Wainwright Sunset

Our evening ended with this beautiful sight.

Our reception was great fun. Thank you to all those who came.
The exhibit stays up until Oct. 21.
New moon yesterday (Tues.) comes at a time that I set new goals.
I love making mandalas, but I also love creating assemblages, so I am on the lookout for a new space to exhibit 3 dimensional pieces in the area...
Today, I get to paint on a wall in the library. Children's section.
Working Big.
It balances out from doing all those small and detailed mandalas.
Time to use those large muscles :-)
Moving towards newness.
What's new with you ?

Heal thyself

Feeling more emotional than usual.. a bit raw. Getting ready for the show got me into doing the practical stuff like framing, creating the cards and then preparing for a hurricane.
Besides that, I was surrounded by loss. A friend, my mom lost a friend, actually 2, and a dear friend of mine lost his son. On top of that I watched and learned of devasting effects from the hurricane in the places that are dear to us in upstate NY.
Yesterday I knew I needed to pull myself out of a funk. My body lagged with little energy due to emotional eating.. junk food.
It hit me.. take your own advice! go create a mandala. I realized that's what was lacking.. the simple act of creating those small gems of quieting the mind.. a way to bring out that inner light that was dimming in all the outside sorrow coming at me. ART HEALS!
Compassion is good, but it needs movement. I realize movement is key and me "not in motion" stays that way and you do NOT want to be around me when I'm like that.
Unstructured time, lack of self-dicipline, unmotivated and stuck make for one very grouchy Doreen.
The indecisive mind enters.. and immobilizaton sets in.
aaaaaaaahhhh. Pull me out!!!
and I did. I started with morning pages to dump.. get it out of the system and then I created a mandala.
I need this.
I cannot not do this - this act of creating.

She's coming.....

Working on a mandala painting 24x24 for the exhibit coming up at the Wainwright House
in Sept. Irene is coming this way and I've moved a lot of my art supplies into the dinning room. Have my flashlights ready. Art is such a wonderful way to be absorbed into something positive. I'll let you know how that all turns out. Most of the worst part will be overnight and tomorrow morning. Wishing everyone on the east coast the best.
I've been pretty busy and haven't been blogging all that much anyway, but if the power goes... well, who knows when.
Be well.
Do art.

Re Centering

In the labrynth at the Wainwright House where we will be having our exhibit. This beautiful spiritual place is on the water... very peaceful. I took some time to work on centering myself and getting back into my own art for a while.
Another way to get centered is painting a mandala.
Life gets very messy while we focus on our art..

Gratitude Wheel

I shifted gears this week. For 6 weeks I work at camp as the art specialist. I love working with the kids creating for the most part, but not fond of the hot, sticky weather that I have to do this in. I work under a tent of blue and orange stripes which creates confusion as to the color of things and it absorbs the heat! Along with that, add bugs, bees and unorganized materials and you'll understand why I tried this experiment this week.
Each morning on the way to work, I said "thank you" to everything good that popped up in my mind.. everything from clear pathways to beautiful landscaped houses I passed to green lights and the people who paved the road... Many things came to mind...and so I started out each day with this grateful state of mind.. and even through all kinds of challenges, I stayed pretty calm.
I was able to lighten up!
So, for the next 5 weeks, my intention is to be thankful those things that I love and am grateful for. It's a powerful prayer.
Coming home was much more challenging.. .. .. ..
As these wheels of life turn, each day brings an opportunity to try again :-)
Namaste'

Mandala Time

I did some mandalas while away. They're in a small watercolor journal and are done with marker and glitter gel pens which are spread with a waterbrush. I scanned them, so they don't show the glittered effect so much.

This first one is Solstice Abundance: Birth of Summer and all it's abundant blessings.

Each new day brings new blessings while others are revisited... I count them, but lose count there are so many and I am grateful. It was a gorgeous week listening to bird song, river tumbling over stone. Comfortable to sit.. and be still.

Listen to my own inner self.

It is a creative universe.. a Universe filled with Creativity.. and I am filled with it as are you.
There is no end to it.

Each direction, no matter which way we turn, it is there for us to reap it's rewards, this abundance that is there for us.. we just need to open our eyes.

Then open our heart

and let it in.

Time out...

Finally getting back to mandalas again. It had been a while and I feel the difference when I don't take the time for myself.. some quiet introspective time.. my form of meditation.

