Healing Mandala

Have you ever made a piece of art that completely baffles you? I made this piece back during the winter, and I just have no idea what to think of it.  It's not really like anything else I've ever made, and when I look at it, I could almost believe it was made by someone else. It's a strange feeling. I really can't decide if I even like it or not, and I was very hesitant to show it to anyone. It just kind of sat there; I'd look at it every once in a while and think, "Do I like it now?" A clear answer never came to me. What I needed was to hear what someone else thought - a bit of helpful criticism. So anyway, here it is.

Healing Mandala, version 1

So how it came about is this: I was going through a terrible time, and a dear friend sent me these four flowers that had been used in a Buddhist healing ceremony - they're the large flowers that look almost transparent. I couldn't believe they survived the mail without being broken. I thought for some time about what to do with them, and decided to use them in an artwork that would be dedicated to healing. A mandala seemed like the perfect thing.

I glued the two book pages onto a piece of multi-media board, then cut out a piece of lace to put in the center.  I stitched around the center part of the lace, and hated it, but let it be for now. I glued on the ash seeds and the healing flowers. I found a print on fabric I had done in a workshop, and cut parts of it out to glue around the periphery, and put in the maple seeds to connect them to the center part of the piece. I placed the purple flowers in the corners. Then I let it sit around for a while, not knowing what I wanted to do with it.

Finally, since I couldn't remove anything, I started adding more things to it, one at a time. As long as I wasn't satisfied, I thought, well, what have I got to lose?  I made sort of a circle of marks with gold crayon, and liked it it, but decided to add stitching. I glued the hydrangea petals over the lace, and painted them with gold ink. Then came the gold crayon over the lace - it was just too white - and the stitches. Finally, the magnolia petals, and the feathers.

Healing Mandala

9.5 x 14 inches

ingredients: antique book pages, vintage lace, gold metallic crayon, gold ink, hydrangea petals, ash seeds, magnolia petals, sacred Buddhist healing flowers (no idea what they're called), maple seeds, purple flowers (no idea what they are - found them in an old book), relief prints on cloth, feathers, stitching

So there it is, and I'm still not sure if I like it. Guess I'll put it away again for a while...

Things I Forgot

If this title seems a bit scary to you, just imagine how I feel.  If I actually included everything I forgot, this post would go on forever... Luckily, though, I don't remember most of it - ha!  Every year since I started blogging, I have always shared photos of my flower gardens, which have been a source of much pleasure, work, and therapy for me.

The front corner flower bed with antique seeder, orange honeysuckle vine, echinacea, Turk's cap lilies, Russian sage, black-eyed Susans, and liriope.

I tried a little photoshop-ery with some of these, just for fun. 

I really like the negative space in the two compositions above.

The shady flower bed by the side porch, with hostas, impatiens, ferns, and more echinacea (of course).

Two hosta flower close-ups, complete with bee in the second one.

Nicotainia in the front flower bed.  I like the weird 'floaty' quality in this photo.

This teeny-tiny moth was smaller than a dime; I probably wouldn't have noticed him without the telephoto lens. 



And while I'm playing catch-up, I just realized that I completely forgot to share any photos from my vacation this summer. So here is a quick look at my trip to Cumberland Falls, Big South Fork (of the Cumberland River) and the wildly beautiful Rockcastle River, all of them in Kentucky.

CUMBERLAND FALLS


 Cumberland Falls, complete with mist.


 
 We took a lovely hike down the Cumberland River below the falls,

 
  surrounded by high rock walls..

 
  ... the rushing river...


 
 ... rhododendron forests and trickling rivulets...


 
 ... that carve out huge rock shelters, given a few million years or so.



BIG SOUTH FORK

 The Big South Fork was muddy and swollen from recent storms...
 
 
 ... and looked like a river of cafe au lait...

   This the coal tipple at Blue Heron Mine, a now defunct mine which has been restored as a historical site.

 
 The bridge from the tipple to the other side of the river.


ROCKCASTLE RIVER

 
 The Rockcastle River is certainly deserving of its name...

 
 ... lots of rocks, for sure, but also sparkling, crystal-clear water...



 ... little sandy beaches...


 

... and some of the most gorgeous views ever, even in the rain.



Wishing you all a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving next week!  Don't forget to enter my give-away; just leave a comment on my last post.  One of my dogs will choose 2 winners on Thanksgiving Day.

The Product of Matter Times Light...

The product of matter times light

 equals something far beyond the sum 

of their parts (if we knew what those were)

a question incandescently answered 

by selected sudden instants

of time,

and written in unnamed colors

so unexpectedly right

you can forget to breathe;

 a random unraveling

of particles or waves,

science has no name for what this is

it's a synergy of secrets

beyond parameters of ordinary sight,

it's a matter of mystery

when you multiply by light.

Pink

Currently on Display...

 ... in my gardens. It's that time again.  Time to plant the hopeful seeds, to lay them down in a bed of soft, warm soil, to nurture them and wait for nature's blessings.  To begin again, again.

It occurs to me that part of the magic of Spring is that we're given the gift of another chance.  In an existence where there are few "do-overs", we can start over once again.  Reminds me of a Chicago song, "Listen, children, all is not lost, all is not lost..."  It's all about hope.











The onion sets are in, and the strawberries.

 But my flower beds are looking pretty bad.  Yikes-  they could use some work!  I hope I'll get them cleaned out today!

In the meantime, here are some of the flowers currently on display...

Gardening

I apologize for neglecting my blog for so long, but I've been too busy with my regular springtime activity, i.e. gardening. I love my flower garden, and consider planting and playing in the dirt to be a wonderful act of creativity. A garden is truly a living work of art.

Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
- Scott Adams



I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
- Claude Monet

Take thy plastic spade,
It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,
They are thy colours.
~William Mason, The English Garden, 1782



I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden. ~John Erskine

Creativity is our true nature; blocks are an unnatural thwarting of a
process at once as normal and as miraculous as the blossoming
of a flower at the end of a slender green stem.
- Julia Cameron



Don't underestimate the therapeutic value of gardening. It's the one area where
we can all use our nascent creative talents to make a truly satisfying work of art.
Every individual, with thought, patience and a large portion of help from nature,
has it in them to create their own private paradise: truly a thing of beauty
and a joy for ever.
- Geoff Hamilton, Paradise Gardens



"The secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all
the details of daily life, and in elevating them to art."
- William Morris

Gardening is not a rational act. What matters is
the immersion of the hands in the earth, that
ancient ceremony of which the Pope kissing
the tarmac is merely a pallid vestigial remnant.
- Margaret Attwood



"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."
~ Rachel Carson

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden."
-- Sir Walter Scott

Aurora

The extra-cold weather we've been having this winter got me thinking about those far northern places where it's almost always cold. In some of those places, people endure not only the mind-numbing cold, but somehow withstand extended periods of darkness as well. I cannot imagine how they survive such conditions; I whine and complain if the mercury dips below the freezing mark, and hate it when it's already dark at 6:00 p.m. I tried to picture what it would be like, to live in a place so dark and colorless. And I thought about the aurora borealis, which plays an important part in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman. Most of the story takes place in the far north; just reading it made me feel cold. I've always wondered what the aurora really looks like, and if seeing it could in some way compensate for the cold there. So here is my imaginary aurora borealis, to distract me from the cold. You may notice, however, that I couldn't stop myself from including some "ice flowers" in the foreground.

Peace

Okay, I couldn't resist putting some vacation pics on here. The ocean gives me a sense of profound peace; I hope looking at these can evoke a bit of that same feeling for you.