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