Day of Creating Prayer Flags...in process

In my Medicine Art Womens Expressive Art group, we began creating our own Prayer Flags this week. Only 2 people came to group this week, but we all were so engaged, that it was nice having the space in the studio to work.  All I can say is what fun we had.. Here are some photos of our ongoing process.

 First we cut unbleached muslin into the size and shape we wanted.

Then we painted washes of Jaquard fabric paints on them and put them in the sun to dry.
Horray that it was a sunny, warm day.
The next step was using stencils of both letters and images, that we pounced onto the fabric...and wallah!  amazing things began to happen.

 Here you can see some of Roberta's in process.  We all got about 2 of them kind of done that day.

 This is Marcella showing off one of her prayer flags..

 These last two are the ones that I did that day.

 This will obviously be about a 3 session process, and with the other members of the group joining it
who knows how long we will be at it.  So many ideas are brewing in regards to this process.

Even my own entreprenurial mind is spinning, and I am thinking of doing a day long prayer flag workshop for others it was soo exciting and fun.

These are inspired by Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags, which monks hang so the prayers printed on them (traditionally in sanskrit with an image of the Buddha) can be whisked into the universe with help from rain, wind, sunshine. When we are too preoccupied to hope the best for the world at all times, the flags are a constant prayer. They're even left unhemmed intentionally, the quicker to disperse their  prayers.

My Slowly Evolving Mandala

I have been slowly working on the Mandala I started at the last Illuminated Mandala summer retreat day.  My focus was creating a visual prayer for the earth.. It has changed a bit and will continue to evolve over time.

As color has come in, the central focus has been come a spiral at the center of the earth rather than the earth itself.   It always amazes me how images have a life of their own and take form of their own accord.  I just follow the inner prompts and see where it takes me.   I have to remember to stay out of judgement and into the witness.  I guess just getting out of the way.
I will post more images of this mandala as it evolves. 

Getting Ready Gets me WoRkInG !!! again....

As I begin to prepare for two encaustic workshops I am facilitating next weekend, I primed my creative pump a bit and did a new piece that I love.  It seems that gathering my materials, organizing my supplies, cleaning the space and preparing for others to come join me, allows connections to happen and all of a sudden things fall into place and I am working.  Hallelulia, is that the key, creating and inviting an resource filled environment for others, creates it for myself, and I become motivated.  

I have always been drawn to prayer flags, as and image and a metaphor. I love the concept of prayers and dreams symbolically represented in form, and then being dissolved and transmitted through the wind.   Over the years I have made many prayer flags and led my students in many prayer flag experiences.   I had a copy of a photo graph of prayer flags high in the mountains of nepal....and made a zerox copy of it, waiting for inspiration.

After creating and encaustic background, I transfered the image and immersed some cheescloth in encaustic medium., fused it all together and added encaustic paint to the cheesecloth.   That is the physical process, but the outcome some how really excites me and touches me deeply.   So I am sharing the image here.  It feels like an ephipany, somehow.  

Today I went to western Farms and bought more beeswax and I am so excited about getting ready.