Combover Monk

There was a young monk who drew water from the well and carried it back to the temple every day. The young monk carried two buckets of water slung on a pole across his shoulders. One of the buckets was perfect while the other one was a leaky bucket with several holes on the sides. Every time the young monk filled up the two buckets and got back to the temple, the leaky bucket would be half empty.

The leaky bucket was sad that it was flawed. One day, on the way to the well, the leaky bucket spoke with the young monk: "Master, I am sorry that I am faulty and could not keep the water from sprinkling through the holes on my sides."
The young monk said to the leaky bucket, "you see these beautiful flowers? These are here only because of the water you sprinkled on them every day. They owe their existence to you, and we are able to enjoy these beautiful flowers, only because of you. Your imperfection has brought benefits to people around you."

In the painting the monk represents the leaky bucket. All of us are flawed and all of us have gifts — gifts that will bring value and benefits to others when put to good use.

The sausage: 4'x3' oil and acrylic painting. I first created a stencil for the sun rays, clouds, and hand-cut the half-tone pattern for "aum" the stencil is spray painted. I then painted the flawed monk with acrylic, and later oil paint to deepen and smooth areas. Finally, an art resin is applied to the "downloading happiness" progress bar to simulate a computer screen.