Exploring the 5 Universal Shapes -Spring Mandala Workshop

Yesterday Patricia and I facilitated our Spring Mandala Retreat Day.  We incorporated Angeles Arrien's process with the 5 Universal Shapes into our mandalas.  The energy in the group seemed to hum with contentment as we welcomed the Spring through creating mandalas in community.  

Here are the  photos that were taken of the days creative process.  

 These are the scale of light experimental doodles that we did at the begining of the day,  each of us exploring the circle, square, triangle, equal distant cross, and circle in our drawings.

                              
                                  Shapes Mandalas with just a hint of color coming into them.

 It is magical to see these in process photos of this drawing process.
Look at the magical, emergence of color and light in Marsha's mandala.  So luminous!!

                           It is amazing to see how each persons drawing essence presents itself.

I feel so honored to witness this creative emergence drawing process, and sharing it here is also a shared pleasure..

                                                        Everyone working away.

 I loved the energy in the room in the afternoon, after we had been deeply drawing for a while. The focused joy of drawing was almost  visceral.  Both calming and energizing at the same time.  The healing power of art and the focusing energy of drawing mandalas, intertwined.  How lovely.

 This is me drawing the my mandala.  I was working with the circle, spiral and triangle.

            Here are everyones mandala's at the end of the day.  Each one so unique and whole.

 Everyone agreed to send me images of them when they are complete, so I will post them when they arrive.

I personally started a color wheel mandala, and I really look forward to playing with it and letting it emerge into what it will become.  I will post its evolution eventually..Until then, happy drawing.

Revisting Some of my Encaustic's-La Finestra Primavera

Before I had my surgery, coincidentally, I brought home many of my encaustic paintings that have been hanging at Art and All That Jazz in Healdsburg.  Due to the economy, the owner was revamping and changing the focus of her gallery.  My work has been there, selling and being seen, for about 5 years.

La Finestra Primavera

The springtime Window

11"x14" on cradled hardboard

Soul Arte Eclectica

Now that I am getting better, I have the time to unpack these pieces and decide what their next step in the world will be.  Shaun McNiff, a wonderful studio based art therapist, believes that images are like angels and that they have a life of their own, and stories to tell.  That has always resonated with me, and I have felt that my art has work to do in the world and it is my job to get them out there.  Some of these pieces are being hung all around my house and studio, and others left stored.  So in that light I have decided to show them here, prior to posting them on my etsy store....while I open to another new venue here in Sonoma County, where they can be seen.  

I love the texture in this piece.  It is an homage to Italy and all things Italian.  The archway reminding me of the narrow streets in Italia, the flowers under the window box...and birds...I have em bedded an antique map into the beeswax on the lower left which is decipherable  among all the colors.

I will continue revisting my early encaustics over time.  This painting is available for sale at my store at.  

SoulArteEclectica

Please go visit them at my etsy store, for another viewing.  Ciao. Caterina

Imagination is the true Magic Carpet....

As we open to the energy of spring, it is important to remember to use its energy to open to the imaginal realm as we create our visions for our lives.   We create it whether we want to or not, know it or not, believe it on not, so why not create consciously.  This is a thought that comes to me again and again as I step into the greening of the spring.

As I travel through my day, I have found myself imagining the green of the earth, the grasses that are sprouting all around my house and my life, growing up into my body and invigorating me with their life force.  Health, vitality, new growth streaming into my body, teaching me how to be in my life with newness and a sense of possibility.

Pay attention to what is right in front of you, take the time, even if its 30 seconds, to cherish the moments of your day, simple, complex, frustrating, and the  challenging as well as the sweet and tangible ones.
These are my spring thoughts, my prayers for balance and a renewed physical engagement with life.

Build a structure of belief whether you believe it or not, let consistency be the ritual that transforms the day and the world into one that fits my dreams.   Send these thoughts on wings of dreamy reverie, put the postage stamp of approval on them, open, hope, suspend judgement.

Honor the imagination.  As Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Because our imagination is like a magic carpet that can take us away, and fill us with hope, and reframe the present so unlike a bitter pill, life is much easier to swallow.

So as the landscape of this season unfolds in my creativity and my dreams and my fantasies, I offer these images and thoughts for bringing spring into your life .

                                               Happy Spring Dream Time to all...

Calla Lilly means- Magnificent Beauty

It is truly spring and the air is filled with delightful freshness as well as pollen.  I am in a sense of pure delight over the beauty all around me.  I have been working on my Spring Mandala and am getting closer to completion.

This is close to the beginning when I first began to add color

I love to slow down and draw, one step after the other, letting the prismacolor pencil slow me down move me into a synchronization with my breathing.  This one is closer to completion, with a bit of white added to the final circle of the mandala.  I am not sure if there is more to come, wether I will leave the black in the inner ring or not, but it is lovely as it is.  I just love Calla Lillies, so common, so simple yet so elegantly beautiful.  If I do more to this mandala, I will post it later, now it is what it is.  I notice how pared down my drawing are becoming, perhaps it is because my life is simpler now, less running around, fewer big daily commitments.  I love it.  Life is good and it is spring once again.   

Mandalas- From Spring Blossoming Retreat Day- in the begining

The Spring Mandala Retreat Day was a wonderful, meditative, and nurturing experience.

I am posting photos from the morning part of the workshop, so people can see the evolution of the mandalas that people created. Here the mandalas are all hung on the studio wall, so we could stand back and look at them from a distance.

In the begining........

The second day of spring, was a rainy day in Northern California, perfect for a long idyllic day of drawing, slow and meditative mandalas.  After spending part of the morning doing smaller mandalas on black paper, we began our larger pieces.

The studio was filled with flowers, which were both inspiration and visual prompts for our blossoming mandalas.  I am always amazed at the uniqueness of each person's expression.

We applied the metaphor of blossoming to our lives as well, with our mandalas being external expression of the seeds of personal transformation that were being set and opened in the spring.

Several people used the Calla Lilly as their jumping off point.  

I took many photos of the evolution of the mandalas.  I will post more of them later.  Since very few of the 8 participants finished their mandala's on Saturday, they plan on sending the images to us later.  I will hopefully post them all together at a later date.

Summer Mandala Retreat- Five Universal Shapes

This past sunday, we facilitated another Illuminated Mandala Retreat Day.  Both Patricia Waters and myself, are facilitators of Judith Cornell's Illuminated Mandala Process.  



For the Summer Time Mandala Retreat Day, which we held up at Mountain Home Ranch in Calistoga.  We focused on Angeles Arriens Five Universal Shapes... which are the circle, square, triangle, equal distant cross and the spiral.



 www.angelesarrien.com.  

If you don't know about her work please  check out  her website.

What amazing work everyone did.  Here are some photos of the days process  work.  

For more information on Angeles Arriens Shape

Preferential Diagnostic Tool,  you can find it in  her book "The Signs of Life".

Although most participants didn't complete their mandalas at days end, since it is a slow and meditative process,  they were all stunning .   

I have posted a few of them to just give a taste of their power and integrity.

We  will do these retreat days around the solstice and equinox, as well at the begining of the year.   Our Fall Mandala Retreat day will be on September 22.  See our website for more information.

www.creativeartstudio.com

Now I have a mandala to while away the summer time hours, with slow meditative drawing....which I just love to do.  

I will post my mandala's process in the days to come.  Enjoy the Summer!!