I listen to the messages.

Listen to what comes up.. how mandalas speaks to me.

This one had a message of "go further" - move beyond the normal boundaries.. stretch your boundaries! I keep adding on..

As in life, I keep adding on.

How much further can I take any project, and how much is too much?

I AM

surrounded by so much beauty

supportive people

so much love

If we take a look around, we can see how much we can be thankful for.

Switch gears.

Change the channel.

Turn the dial.

If there is something in our world we do not like, take offense to or just find to be too negative, how often do we sit with it anyway.

Mull in it's muddy murky waters until we become just as negative.

Switch gears.

Change the channel.

Dwell in a different possibility..

Find something that uplifts you

and moves you into that place

of peace

and beauty

and love.

Most of the times it just involves getting up off our butt and take a walk,

preferably with a camera..

turn on the macro setting

and find that true beauty hidden in nature's amazing work.

Even a bug becomes magnificent in it's irredescent spendor.

Most of the time, we just need to take a time out

and do something kind for ourselves.

Namaste'

ATC's

I figured I'd post what I made... curious as to who got what :-)

How to paint..

" Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures"

Henry Ward Beecher

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way-

things I had no words for"
Georgia O'Keeffe

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."

Edgar Degas

"What art offers is space- a certain breathing room for the spirit"
John Updike

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart"
William Wordsworth

" Every Child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

~Pablo Picasso

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge"
~Alber Einstein

Namaste'

Carry the seeds

When I begin a mandala, I have no real intention of what it will be about. The intentions I do have are to bring myself to a calm and centered state.. sometimes they are used as a form of prayer.. for healing..
but..
images appear as I work with this.. symbols tend to repeat themselves for a while. Many times the cross appears, flowers, hearts, leaves and seeds lately.
Some times an image appears with dual purpose.. is it a bud or a seed.. a fish or a flower.. a birds beak or another seed.. it appears.. and I listen.
I would say my "aha" moments come about 3/4 of the way through. These are messages to myself, small and large epiphanies.
I had been thinking on a discussion of creativity and spirituality. I began thinking how through art I am able to get in touch with my spirit. This is my voice, my creativity. They, my artwork, are reflective of my spirit.
But if I keep it to myself, it is only half of my journey towards my creative spiritual growth. It has to be shared. The light needs to come out from under the bushel, the bud needing to blossom.
That is what the mandala spoke to me about.. carry that seed out into the world. Out of the internal to the external. If we do not bring our gifts out into the world, what is the point? If we have a voice, what purpose if it is not heard?
The seed cracks open, the blossom appears and new seeds are developed to be carried away out into wherever they need to go. Dive into these waters and do not be afraid.. dive deeper into your inner knowing and come to the surface with delight... share that.
Plant your seed, and watch it grow.. and then muliply into a garden of delight.. Those seeds may be carried beyond your wildest expectations :-)

Relax

The show is hung.. taxes done... the stress of the week has come to a slight calm.. breathing room. A day to take the camera out and take a deep look at the renewal of life.. Spring.

This tree is in the park at the beach in Rye... pretty cool. Orchids I treated myself to. It is a reminder to look at the beauty around me. Thank you.

Sharing art

The past year has been a teaching one.. teaching others? no..Rather being taught by them.. the young children in art class. I learn from them the powers of possibility.. focus.. attention to detail.. and the utter delight in piling on glittery substances. They teach me how to sparkle in life.. Their smiles sparkle with unconditional love. How lucky I am to have this in my life. How deeply grateful I am to have the opportunity to be with them and share their experiences of creating art. Such a power art has. I can literally heal us. As we heal, we can heal that which surrounds us.

healing energy

As I was creating this mandala, I thought of Rauchen, my son's dog. Jessi mentioned he's having a problem with his ear. Sweet Rauchen.. I noticed ears appearing and went with the full attention of her.. my prayer for her healing inserted into this mandala as I was drawing and coloring.

