Tag: circle

It’s that time…

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

The holiday season has arrived. It’s official. The frenzy has begun. This year as always, I am caught up with everything that I have to do, complicated by my return trip to PA and all that typically entails.

So painting these little jewels has given me a way to quiet my mind and focus my energy on one single thing.  At least while I was working on them.  They are magnets by the way.  And I had a lot of fun making them.  Of course, I thought that I’d be able to whip them out in no time.  But I should have known that would never work for me.  Instead each one is a little world of its own and each one took me to a different place and taught me different things.

They will be available at the Hope (New Jersey) Craft Market this Saturday, December 3rd, and at the Wellspring Craft show the following weekend, December 10th and 11th.

bubbles

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

On 11/11/11, I was at a basket making workshop. We made a basket that had a two-twill base with eleven spokes on each side. There were eleven women in the room, including my wonderful teacher Polly Adams Sutton.

For many, it was a spiritual day, and I felt that I spent it in the perfect spiritual way for me, hanging out with lovely creative women, learning, weaving, talking, laughing, eating and sharing.

A small bubble, a small haven, but so important.  Joined with so many other small and wonderful bubbles that I inhabit from time to time, they form my little world.  And I am very grateful for them all.  The eleven-eleven has come and gone.  I am still here, attempting to choose a bright future for myself and for the planet.

One basket at a time.  One bubble at a time.

Synchronicity

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

I had to laugh when I read Anita‘s eloquent blog on Tuesday because for the past week I have been immersed in working on a Grace mandala. She captured the concept so well, while it has been quite the struggle for me to grapple with the word and all its meanings.  Mine has been in the works for several months. I had made some sketches and had written down some of my feelings about Grace. But of course, once I started to draw it, everything changed.

And there is Grace in that for sure.

So many opportunities have arisen in the last few days to challenge my ideas about it.  I have to laugh about that as well.  It seems to be the pattern.  Once I make a decision to tackle a particular word, the lessons show up all over the place.

I will be finished with it soon, and will share it here along with more of the story about making it.  I wanted to use just a small detail of it for now, but the lighting was bad, and it is late, and it all felt just a bit beyond my technical capabilities.  So for now, these are the markers and the palette that I’m using.

It’s all about time and timing

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art
Truth

It’s seems so common to talk about speaking truthfully and from the heart.  But these days I’m being reminded that I must first discover what is really true for me before I say it.  When I get it right, the words pour out.  I feel better and the results are so tangible that I can reach out and touch them.  But arriving at that kind of truth can be such a squiggly thing, so elusive and hard to hold on to.  And even harder to say out loud.  No wonder I spend so much time avoiding confrontation.

The other day I finally took some pictures of the Mandala Platters that I’ve been selling for almost a year. And I must admit that I was in a bit of a snit at that moment in time.  When I got to the one depicting Truth, I realized that it was just what I needed to see at that moment.  I was reminded of feelings that I had while I was working on it a couple of years ago, and was able to get more in touch with some of the fears that stop me from being true to myself.  Clarity returned.  I could breathe freely again. After that, it was was easy to find the right words.

How nice to know that these mandalas really work!!   Now to get them up on our website, perhaps a much more challenging proposition than discovering truth.

 

Perfection

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

This jellyfish was so beautiful!  Hanging out on the clear, cold water on a semi-cloudy day.  It could change almost instantly from a deep pink blob to this glowing circle, this flower from the sea.  A mandala made by nature, so beautiful in its soft pink perfection, its petals softly being moved by the water all around it.

There’s a part of me that wants to be able to paint that jellyfish exactly.  To capture each detail, even though that is not my style and I’d never capture what my eye could see.  It was so fascinating to look at and seemed to say come closer, come closer.  Look at me.  Let me entice you. Please enjoy my beauty.

But I remembered that the jellyfish could sting me.   This perfect circle could be deadly.  So I kept my distance.  This was not my mandala.  It didn’t belong to me.  I think that I’ll paint the essence of it.  I’ve felt into its perfect world and transformed just a little part of it into my own.  It’s color and form are part of me now.  Both the blob and the lovely under water  flower.  All one.