"Compound of Enlightenment"

Time again for another round of Genuine Guide Gear's Skigraphiks contest to wrap up. Round three goes to their backcountry favorite, the ZenOxide. Being the literal thinker I am, I worked to combine my understanding of the definition of the word "Zen" and the word "Oxide." Thus creating an image based off of my personal interpretation of my definition of "ZenOxide."

ZenOxide:

1: A binary compound of Oxygen with Meditation and Intuition, emphasizing experiential Wisdom in the attainment of Enlightenment.

In thinking about this definition, I imagined an environment where I experience the most of my intuition and feel enlightened (possibly due to the lack of oxygen high in the Colorado Rockies!)  I incorporated images of mountains to identify the place and gave them a reflection because I believe that to achieve wisdom, one must first reflect upon the past. When looking out across the vast dynamic mountains, I reflect upon the journey (however short or long in time) that got me to that place. All of my senses powdered my intuition which lead to my decisions along the way. As I am there, I feel an overwhelming sense of peace and excitement. All the things going on in my life quickly fade away and I come to a realization that in that moment, non of it matters. I feel a huge accomplishment as well as a sense that I am very small in comparison to the world around me. I do believe, that in that moment, I achieve an even greater wisdom.

Oxidation is most often seen with metal or wood, and I chose an image of oxidized metal as my background because my favorite mountains are mined for their precious minerals and metals. Everywhere you go, they show signs of the mining and the oxidation that has come over the years. Oxidation is a representation of all of the forces, man-made or provided by nature that age us and wear us down throughout life. Though this process is constantly happening, we achieve various forms of Zen, and we persevere. G3 always portrays the ZenOxide ski with the Japanese symbol that represents "Zen." I thought to incorporate other images of Japanese heritage to the piece to help bring the image as a whole together. Finally I chose to use a stamped metal font for the name of the ski to reinforce the metal background. The Zen circle encompasses the name of both the ski and the Genuine Guide Gear logo as a reminder that anyone can attain a state of ZenOxide.

To vote for my design and check out the many other fantastic designs, click here! G3 Skigraphils - Compound of Enlightenment