Spread LOVE & LIGHT

"Life is too short and this lifetime in particular is too valuable for you to spend it doing things that don’t engage your passion and that block your heart energy from flowing into the world."

This was part of my horoscope for the week, but really, it should be an ongoing reminder for all of us at all times. This time of the year is a reminder for me to do just that.. to do what I love doing and to share my passions. A time to open the heart even wider to share.. to give to others.

We live in such an affluent area that sometimes we need a reminder that it's not all like this.

Yesterday, John and I spent part of the day at a Fair Trade Festival where we met with people who are sharing their passions in other countries as well as our own to help create a better world. This world includes clean water and food, an education and medicine... things we tend to take for granted here. These are people who are making a difference traveling to some of the poorest areas, sacrificing the comforts we expect here at home.

It was a heart opening experience to be surrounded by a room filled with these giving people.

Here at home, I can follow the same path. The path of sharing - giving -of myself, my work, my passions.

Key here is to do what you love to do and then pass the love and light of it on to others. Give your gifts to the world.

When you photograph a beautiful sight, paint your visions, create in clay, write your story... and share that, you pass along your gift.

And I thank you.

May your heart always be open.

Namaste'

Sending out love

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."-- Melody Beattie

When life comes at us from all angles, hitting us with demands from this direction and that, we have a choice. We can ride the edge of the wheel and become part of that turmoil and chaos, or we can move towards the center and breathe into our own stillness - our heart center.

From there, we can know our next step. We then can move from the still point, the calm center. This is what mandala does for me. It brings me to that still point, quiet, peaceful, my heart center, and I make a choice from there.

My response, rather than reaction, comes from the question of "what will help me to grow?.. what best serves my higher Self?"

I move from the self-centered reaction of "what about me!?" to how can I be of service to you, a compassionate and more whole response. I move from the centered Self, and carry my gifts, my purpose out into the world.

It is a constant movement - inside to outside- back and forth- a balance of give and take.

I would like to take away your pain and give you joy. I would like to come from a point of compassion and gratitude all the time, but it is a journey. One that has me coming and going.

How joyous it is when this flow comes between us, sharing the journey of give and take. How wonderful when we are in balance.

When there are obstacles and turmoil, I move back inside.. into the center of mandala, heart center, and find the deep gratitude that awaits there for me... So much kindness. So much love that I can focus on... and then the rest disappears.

Namaste'

Center of it all...

Opening up.

Blossoming.

When open,

what do you find in the center of it all..

Love.

Follow it's direction.

No matter which way you turn,

it is there.

One needs to just open up

to find it.

It is in the center of everything.

Namaste'

I found this quote on the internet today and it fits with my feeling today about this mandala:

We have a treasure within us that we will never lose, but we will not find it by searching outside. We have to look within.
– Amma

Seeds

Finally, getting back to some blogging and more importantly, to mandala making. Since the show, my priorities seemed to have been misplaced or maybe I just needed to venture into other areas.

What I notice is I get cranky when I don't create. Giving is good, but there needs to be a balance that I more often than not tend to forget.. or maybe it's just saying that "no" word that is hard to do. I tried sneaking in some moments and created some cards for a show that's coming up, but it wasn't exactly the same, but even that went by the wayside.

I don't find the same calmness that comes with mandalas. They are more centering. Like the breath, the more focused I become on them, the calmer I become. As I become calm, I get more clear on what I need for myself and for others.

Each new moon I notice that the seeds I plant always have to do with this.. giving myself the time to do art.

Along with this, I found a book, "How Yoga Works"... and more messages of the same, planting seeds. Each thought is another seed. Whether positive or negative, loving or hurtful, it is a seed we plant and eventually reap the results. Plant positive and loving seeds and see the benefits.

If I am cranky and irritable and speak to others in an unkind, critical voice, I am sure to see that return back to me. That is not what I wish... so keeping this in mind, it is better for me and for you and for the betterment of mankind if I do my art.

So, if you see me on the street, getting short with you or someone else.. just pat me on the back and say," go home and make mandalas".

Thank you for your kindness :-)

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