Being Grateful

She is my angel of gratitude... one of the angels taught in the Angel Project taught by Chaska.

We are on a mission to make as many angels as we can and send them out into the world, give as gifts or fill up your home with them :-)

I am an angel collector and have all sorts of angels flying around here. Actually, they are "winged-things" because some of them are fruit with wings... fairies, anything with wings gets hung up around here!

Making your own is a whole other story...

mostly because you set the intention of what or where you want it to go...

Thus, the Gratitude Angel.. in time for Thanksgiving.

It is a reminder for me, not so much to be grateful for everything around me, because on MOST days, I am... sharing that gratitude (abundance) is a bit harder and I am well aware of my tending to hoard stuff.... share my chocoate! ok, you can have a little of it...

Can I send out my very best, most valued stuff in a swap???

gulp.

so, here is my mission..... Share.

And that is what this angel is saying... there is soooo very much in my life that I am grateful for. Share the damn chocolate and then go buy some more!

What is the hardest thing you ever had to share?

(p.s. I did give hubby some chocolate, but only the pack that was already opened)

Laughter is the best medicine

I love the Autumn. I love it's color palette. They are optimistic colors.. colors of creativity.

Although I haven't been posting very much lately, it's not for lack of being creative. I have been.

ATC's for a swap, angels, mandalas, projects for art class, paintings, masks, photography... all still in the "process" stage.

So, like I said, it's a time of high energy, optimism, and creative out-pouring.

My mother is the opposite... she doesn't like the fall, because it symbolizes the coming of winter.

She's also gone through some trying times lately and I can understand some of her negativity. The aging process has it's challenges and she does not see these as her "golden" years... and yes, she can get VERY pessimistic.

So I try to get her to see it (life) in a more positive way... sometimes, I try to get her to see through my eyes... sometimes, it backfires.

Ma, "you're just looking out the wrong window", I say to her.

I read a story once, and I just love the metaphor of it.

I proceeded to tell the story... even though I can't really remember it very well... just the "message" of it.

"Once there was a little boy..."

"Why does it always have to be a boy?", she interjects.

"OK, Once there was an old woman"... (I snicker a bit here)

"Why can't it just be a girl?"

"Once there was a little girl..." I say softly and calmly... speaking in "Johnny tone".

"Why are you speaking so softly?"

I speak a little more loudly, and continue to tell her how the little girl looked out the window to see her dog lie dead and she became really, really sad... crying...

A wise old man came to her and asked her why she was crying and she pointed to the window where her dog lie dead. He took her hand and walked over to another window, "what do you see?" he asked.

"I see the sun shining, a rainbow and flowers..."

Mom: "You're in fantasy land! Where do you get these ideas??"

I am trying to maintain a straight face here while I continue to say, "See, you were just looking out the wrong window..."

Mom: " The Dog's STILL DEAD!"

I am hysterical laughing at this point... mostly because my mom, the pragmatist is right and I screwed up the story and she doesn't "get it" but my laughter is contagious and she laughs,

which is the result I intended all along.

So, it doesn't really matter how one reaches the end result... just that we achieve the goal.

And this was to laugh.

Hope you all get to have a hearty laugh today :-) and then share that laughter with someone else.

Angel of Hope

She is the Angel of Renewed Hope.

I am feeling this after the election, this sense that I can breathe a deeper, more relaxed breathe... There is a renewed hope in me and I'm sure in so many others.

I thought she was about peace and she is, but HOPE came last night, her power wand imbued with the spirit of wisdom. A higher perspective of choosing: intuitive and spiritual.

The symbol of the spiral on her heart chakra takes us up to a new level, spiraling upward, with a refreshed, renewed and open heart.. a heart of service.

We are all brothers and sisters on this magnificent planet.

She is the Angel of Hope that we all can work together to make this one peaceful place.

Art Every Day - catching up

I've been in a creative flurry lately. Mandalas. Some are small, others larger on canvas.

I went back to the twinkling H2O's for a bit... I was reading a little today and a line in When the Heart Waits (Sue Monk Kidd)... about letting go of letting go... not get so crazy about it - this letting go.. just let go of the whole letting go thing.............
This was a prompt from Milliande's Creative club, using lightening, I came up with this "electric tree"... after turning the picture upside down :-)
Today I made some sculpey faces for the Angel project which Mai-Liis is teaching... you can still join. Our intention is to make angels.. enough to fill as much space as we can... an army of angels :-) So, while those faces were baking in the oven, I sewed up an angel body in blue.