going further

Inspired by some other intricate mandalas, I kept adding to this one. I guess, one can continue on and on until the mandala or anything for that matter is filled to the brim!
I pondered that. As I worked on this and the story of it unfolded, I saw the leaf holding a bowl. Holding it up in gratitude. It was the feeling of abundance, the dance of gratefulness for all that life holds for us...
and then this little demon crept in.. he is at the bottom. His teeth were white at the time. I didn't want him there and thinking the pink would alter him and it did somewhat.. but now I know he is there.. if I look. I can always shift my attention to the gratefulness of a full cup too.
I can do this at anytime.. just like in life.
Toying with my thoughts on this today as I have an appointment to have a back tooth, which broke, pulled today.
My mouth feels crowded. I never had any wisdom teeth pulled and one tooth even turned to make room. One front tooth is beginning to overlap.. Crowded mouth.
Crowded life.
I'm living a full life at the moment and it feels crowded.
A dream last night, remembered this morning was me cooking on a very large grill. The grill was full of stuff and I tried to find some room for the small pieces of chicken I had cut up, squeezing them in between things... containers of vegetables, other indistinguishable foods that were kind of gloppy in a metal bowl... It was a very large grill too, like a very large picnic table that I had to walk around..
Anyway, back to the idea of going further on something.. taking it one step further...
and I thought how much is too much.. like life.. how much can we take on before we say "no thank you".
Art reflecting life. Mandala reflecting mine. Do I want to keep adding, or work to simplify. You can guess where I am going with this.
If I do not take that one step, pushing the envelope, how will I know how far I can go.. how will I know if I don't take this risk and learn what I need to learn.
I altered this a bit, because my going too far in the center didn't appeal to me, so I added some glitter.
Simplify. De clutter. Release rather than add...
thanks for the lesson mandala :-)

Blessing Meditation for Japan

Spread Love

It's so easy to get caught up in fear, worry, anxiety. Life comes at us pretty strong at times and overwhelms us with so much we feel our heads spin with so many thoughts in so many directions.. which way to turn... spinning.. spinning..
Stop.
Breathe.
Turn off the outside world for a bit.. go into your space of quiet.. and listen.
Remember, it is love and not fear that we want to project.. and without knowing the whys of everything... we trust in the Higher purpose of life. We are here and while here, we need to uplift!!!
Close your eyes, send out images of love, joyfullness, peace. See - visualize people smiling- the world wrapped in healing light.. sense joyfullness and wonder.
Uplift the world.
Please.

Share your light

What purpose does it serve if we have something and cannot or will not be open to sharing it.
Joy is magnified when we view a gorgeous sunset, break bread or share our gifts with another. Our gifts are doubled as we share them with another.
What purpose does it serve to bury your light, hidden under that bushel. We all have a special light that needs to shine, to help carry someone to greater sight.. insight.
Our being on the planet is reason enough to share it... to help others.. Maybe we are the holders of that light while another climbs out of a darkness.
What about being the one who receives the light... how open can we be to say yes to it.. allowing another one to be the barer of that light and be carried through to our own brilliance.
Deep gratitude goes to those who have given me the inspiration to shine my own light.. Thank you to those of you who have given praise and complements to lift me up, inspiring words, giving me confidence to go out and shine my light.
Thank someone today that has helped you to see the light.. whether a candle flame or bonfire... it has helped you.. me.. to walk along this path. We cannot shut our eyes or hide in the dark any longer but rather reach out to someone who needs a touch of lightness.
Whether you carry this light or someone else does, both receive the benefits.
Namaste'

aaahh, yes. you understand me :-)

I saw this wonderful post first on my friend Chaska's website and went to read it here at
this blog. Living Story - understanding creative people.
It was one of those moments when someone writes about you and you say.. yes, that's me.. and someone finally gets it! Someone understands.. most creative types do understand other creative types.. but let's face it.. sometimes we question our own sanity with this.
But when you read it in black and white and read someone define your behavior.. it has to bring a smile to your face and relax into that feeling.. yes.
So, what is it that I wish for you .. you creative types out there.. that you are true to you higher self and that creative genius that lives inside of you...
Namaste'

what carries you?

Our lives being a journey

gave rise to the thought of what carries me through the day.

Most days I move along at a steady pace

rituals played out.

Deep waters make me more conscious of life

and it brings me to realize how it is love that carries me through the day.

Faith plays a part

Without it

I would not trust the boat that carries me over to the other side

of fear and uncertainty.

I continue to move towards that which I love to do

rather than do the expected responsible thing-

the mature adult thing

the money thing that is constantly being slammed at you

by way of media.

No.

It is the child within me

the idea of trying something new

that carries me

to a shore of possibility.

But ultimately it is because

I love you

so

deeply.