Tag: mandala

Today was the day…

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

I had it all planned.  It was a cold and rainy Wednesday.  I was caught up with emails.  I had just finished sending out a mandala that someone had commissioned, and I had gone through the mail.  It was time for some more coffee and then I was going to settle down and whip out four garlic baskets this afternoon.  The material for them has been sitting out for days now, and every day I think that I’ll get to them and I don’t.  Every day is going to be the day

But the plan didn’t quite work out.  At 3 pm, Kaegan and Melody (Dennis’s son and his girlfriend) called to say that they were just about to get on the ferry.  Not that I wasn’t totally thrilled that they were on their way, but we thought that they were going to be staying in Seattle tonight and coming out tomorrow.

So instead of garlic baskets, I made bread, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, did laundry, changed sheets, picked flowers, and cooked dinner.  I also hugged and kissed, got hugged and kissed, talked, listened, laughed, shared and felt wonderfully joyful.

It’s now 2 am.

As for the garlic baskets, maybe tomorrow will be the day….

PS:  Happy Birthday, Anita!

One Red-ish Drawing

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

After posting last week on my inability to handle red in my work, I decided to try to rise to my own challenge, and to work with red this week.  The results are here for you to see.  A circle, but not quite a mandala.  Not a terrible piece, but not quite red.  Only red-ish for now.  It’s a start.

learning a new thing

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

OK, so older (not old) kitties (not dogs , for sure) can really learn new tricks.  Yes?  But I must admit that it it isn’t so easy or so fun.  Or maybe it will be soon. At the moment, it’s just a little nerve-racking.  But we are all here together, and that always feels so good.  But Anita is showing off a little and I love her for it.  Marci is so patient, and Stan is so wise.  And I’m learning to add a blog.

Creative Process

 

enormously grateful for my life

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

I am busily trying to pull all the loose ends of my loose life together by 5:10 pm tomorrow when I get on the ferry and begin my journey to Delaware Water Gap.  Then I can sigh and sleep.  Right now, it is as if a small tornado has taken hold of my consciousness and is quietly swirling within me.  So many projects, so little time.  The beaded bracelet project has taken over the dining room table.  Garlic baskets are on the coffee table (a perfect project to do while watching a movie or football).  Upstairs, my office is filled with neat little piles of mandala coasters needing to be sorted.  And the newest addition to the mandala family is a mandala cutting board, waiting for me to attach feet to their bottoms.  Dennis has taken to calling our house Susan’s Sweatshop (meant in the kindest of ways, but not without a little frustration since he does love clear surfaces and they seem to be impossible for me to achieve).  And then there was Thanksgiving weekend with many meals and many people weaving their way into mix.  Oh, and all the myriad of small and large things I need to do here before leaving.

So I woke up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving feeling so enormously grateful for my life and totally panicked at the same time.  I thought of my list of things to do and I thought of my family coming.  Part of me wanted to just be alone and keep beading bracelets or stay in bed with the covers over my head.  I realized that I had a choice to make.  I could look at the whole experience as stressful and the cooking as work and the time away from projects as really inconvenient.  Or I could choose to have FUN and relax and trust that it would all get done.  So I breathed life into that idea and let it grow as the day progressed.  I made a bracelet in the morning and only then cleaned the house.  I started cooking at 6 pm and just made dinner for that night, instead of being two days ahead of the meal situation.  I threw my menu and most of the recipes out the window and improvised more.  As a group, we all decided what to eat next and when to eat it.  Everyone helped.  I spent time outside.  I watched some football, made some baskets, sent some emails, and really enjoyed the company of friends and family, cats and dog.  I kept breathing and it kept flowing!  Could this be the start of something big?

Written on 29th November, 2010

Mandala Design Works Meeting

by susanbradfordart, posted in Mandala Art

Here we are at one of our wonderful meetings. We have had a beautiful meal, drunk some red wine, brainstormed about our three upcoming shows, and now we are learning to blog. I am learning to blog. Who ever would have thought! But I can see that this has the potential to be fun.

So while I’m doing this I’ll share my latest revelation. I got back to Water Gap a week ago, and have realized a very important thing: I am addicted to Delaware Water Gap. I love Orcas and love living there, and wouldn’t change that for the world. But I am addicted to being in the Gap. To my friends, to creating and showing art here, to doing Reiki here, to the Deer Head, and to feeling truly myself amid the warmth and support I feel in this town.

Onward Mandala Design Works!