Ancestors Mandala

As I was painting this mandala, I felt like it had something to do with ancestors. Interestingly, today is all Saints day, tomorrow all souls day. It is said that at this time, the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. It's a time when we can ask for help from our dearly departed.
It is about change. Leaves turn and fall. People we love leave this world.
Today, Neptune turns direct on the Day of the Dead. Neptune rules the spiritual realm.
Nearing the end of the painting, I decided to put the astrological symbols as they sit on my chart... all at the bottom (underworld) and put stars above for those I remembered, they who may be out there helping us on this day.
This one is for all my relatives and friends who have gone on before me. I miss you and send love to you... May you all be at peace and having fun... sure a couple of you are rolling your spiritual eyes at me :-)

p.s... planets at the bottom should really read: Venus, then Moon, then Pluto if it were to be accurate :-)

Creative Sisters

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL MY CREATIVE "SISTERS"

MAY THE MAGIC OF ART CONTINUE TO BRING YOU MANY WONDERFUL MOMENTS OF

PEACE AND LOVE AND MAGIC !

For the curious...

We've been having a discussion about this growth on Coach Creative Space, and I figured I would ask the people of the Read Sanctuary about it... a very cool place to "retreat" from the world :-)
Clicking on the picture will give you a closer look..
This was taken two weekends ago, when people were actually swimming in the water at the beach. Yesterday, Sunday, and today, we're pulling on the coats!
So, hopefully there will be an answer to this mysterious stuff :-)
thanks Joy for taking a peek!
Doreen

Divine Mother

Blessed Mother

Divine Mother

Vessel of Love

She is Light - radiant and pure

and Wind - cleansing, refreshing

Soft, fertile Earth

sprouts beneath her feet

Abundant and Lush

Through Her Love and Will

Creation blossoms

and all women become

Blessed Mothers

Divine Vessels

of Love

While I was working on this, my husband walked in and said, "Blessed Mother".

I looked up, a bit surprised... "You should call it that", he said.

he continued to say, "You are the blessed mother, your mother is, so is mine..."

He got it.

She is the Divine Feminine, The Yin to the Father, the masculine.

She is here to remind us that we need to bring the divine feminine back to balance the masculine.

We need both.

7 things about me

I've been tagged by 3rdeyemuse, to play 7 Things about Me. A little diversion in this crazy world......

Here's the Rules:

) Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog
2) Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird
3) Tag 7 more people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs 4) Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

7 Things About ME :-)

1) I have 5 blogs, but one is personal and the other just doesnt' get out there because I'm trying to make it a 'business type blog'... and needs work.

2) I started painting on walls (bedroom) when I was about 15 and haven't stopped. I now make a living from it. I have never had a white wall!

3) I quit High School but went to college with my lowest grade being only one B+... just short of a 4.0 !

4) I've combined my passion of art with my love of children to create a living teaching art to kids. My passion is all about creating and I love how kids create. besides... I have a hard time working for anyone other than myself.

5) I built a high platform bed and painted a tree over it, so we can pretend we sleep in a tree house :-)

6) I went to Peru twice (I love Macchu Picchu)

7) My dream is to open an art/healing center where I'd have classes, workshops, lectures, yoga, meditations..... a spiritual place to create, and learn and Be :-) and I have to add taking photos of nature in here somewhere.......

and now I will Tag

Mai-Liss

writing from life

artfully yours

groggy froggy

sacred circle mandalas

Kate Jobe

A Magic Mom

Heart Portal

This morning in my "manic" state, I did this mandala. I needed to release... I took my last dosage of prednisone for the poison ivy yesterday and I'm thinking this is what it feels like to have ADD! I'm still itching and it's still on some parts of my body, but at least my eyes and ears are cleared... so, I am in high gear.
The mandalas are helpful in focusing, as I'm very restless and all over the place.
This mandala is my message to myself and whoever else is interested :-) to be open in our hearts and use this time for compassion. Think with your heart rather than your head during this time.
Rather than choose panic and fear, open your heart and let what needs to be said come from there... choose love. choose openess.
Well, I must be on the right path with this as this came in the "mailbox" this morning and thought it appropriate to share here:
It comes from...
http://www.morningmessages.com/

