Making Multiples - On a roll - or rather a Circle - Oh My

Shiny clear glass domes

Well, I am back at it again, making more and more of the pendants from my mandalas, Patricia's mandalas as well as the buddha/bottisatvas.   I decided to post my process here.  I have been uploading these on occasion to my facebook page and a friend asked if I was going to do a workshop.  Hmmm, who knows, but right now I am making them to sell, hoping to find stores and people who fall in love with these charming little amulets.

 Here are some of the domes with images glazed on, I love how they look all together.

All lined up and drying  in my studio, waiting for chains, or ribbons or whatever, lots of mandalas hoping for new homes and lovely ladies hearts to grace.

I think I have said this before, but there is something so comforting about creating multiples of things, lots of little circles of wholeness, waiting for someone's imagination to project on it.

 The one problem is organizing and sorting through all of these pendants....here they are in a jewelry display holder

This one is my full moon Spring Tree of Live Mandala, in a copper setting.  I am in love with the copper right now.  Although the photo I took of this amulet isn't the greatest, this is one of my favorite images.

 Butterfly Transformation Amulet.  I created this mandala when recovering from surgery.

Here are some of my new Buddha pendants in circle pendant trays rather than oval.  I am trying to simplify things by just working in the circle now.

Ta Da.... a close of up of one of the buddhas.  I love this one...
So that is what I have been up to and rather obsessed by lately.  Now to market them.  I have posted some in my etsy store, but am looking for real live people to buy them from me.

Want one?  

Or know of any stores that would like to carry this line of Amulets.

 Let me know.

 Ciao Caterina

Back to Encaustic in the New Year

Something shifted for me on New Years Eve and Day, I found myself actually cranking up my hot plate and electric skillet filled with encaustic medium and losing myself in the dreamy process of painting in encaustic.

It has been months, and months since I last felt the urge and acted on it.
Once I started playing, I went back to the process every day for four days in a row.  What a joy.  One thing led to another, and I wound up expressing some ideas that have been stirring for a while.

When I first began painting with encaustic, I was drawn to its textural possibilities, but lately my draw has been what happens when the densely colored  paint blends and merges as it is fused with the hot air gun.  I am in love with the sheen, and the smooth glasslike glow that emerges when it is polished to a shine.  Each of these pieces began with alot of encaustic medium and color that was played with and coalesced into a brilliant explosion of color and organic form.

Then I took a bone folder and  burnished  zerox transfers of photographs the I have taken over the wax,  and embellished it with more paint and mixed media to create each of these paintings.

I am in love again.  What a way to start the New Year.  Ya Fatah!

I can't wait to continue on this theme, with my paint, but this Sunday, Patricia and I are facilitating a New Years, Mandala Retreat Day,....so I need to put away my hot plates and paint for a bit to set the studio up for the 12 people who are coming to draw and open to the New Cycle with us.

So next time I plan to post photos of that workshop.  But you can be sure, that soon after I will set up my encaustic supplies and dive in.  I am also planning on doing another encaustic workshop sometime in February.  Life is good.  Blessings to all. 

Changing the Look of my Blog and my Evolving Mandala

The other day I started playing around with the design of this blog, and once again was unable to return to its previous  look, so hence it new look.  I actually like it better now, it feels more airy and open.  So hence welcome to the new look of this page.  Blogger has some new features, and I am eventually going to try to add some extra pages.  But this is enough for now.  All this technology is too much for me, and I need to take breaks from the computer.  

One of the ways I have been retreating and renewing myself, is by the ongoing work on the mandala that I began at our Summer Solstice Mandala retreat.  I have decided to share its process, from the beginning drawing to the place I am at right now.  It is now completed yet, but getting closer.  

Here is the beginning drawing.

With the scale of light being developed.

Color, color and more color.

This is where I stopped drawing at last evening.  I wish I had left more black, but I seem to have a tendency to fill in all the spaces.  That is something I keep reminding myself to work on, not only in my mandalas, but also in my life.  Creating these images, always bring up a metaphor for me, that guides me on my personal growth issues and process.  This mandala is all about honoring, health, growth, new directions and beginnings, as well as loving all the sprouting seeds in my life.  I will post the finished mandala another time.

