While I was in Ulaanbaatar this last trip, I spent a couple of mornings at Gandan Monastery sketching and taking photos. I thought that I would share some of my favorites with you of a truly special place that I always look forward to visiting when I’m in Mongolia.
“Daruma #1” is a painting of a little paper-mache daruma doll that I bought on a trip to Japan in 1968 when I was 14 years old, so he’s been with me for a long time. I never wished on either of the eyes and now I wouldn’t because they represent possibility to me instead of simply wishes that were or weren’t granted. Click to bid here
I’m not sure that this photo, taken by Roy Chapman Andrews, is from Gandan Monastery, but the prayer wheel is certainly close in size and design to the one I saw there.
Here is the one I saw.
People had written on it with a variety of pens, probably prayers.
Susan Fox, American Artist 