Message 64
Heart Portal
The heart is the thinking organ of your human form, it is truly in command. The energetic field of the heart matrix is far stronger and more expanded than that the energetic matrix of the brain. Your mentors and avatars have been teaching this for lifetimes. Human beings long ago learned to close or protect their heart circuit. This is the main dysfunction on your planet and the main source of dis-ease.
When the heart circuit is protected there is an energetic loop. There is a thought shield that filters or monitors the coming in or the going out of energy in a more guarded manner. The human being has allowed the brain, the programs, and beliefs to monitor and guard the heart center. These programs/beliefs close and numb your responses to the messages and guidance coming from and going to this heart center.
These beliefs about protecting the heart center are passed down energetically from parents to child. A child learns from the unspoken as well as the spoken messages about being hurt, or loving freely and easily, what feels safe or unsafe, who to trust or not trust. There are the wounds passed down from generation to generation. There are the wounds within the family dynamics of this lifetime. There are the wounds that each human being has personally experienced while in this embodiment.The heart center is your portal. It is your gate. It is important for humanity to begin to heal the wounds that their heart carries. It is essential to healing the planet, one heart beat at a time, one human being at a time. This is the responsibility for each and every person on the personal level, genetic level and global level, to heal the wounded patterns within the heart matrix. Humanity is stepping into an entirely new paradigm in which the thinking heart will be the honored, whole, and connected to the other heart matrixes. The heart portal was designed to serve as the gateway to the stars, allowing the energy to flow from divine source out into your reality. The important tools in healing and harmonizing your heart portal are the vibrations of joy, gratitude and appreciation. It is the power of these vibrations which allows the heart center/heart portal to heal from all the wounds carried. It is the service work each human being is asked to give for the wholeness and healing of the heart center of humanity, for when human beings live from an open and healed heart they know and feel their connected with each other.

Being a Vessel

When I looked at my chart this morning, I was struck by the shape the planets made that are transiting around my chart. These are the red inner symbols which are transiting my outer birth date planets in blue (these don't change).
A bowl... an empty vessel waiting to be filled.
I am open, waiting to be filled with whatever new ventures come my way. What will I accept and what will I turn away?
When planets are at the bottom of the chart, one is more internal, looking within rather than pushing outwards. Recently, an astrology referred to this period in my life as a cocoon stage.
The first house, Virgo rising, has Saturn there. It is the house of Self and with Saturn, I am seeing Self-Discipline enter more profoundly. Finding that true Self and understanding it more deeply so I can in turn bring it out to the world.
My values in life, 2nd house, is being activated by the energy and assertion of Mars, the Sun and Mercury. Valuing my potentials, my gifts, my worth.
My dear friend and healer through her Psych-K testing brought this up, seeing a connection here to my recent bought of poison ivy!
She's amazing! I have come to realize the true value in myself and what I have to offer others and how to be compensated for it... which is always somewhat of a challenge.
Yes. I do deserve all the good things in life, good relationships, love, warm home, an abundance of art supplies :-).... You get the picture. What's the value of my services?
Yes, Chaska, I did give myself a raise :-)
The 3rd house - house of communication holds Venus there... speak and communicate with love.
The 4th is the home. Pluto, planet of transformation has been hanging out here for quite awhile and Jupiter has been bringing in the luck. I do have a happy home - but will I be moving soon???
5th house, where my sun sits, is the house of creativity. The moon will briefly visit for 2 days, so I'll make the best of my creativity - more painting and mandala making!
Neptune is hanging out in the 6th house of service and health. mmmmm and on the cusp of the 7th has been Uranus bringing in a lot of unexpected and sudden partnerships and relationships. This is the house where you begin to move outward towards others.
With Uranus, one learns to expect the unexpected.
I am an open vessel... we all are if we choose to be, ready to be filled with our passions. When we take the time to be filled, like a well, then we can in turn supply the refreshing waters of our true spirit - sharing them with others.
We are all blessed when we give of ourselves, our True Self, rather than what we think may be "expected" of us, thinking this is the responsible self, when in fact, we would be doing ourselves, others and our planet a disservice if we did not give who we really are.
Divine Beings -
Let us all be filled with Love.
Namaste'
ok, so I meant to place this in the other blog Roots N' Wings.... oh well...

