Thankful to "Be"!

There's a lot of sickness going around. My husband got sick a week ago....just a terrible sinus-y cold. I tried reeeeeeally hard not to catch it but....Monday night it came on full blast, no warning. Lots of plans had to be changed. Lots of things had to be "let go". And you know what? It wasn't the end of the world! It may have even been a "good thing" as a certain Martha likes to say. My Artist's Way group is reading a book on slowing down....making some room for your imagination to flourish and to enjoy the sights and sounds and smells all around you. This turned out to be a week (or at least a few days) of most definitely slowing down. I have spent a lot of time sitting or laying on the couch and looking out the window. The weather has been wonderful.....bright sunshine-y days. And the leaves on the trees right now are outstandingly beautiful! I don't know when we have had a fall that could compete with this one for color! So I sat. And I looked. And I noticed. And I observed. And I saw. And I daydreamed. Life will go on next week when everything is back to normal. But I am thankful for the time that I had this week to just "be". I didn't realize how much I needed this!!

Las Vegas Art Retreat

I'm not really on an art retreat. But I did have a lot of very quiet, uninterrupted time to myself while in Vegas taking care of a few necessites. I'm so glad I brought some art supplies with! I decided that I wanted to make a mandala for Ethan and so I went with colors that would fit in well in several areas of his place. I worked on it over the course of two days and am really pleased with the way it turned out. I'd been feeling a little bit "stuck" or bored with mandals recently. The last couple just felt like nothing "new" was happening. I started to think maybe I'd run the course with these. But then I started on this one. And while in many ways it's similar to many of my others, there were new ideas and inspiration popped up in the making. Nothing major but small details that felt like new and inspired ideas. I didn't bring any of the tempermental white gel pens with me so the outlines and details are all gold metallic. I love the way the photo that I took on an angle kind of shows the gleam of the gold. Need to remember this when taking photos in the future! So, just thought I would share as I want to make more of an effort to document what I make. Thanks for looking!

Its Been a LOOOOOOOONG Time!!!

Sorry for my extended absence! It was not intentional! I took a break and then....when I wanted to get back to blogging, I found I couldn't upload photos. And for me, without photos....what's the point??? I am all about the visuals! I think I have found a way around the problem! Mind you I said, "Think"! So anyway, I have been making mandalas. They seem to continue to evolve and grow and I find I am uncomfortable and embarrassed when I see the ones that I gave to people back near the beginning of my journey into mandala making! I need to get over that and just appreciate the fact that I am learning and growing and it's all part of the process! The above photo is the third mandala I have made that is intended for a 20" x 20" frame....the largest I have used so far. The first one was a wedding gift and the second one was donated for an auction to benefit a non-profit organization...The Center in Palos Park, IL. As the printer I use cannot copy things this large, they are gone forever....no prints available. Just photos to remember them by. The one I have just finished I THINK is going to be mine....forever! But I am going to look into getting giclee prints made. Much more expensive that way but, I have had so much positive feedback and encouragement, I'm slowly being convinced that it might be worth it! I also need to set up a web-site where people can see all the work in one place with prices and any other info that might be helpful. Always so much to do! And all I want to do it make art! Haha! Thank you for stopping by after my long absence! Hopefully this will work and you'll be hearing more from me!