Mandala Workshop- Recent Images...

I am finally posting the images from our recent Autumn Equinox Mandala Retreat Day.


We had a wonderful, small circle of women, drawing and sharing in my studio, last Sunday.  The weather really co operated, thankfully and it wasn't as hot as this weekend, with Indian Summer blazing away  here in northern Ca...otherwise the studio would have been like a sauna.

 Photos speak louder than words for the process so here are some from that day of what emerged and our process.

Here are some of the small practice mandala's that were created just in the white on black.

 The contrast of the white prismacolors on the black canson mi tientes paper is always so stunning.  It is hard to jump into color, because often these  are so perfect just as they are.

This is the mandala that I began that day.  It really expresses alot of my feeling about transitioning into autumn and the approach of winter.  Actually, fall is my most favorite time of year, but their is always a bittersweetness to it as well.

Lots of release and letting go is inherent within it.

There is something about the dark center that is so provocative

After a wonderful morning of diving in and drawing small mandalas, we began our bigger ones and then created small test color wheel mandalas, practicing blending the rainbow prismacolor pencils that we use in the process. Color is so exciting, and it changes everything.

 We use a limited palette in this process, just 6 colors plus white.  Aquamarine, true green, yellow, orange, magenta, and violet.

                                 With these 6 colors it is possible to mix hundreds of vibrant colors.

The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.╡

>

> - Kahlil Gibran -

Here are all the mandala's in process up on the wall.  Because this is such detailed work, we need to give our eyes, hands and backs breaks.  Often times when you stand back and look at what you are doing, it is possible to see the work in new ways. The mandalas will let you know what the next step is.

Please note the intricate detail on this amazing mandala.

Close up..........

This is the mandala that I began that day, in process. I will post the completed process at a later time.

This is Patricia Waters mandala in process, created with a dear friend in mind who is going through some traumatic life changes.  

Most everyone in the group promised to send the completed mandala images to me, perhaps those will be included in another post.  

I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self

 I had attained what was for me the ultimate.

 C. G. Jung

Shrine Making -Visual Feast

I have been facilitating a women's art support group, every other friday morning, for the past 20 years.  The name of the group has morphed and changed over time, along with all the wonderful women, who have made art in the group.  For a while it was called the Art Spa, because everyone always felt like they had gone on retreat and been renewed from it.  But the name Medicine Art Group is the one that has lasted the longest.  Obviously, the name reflects how artmaking is a deep medicine that is available to all of us.  How doing art heals, and how being in community with others, excelerates the healing process.   

In past month we have been creating Shrines in the group. The focus has been to create a shrine that honors an aspect of ourselves that we want to bring energy to, allowing that part  to come into our lives and to celebrate it joyously.

I love what is happening in the group and how powerful the process has been for the participants, so I though I would share some of the shrines here that are now in process.  Unfortunately, I don't have photos of everyones shrines, but here are a few of them, for your viewing pleasure.

                                                            Shrine to Inner Wisdom

                                      Shrine to My Inner Healer and Inner Wise Woman

Roberta's Shrine to Joyous Living

 

                                 Here is the back, in process, it has changed quite a bit

                                                       Marcella's Transformation Shrine

Each of these shrines are in process and I hope to post several others at another time.  They are made with foam core, that has been cut, covered with rice paper and then painted and collaged over.
Aren't they visual feasts for the eye.  More to come, with more photos and perhaps a story or two.  so thats what I have been up to.

On going work- Inspiration - What do you think?

I continually return to pieces I have worked on as a matter of course.  A painting, collage, mandala or encaustic sits around my studio for a while and then suddenly calls to me for the next step.  I posted this painting a while ago as part of a way I have been playfully using up paints, that my clients leave on their palettes after a session or a group.

Here is the original painting that I posted a  while back.

 I have now taken it into another direction, adding some collage imagery, (birds which is a continuing motif and theme in my art) as well as wording.   The colors have changed somewhat and it has become less subtle.  What do you think?

 I

INSPIRE   12"X12" on canvas                         

For some reason the colors are different than the original in this photo.  The blues are still more subtle and the bottom is actually purple.  I will retake the photo in different light and post it again.
This painting Inspire is now posted in my etsy store Soul Arte Eclectica.  

So my question is a request for feedback, should I have left it alone or does this work as an inspiration piece.  Thanks in advance.

INSPIRE: to fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative 
To  create (a feeling, esp. a positive one) in a person

Whales at the Coast - Oh My

Yesterday I went out to the Sonoma Coast, and it was a beautiful day out there.  Such a lovely laid back experience, except for the hoards, and crowds of labor day visitors, and campers crowding up the usually empty roads and beachfront parking.

Russian River Mandala - The mouth of the Russian River at Jenner, CA.

But the highlight of the day was going out to Bodega Head and watching the whales