Summer Solstice - Mandala Workshop Photos

On Sunday Patricia and I facilitated another Mandala Workshop.  It was such a lovely group and a relaxing and healing day of artmaking.  I really enjoyed diving into another mandala.  I was very fortunate to be able to take several long rests, since I am still slowly regaining my stamina from my hip surgery. Patricia held the energy and led the group, while I retreated to my house for a nap in both the a.m. and pm.  That is one of the things that   is wonderful about having a partner to work with, as well teaching in my studio.
Here are some photos of the day.

All together around the tables in my studio.

Practice scale of light mandalas...

Black and white  scale of light mandalas....

Beginnings....

I love how individual and totally unique each mandala is.

It was also amazing to witness each mandala transform over time and with color.

  Here are some photos of folks working in process on their mandalas.

and another...

They are all stunning in the white on black at no matter what stage they are at.

Here is Penelope starting to add color to her spider mandala.  

This is my mandala as it continues to evolve..

And now for some color.

Unfortunately this photo of Diana's Mandala came out blurred, but I still want to show it.

Experimenting with the use of color and the white pencils..

Barries Mandala is an honoring of the plants and animals she see's as she walks the trails of sonoma County.

'Christi's Mandala with color added.  

So that is a taste of some of the work done this past Sunday.  A few mandala's were not shown in color, or in the early stages.  But you can see the amazing beauty that emerged in each persons work.  However, the most important part of the experience was the actual process, that each person had as they worked through the day.  That cannot be duplicated by mere photos. The feeling, of depth and connection that comes as we move inward, and just pay attention to balancing and expressing on paper, moment by moment.  Thanks for joining us as we work in the sacred circle. 

Butterfly Mandala

Another day and moment by moment I am feeling better, day by day.

So the butterfly has become the focus of my newest mandala.  It is the perfect symbol for the healing journey that I am on now, as I heal from major surgery.  This is the begining of the mandala, done with white prismacolor pencil, using the scale of light on black paper.

                                   

      The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.  ~Rabindranath Tagore

Overwhelmingly, cultural myth and lore honor the butterfly as a symbol of transformation because of its impressive process of metamorphosis.

In process, the original drawing begins to change and it seems as if the antenna are forming arrows, but that doesn't feel right, creating to static a pattern.

                           If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.  ~Author Unknown

Imagine the whole of your life changing to such an extreme you are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. Mind you, this change takes place in a short span of about a month too (that’s how long the butterfly life cycle is).

                This mandala feels more about spiraling into expansion for me so I changed that part of the mandala.

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The butterfly unquestioningly embraces the chances of her environment and her body.  This unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. Here the butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. 

This point in the drawing process starts to become fun, when I enhance the each image with the scale of light.  It is drawing the light around and within the images, bringing the light of energy and direction into the mandala.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. 

~Maya Angelou

So it is our responsibility to make our way in faith, accept the change that comes, 

and emerge from our transitions as brilliantly as the butterfly.

The essential core of the mandala is complete now

The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet.  ~Paul Erlich

Here it is for now, the next step is the leap into adding color.

At first when I began with the orange butterflies I was disappointed.  It is always a big risk to add color to the black and white image.  It is like diving into the unknown, with the part of myself who wants safety, and to be close to shore, resists, diving into the deep of risk and transformation.  Once, I begin, though, there is no turning back and I am forced to move forward until it comes together.  

The blue green into purple in the negative space around the mandala changed everything, and I am now in love with what is happening.  Who knows what will happen next.  I will keep posting this ongoing mandala journery as it emerges.  Until next time...

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.  ~Chuang Tzu 

Mandalas continue to emerge...

I am so heartened by  how creating mandala's gets into ones bones and once you start it's hard to stop.  Scarlet, who was in our New Year's Intention Mandala Workshop just sent Patricia some new mandala's that she created since the class ended... She fell in love with the process and has just been drawing and drawing.

This mandala is a called Love to Haiti

The process of  setting a healing intention while drawing is a form of  active, dynamic meditation.  Art as Medicine, Art Making as Prayer.  Not only is the process healing but the energy and intention of the mandala is set into motion.

Here is another one of her  Illuminated Mandala's   with white pencil on the black ground of the paper.

and

In Vibrant Color

  I feel honored by witnessing how this process has lit a Creative fire for  Scarlet.  What a blessing for her and a gift for me and Patricia to witness in retrospect.