Focusing on the Inner Christmas

With so much outward focus during this time of the year, it is a wonderful idea to focus on the inner christmas, finding the wonder and joy and generosity that lives within. Here is a great website to help with that focus.

http://www.innerchristmas.com/index.html

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of Life.....

"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." Melody Beattie

Observe the Wonders...Gratitude mandala ...in process

Observe the wonders as they Occur All Around Us...Rumi

Happy Thanksgiving!







Here is a link to the history and myths around Thanksgiving

http://www.history.com/minisites/thanksgiving

Enjoy
and remember to:.
.....Observe the wonders as they Occur All Around Us...Rumi

Happy Thanksgiving!

Progression of a Mandala

Patricia and I are getting ready to do another Mandala Workshop, this one will be at the Center For Spiritual Living in Santa Rosa. We have each been sitting at the Church center for the past month on Sundays, talking about the Mandala Process. It has excited me about the mandala process, and made me look forward to beginging another one as well as witnessing others in the process. I love to see the images that emerge out of the darkness of the black paper, for everyone.

So I am posting several progressions of my mandalas to share how they evolve.

Evocative Bird Stories

My collages are like mysterious narratives, calling forth the imagination like a visual Mary Oliver Poem. ...and this bird like her wild geese...as it flys up past the open drawers....calls to me.....

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Raven Totem Mandala

The Raven was believed by some to be the bringer of light, truth and goodness.
It is the brighter side of the Raven, this intelligence and ingenuity, an ability to use cunning –
this association with light, illumination, truth and goodness, that we bring forth here.

Birds of a Feather- More Bird Art

Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers - a living prismatic gem.... it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description. ~W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions



encaustic on cradled hardboard....

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to
heaven.
Emily Dickinson

Learning Curve - Birds, birds and more birds

Creating and working on a blog is a great idea...but what a learning curve. Everything I try to add turns around and back on me. Perhaps being sick also contributes... Here is a recent encaustic that in a sense is a self portrait. When I was younger I had an albino parakeet that I named Bianci... Italian for white . This image is a reminder of a time when I was young and full of possibilities. Birds continue to be animal guides for me. So this month I will post my bird art.

Check out my Slide Show!

I thought I would try highlighting one of my collages in honor of the change of the seasons...
I found this great link to play with.
http://www.slide.com/arrange

Enjoy The Fall....I believe it is my favorite time of the year...

The Offering

The Offering.... really a gift to myself.




I love the ongoing process of maing and remaking an encaustic piece.

Here is the evolution of this encaustic painting. It has changed dramatically.

I love adding lavender and other dried flowers to my pieces. She came out of nowhere just like the images that come through when creating art.

Window and Wine

Window and Wine
Originally uploaded by blue_sea_art

I have my encaustic paintings in a small arts and crafts gallery in Healdsburg Calif...called ART & ALL THAT JAZZ....

I decided to play around with the wine imagery...and created a series of small encaustics on 4"x4" clayboard...here is one of them

MORE Encaustics... from Exploration Day...

I love witnessing the process and what evolves for people. The medium itself provides a wonderful context for imagery and exploration... Here are more encaustics done at last weekends encaustic exploration days.






I plan on doing another weekend workshop the first weekend in Oct. Now its time for me to get back in the studio again myself....

Weekend Encaustic Class.....

What a stimulating and engaging weekend.




I facilitated an all Day Encaustic Exploration Class and then the next day an Encaustic Open Studio day at my studio.












Here are some photos of the studio and some photos of what folks created.

More process and More Encaustics...

Summer Solstice Animal Spirit Mandalas..

Summertime busy ness has prevented me from posting much this summer..



Here are just a few photos of the mandalas began at the Connecting with Animal Spirits Mandala Workshop


Patricia Waters and myself facilitated this Illuminated Mandala Retreat day at Mountain Home Ranch....
right around the time of the Summer Solstice.



Although most of these images were not finished that day...


they are well on there way to being stunning...

Encaustic Exploration Day...

I haven't posted lately because I was preoccupied with preparing to present my first ever encaustic Exploration DAy..
Although I was worried about all the details and even with blowing all the electrical circuits in the studio, early in the morning, the day was exciting and productive for everyone who attended.

Here are some photos of the days process













These 3 encaustics are what I did during the day.