Mandala Peace Project

This is on my other blog, but I wanted to place it here as well. A group of us at Mandala Oasis have decided to journey through the art of the mandala to set the intention of Peace and Love in this world.
When we come to a place of peace within ourselves, we send out that vibration into the world.
Cheryl's blog explains it in more detail.
A group of 9 women, for 9 weeks will be creating mandala art with the intention of sending out love and peace through creating these mandalas...9 catagories such as creativity, health, nature, etc.
Mandalas, I have experienced, have healing qualities. They are meditations of my heart, helping me to focus and center myself and reflect back to me inner secrets, opening me to discover deeper insight into myself. I invite you to discover their magical qualities for yourself. Click on the webring to the right to find others that are participating and travel to their blogs of mandala magic!
We are always welcoming new members into our group. A warm, welcoming and inspiring group it is! I'm grateful and blessed to be in a community of women and men who support one another, inspire and share their spiritual and artistic lives.
Envision Peace.
Create Peace.
As the mandala above mentions, there are infinite possibilities when we work together as One.
May Peace sit always in your hearts.
Namaste'

Labyrinth Intentions

For the new moon, and having the day off, I decided to walk the labyrinth at Wainwright House.

I had just read a passage in The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd about her thoughts and experiences of the labyrinth. It was once looked at as a symbol of the divine womb, a ritual symbolizing rebirth.

Moving into this center, we shed that which no longer works, letting go of old outworn ideas, regrets, worries, doubts, a symbolic death. Shedding the old skin like a snake, I visualized myself stepping out of this old skin.

As I was walking into the center, I observed how as we walk into the labyrinth, it appears at times that we are moving away from the center even though we are indeed walking inwards. I thought of the spiral, how we come back to something over and over, even though it's at a different plane..

I had intentions of shedding that which I have no control of (worries), that which holds me back (fears) and all the doubts of where I should be, what I should be doing...

I am here.

Center.

In my heart. Being. I am that which I am. That's all I need to be. Always being in the perfect place at the perfect time (even if we don't always see it at the moment).

Entering the Center, the core of my being, coming to understand more of who I am.

Feeling at peace, I left the center, moving away but taking with me a deeper understanding that I am part of the divine plan. I am here to share the gifts I have, bringing who I am into this world. Each one of us, as individuals has some unique ideas, wisdom, energy, talents to share.

We are each a divine spark making up the whole.

Taking this outside, spiraling outwards to re-enter the world with me, this knowing.

I am "gifted" with an acorn dropped by my side. I pick it up with the thoughts, "this is my body".

Yes. All of nature, it all has it's potential. This is the gift. We have the potential, but will we use it?

Say YES.

Give and take

After yesterday's Clay Day and watching everyone work with the coil method of building pots, I'm sure this had an influence on my mandala :-)
I was so restless afterwards, my mind could not still itself. I read a page of my book over and over and over... so I went to the mandala for some focus.
To help still the mind, it is a great meditation.
Never quite knowing what it will be about until it begins to unfold, I began in the center with the spiral.
As I spiraled outwards, it reminded me of reaching out.
Reaching out to community.
We reach out and we pull back. From our centers, we reach out to others, giving a part of ourselves. We touch others with our ideas, our gifts. We teach and we learn.
And then we draw back in, taking with us all that we've received in our relationship with others. We give love, we receive love back in return.
We give gratitude, we receive gratitude.
We give of ourselves and we receive the gift of reflection, understanding, wisdom, friendship.
Give and Take. A constant exchange that benefits us all.
It's about community. What do you contribute and what do you receive?
It's also about a balance between the two.
Putting yourself out into the world, and allowing time for inner reflection.
This seems to be an area that our world needs to remember, as do I, that we need to take the time to go within, to center ourselves and balance it with our giving to the world.

Awakening

I tend to see the Spring as a time of birth and awakening and of course it is, but as I was creating this mandala, this flying creature just wanted to "awaken" and come out of her cocoon. As the leaves change and the pods release their seeds, ending their cycles, she wants to be born.

