flags display their colors all across the landscape. As someone who commented a great observation on my design said, "What a great choice to use prayer flags-they are a large part of ski culture today!" I believe that is becoming more and more true. I you go on to research the meaning behind the prayer flag, the meaning in the colors, the main picture in the middle of the "wind horse," the meanings of the animals in the four corners, when and for what occasions they are hanged and even why they are supposed to be displayed in the correct sequence of colors, you will no doubt understand why they are becoming such an important theme in any mountain culture today! I wanted the flags to come off the mountain from where they hang to become the forefront of the design, floating across the real and reflected backgrounds becoming the prominent image.

Here is the link to my design for the Skigraphiks contest! Of Sentient Virtue If you like it, feel free to vote, comment and/or share my design! And while you're at it, do the same for all of the other designs that you like too! There are some fantastic designs this year!