Autumn is a time that I especially love. It symbols a time of abundance and renewed energy for me. The oppressive heat of the summer is gone. The weather rejuvenates me and I love being outside observing nature's changes. Things going to seed in preparation for new growth to come after winter's slumber.

So after this was done, I questioned the idea of birth and awakening at other times.

Do we get to choose when we will be "awakened", claiming our own cycles of rebirth, to resurface and break away from the "cocooned" existence?

Does it matter what time?

Because I think NOW would be as good a time as any.

Peace Day

Tomorrow is International Peace Day and another prompt for our Mandala Oasis group. Another canvas that was started awhile ago... transformed.

It is just so nice to get back to painting, drawing, just being creative for myself.

And that brings me to what I feel brings greater peace to the world..

We must start with ourselves.

Once we feel at peace, it is inevitable that peace manifests outside our selves,

but first we must bring it inwards.

What steps can you take that will bring peace within.

What will help you to raise your vibrations to that level?

What makes you happy?

What is your passion?

What causes your heart to open and sing?

Do one thing today and tomorrow that brings comfort and peace inside yourself.

Add one more day.

And then another.....

and another....

Letting go

Last year in class at Igor's, I started to put some paint on this round black mat board, just playing around. The center, the green stroke and a little of the purple and the tiny yellow dot are what remains... I added to it for our Mandala Oasis yahoo group's Autumn prompt.

Autumn to me is about letting go.

Lesson from the trees. In time, we all need to release that which is no longer helping us, that which is out worn or just taking up space, collecting dust!

Just LET IT GO!

Sometimes, it is just a little bit of letting go.. a gentle breeze and other times, it takes hurricane winds to release the tight grasp.

What do you need to release?

Emotions? A grudge? An opinion or feeling that you've held on to way too long?

Or is it the stuff in the closet... taking up space, that could be used for something else...

Another canvas that was started awhile ago... I may still work on it. Notice the same whirling leaves in the wind... yep. all about letting go............

An Autumn flower

From a promt at Mandala Oasis, this is one idea... others are streaming forth. Actually, my intention was different, but a flower just wanted to "happen" and therefore it did.
My intention was to come to the page and do something loose and free... I guess I needed something to be structured today!
I went out for a walk with camera and will play with those later.
While attempting to clean up more of the art room, I found an old round canvas that I started with a tree... and well.
That was when "loose and free" was able to happen... so much for cleaning!
Still working on it........

Sunflower Mandala

If I cast the seeds into the wind,

where will they land?

Onto hard, dry, clay soil

rocky with stones

or

onto moist fertile soil,

loose and warm

rich and deep

ready to be nutured

to become

it's full potential

Take care of your seeds :-)

Bloom into your True Self

Nurture your dreams

Grow

May we all be blessed with rich soil

Love and Light,

Doreen

Thanks Pattie :-)

Pattie gave me this award. Thanks and I am truly appreciative. I love her art... go check it out. It makes me smile :-)

Now I need to pass it on........ first here are the rules:

1) I have to pick 7 of my favorite blogs and…

2) The winner can put the logo on their blog

3) Link the person you received your award from

4) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

5) Put links of those blogs on yours.

6) Leave a message on the blogs of the ones you’ve nominated.

I would like to give this award to:

(I'm doing this in stages) I've come upon some new blogs and would like to give them this award. It's from participating in The Altered Pages' The Pulse.

first it goes to Robyn, who I noticed on Coach Creative sight and love the work she does.

I've bookmarked Thrifty Collage Artist

Just discovered this blog by Lynne Hoppe

and I'll put some more up later... as I really need to get off the computer!!!!!!!

Spiraling In / Out

I blogged my spiral thoughts here and played with the spirals this morning. One spirals in and one spirals out... as a divination, Greer says:

Unfolding: "The spiral suggests that the design you have begun to draw upon your tracing board has much to unfold, if you allow it to follow the directions and dynamics it has already set in motion. Just as the oak unfolds from the acorn, the smallest portion of a spiral's arc already contains the full outward sweep of the finished spiral in potential; follow that potential, and your design will unfold as it should.... the spiral councils patience, attentiveness, and a sensitivity to context, so that the spiral patterns of the future can unfold in their own way."

I took this as a message to move the painting along... giving birth, rather than staying in the "cocoon" stage.

Diminishing: The spiral suggests that the design is spiralling inwards, tracing ever smaller arcs around the point where it will finally come to rest. The same inner dynamics that once sent it spinning outward in expanding curves now bring it back again, and attempting to force it around into a circle will only break the continuity of the pattern and leave something artificial in place of the natural dance of spiralling force."

A reminder that things cycle around... birth and death.. nothing lasts forever. Sometimes it is better to rest for awhile and then pick up the brush and move on......

The quotes are from John Michael Greer in Techniques for Geometric Transformation.

Waiting.....

So far, this is a painting I've been working on... Lots of stuff came up while painting it.
A desire to be connected to nature, the elements... the idea of gestation, cocooning, playing around with ideas and giving birth to them, manifesting them after some gestation period..
when will the eggs hatch or the butterfly be released... what comes next?
Not forcing, just allowing.
The desire to be in touch with the higher Self, the Being I am when all the roles I play are striped away... what still remains.... This desire to be in touch and remain there in this authentic place of Being and not get distracted by too much over analysis. Rather, go to my Heart Center more often, to Feel my way through it.
Here's to all those "cocooning" out there waiting for a new journey to Self. A continuous process I am sure, rebirthing our Selves each time to greater growth, spiraling up from the depths of our souls to higher ways of being.
Namaste'

Some mandalas......

Releasing Seeds
Bloom
Beyond the Garden Gate
Golden Cocoon

I took a break to do some painting... and then took a break from that to do some mandalas.
This last one, golden cocoon, is about where I am right now.
Just as I was about to write, after uploading this, my son called and began to speak of feeling as if he were in a cocoon stage.
WHAT?!?! (I am not alone)
He is an Aquarius as well, so we discussed astrology.
I'm reading Sue Monk Kidd's, When the Heart Waits and she is speaking of the cocoon, the gestation stage. Waiting.
I get it. I get the messages that are all around me and I'm learning as well how others deal with it.
It's not an easy stage, as there is a lot of inner work and quiet time to be had... waiting is key.
Waiting by immersing yourself in yourself. This I do best by painting. Painting is my therapy. It reflects, it mirrors and helps bring things to the surface.. that which is not always comfortable. It helps me to look deeply into that forever question: "Why am I here? What is my purpose?"
Sometimes I get it. That feeling of contentment when everything is all right with the world, love surrounds me and I feel the abundance of All That Is!
and then there comes those times of doubt. Am I delusional?
Beyond the Garden Gate caused reflection on how we need to break from our self-limiting boundaries. We need more passion, risk taking, adventure!
We become torn between obligations and responsibilites, to be the good child, and the lust to take it ALL in. Explore ALL of it.
We limit ourselves with Time and Space... and maybe that is the real illusion.

Nature's Mandalas

In awe of the patterns of nature.
Almost everyday, I watch the unfolding of the sunflowers...
and the bees that they attract.

Mother Nature Y

Feather Dance

Light as a feather,

dancing and swirling in the cosmos,

feeling a bit flighty.

glorious, joyous spinning

dizzy

spinning inward

spinning outward

tangled up in joy

with no where to land

but rather to just be.

Mandala of Moments

Movement through time.

Counting each second as we move around

from beginning to beginning.

Cycles.

Change.

Return.

Spiraling upwards through each cycle

Spinning through space.

Moving through change.

Moment by moment.

Second by second.

no stopping......

Making each moment count. Aware of the preciousness of these moments we have in our life. Each morning and each evening, I sat listening to the sound of water and birds, creating mandalas and going within to observe the Inner Self and messages, listening to my inner voice and what needed to be heard.

Observing the "chatter" mind.

And then the still voice in those moments when insight comes, chatter ceases, and "I" come forward. The true inner Self.

Precious moment.

I'm baaaack.........

Just got back from a glorious week with absolutely PERFECT weather from Phoenica, NY.
I did mandalas everyday. Read a lot. Shopped :-) a little... and took in all the beauty of the mountains, but especially the river. I love this place!
Later for uploads.. . but a very nice surprise from Marianne who gave me an award ---> see to the right, the I love your blog award.. thanks!
I'm going to pick my bloggers later though. I really need to catch up with emails! YIKES!

working with shapes

I've been working with the 3 shapes, circle, square and cross. I'm finding it interesting to be "structured" in this way. Staying within some limits rather than being spontaneous.
I chose a card from John Greer's Sacred Geometry deck. The Right Triangle.

I proceeded to create a mandala using just this shape. Every one is a right triangle except around the edges of the circle.

Discipline. Focus. Structure.

It's not my style really... but I think it helped me.

I felt good doing this after awhile. After it was colored in, I didn't really like it, mostly because I could not choose between two different approached and flip-flopped between mirroring and being sequencial.

My sponanteous side needed a part in this and did the patterning and then I liked it much better.

Doing this mandala work has gotten me to go deeper within myself.

It's also addictive :-)

Seeds of Peace

While walking to yoga class Monday, I flashed on the idea of a peace sign mandala. I started it last night, worked on it this morning and finished it up this evening.

I wish I could have planted some of these today... or maybe I did.

It seemed to me that there was some "tired, weary" energy to the day. I could easily have taken a nap myself, but had to work the whole day and then continued on to the laundromat.

I observed some emotional situations at work and then again in the laundromat.

(It's not even a full moon)

Carefully chosen words, a hug and a listening ear.

Some days these are the seeds that we plant, we tend to the emotions of others, lend a listening ear, some heartfelt sympathy, a hug, a smile...

then we go home and tend the garden of our own soul, nurturing our bodies and our spirits with good food, loving company, and a rejuvenating shower.

And of course some art.

We reap what we sow :-)

May all beings be free from suffering and may all beings be at peace.

Namaste'

Out of the stormy center

As I was working on this one, towards completing it, I thought "center of the storm".

Out of the center, and sometimes a stormy one, new life forms. New moments. New ideas.

Storms clear away that which isn't strong, weak branches, trees... Natures way of pruning.

In order for new life to come, there needs to be space made.

yesterday, I felt a bit stormy.

I need to make some space for myself, emotionally, as well as physically and what better way to do that to go to the center.

and listen.

My "storminess" subsided when I did what I really wanted to do.. and that was to get some colored gel pens to play with.

The eye of the storm can be quite deceptive, leading one to think everything is all right. Below the surface the storm is brewing.... once realized though, once brought to consciousness, then you can deal with it however it needs to be... but first we need to realize what the heck it is!

more Zendalas

After scanning this one, I brought it into PrintShop and cropped it. So much nice to not see the rings that bind the book.. I wanted to color it, but this is all I could do.

I tried to paint with H2O's but it would not take and just went into the paper, which I found to be weird. It came off the silver pen.

Solar Power... This is what came to me while creating this. I really am enjoying working with the gel pens. Bought some colored ones today. I'm also wanting to "doodle" objects, something recognizable in these Zendalas, although I still want it to come from the subconscious mind, rather than consciously come to the page to draw something specific.

Silver journey

Using a silver gel pen and listening to music, I found myself in the art room instead of the bedroom. How easily I am distracted.........

I went in to turn the light off that I had left on, and there was the book, open as an invitation... circle already drawn.. just waiting for me.

Put on Shaman's Vision Journey and there I was on a journey, going within ~ a Zendala meditation.....

My Heart Pours Open

First page in the black journal.

The book is bigger and doesn't fit completely on the scanner, so the top words are chopped off. Layered first with white pencil and then layered color over it... ala Judith Cornell.

Being in the Zen

These are not in the order I did them... the one below is the first what could possibly be called a zentangle. There is a website for this, and of course they want you to buy a kit or book. I looked here some time ago and thought they were pretty interesting and then it came up in the MandalaOasis group.. I looked at the link again and decided to play around with it but inside a circle... joining the mandala and the zentangle or a

Zen-dala :-) which is rightly named because you go into a zen state of mind when you do these and they are addictive!

This the first one I did and just had to do another one, but I wanted to add color, thus - the one above. I traced around an old 45... and then just kept shifting it to create the inside lines.
I love the play of lines and how they come forward to recede... they are just so cool to make.
I used a thicker pen, and therefore it turned out to be bolder which I like. Again, I used a 45 and then shifted it around the circle a couple of times, adding some free form lines. I think this one I'll call....... "What a ride!"