Joining Cathy of Rambling in the Garden for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ international Garden Party. I love this meme so much and enjoy seeing what gardeners from all over the world pop in a vase every Monday.
My garden has slipped way down the list of priorities this year and I don’t have many flowers growing at the moment. Yesterday was the first day for ages that circumstances aligned for me to be able to spend the whole day tackling the jungle it has become. As I cut back, slashed and weeded, I saved the few flowers I found and plonked them in jam jars hoping to be able to make up a vase for today ….
I looked at this sorry collection and realised something was needed for added value.
So I lay one of my paintings-in-progress on the floor and then I drifted off into a very happy place playing with petals and leaves
Click on the photos if you would like to see them larger.
The centre is the beginning of a crochet mandala in cotton called ‘Sol’ by
Zoya Matyushenko
You can see the beginning of this mixed-media-mandala in yesterday’s post.
~
The words are a quote I have adapted from the book ‘Conversations With God’ Book 2 by Neale Donald Walsch, the quote is “a woman hears the melody of flowers in the wind”, but I wanted to change it so that everyone could relate to it.
Little Miss M (5) was here a few days ago, she loves to have music playing – her favourite at the moment is ‘500 miles’ by the Proclaimers, she says she wants to walk 500 miles with me – now there’s an ambition! We were both dancing to the song and she looked out at the wind blowing through the plants in the garden and said,
“Look Granny, the garden is dancing with us!”
Ravelry
Wild Daffodil 
Pingback: Crocheted Mandalas | Wild Daffodil
Pingback: Somerset House 3: Latvia | Wild Daffodil
Pingback: 500 miles with Granny | Wild Daffodil
Pingback: 13.1 of 500 Miles completed | Wild Daffodil
Pingback: Purple Loosestrife | Wild Daffodil
Fabulous! I am only just catching up with posts after a few days away – glad I didn’t miss this one! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww! Thank you Cathy, they are fun to do! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love your interpretation of the theme! It’s so pretty – you need to make a book of photos with all these temporary works of art in…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Sheila for your encouragement to do something with these pieces – it would be fun to create something more permanent with them. I find it hard to know which is the best way to go and suggestions are always really helpful and spur me on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe an A4 photo of each stuck into a scrapbook or artist’s sketchbook would be best? You could add images as you go and, as they are works of art, it would be an appropriate backdrop for them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you – yes that sounds good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fascinating art Sandra. Have you thought of making your own Mandala postcards photographing your art?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It has got as far as the ‘thought about’ stage – then I’d have to sell them – that’s the bit I’m not so keen on pursuing, but your encouragement is helping me to think about pushing past the resistance.
LikeLike
It’s so beautiful and calm to look at. A work of art. You paint a lovely picture of the dancing and singing. It’s amazing how things grow and get away from us when we are looking the other way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking the other way (such a good way to put it) does seem to happen rather a lot around here at the moment and all manner of chaos manifests in house and garden.
It is so good to know you find the mandala calming, Alison, it was calming to make and I’m thinking the photo might be calming to have up on the wall.
LikeLike
Beautiful. Don’t you just love the way children look at the world 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is such a joy to be able to see the world through their eyes isn’t it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a beautiful creation and inspiration to us all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely comment Linda, thank you.
LikeLike
I love your floral mandala – so beautiful! Your granddaughter sounds like a perfect gem. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Eliza, so glad you like the mandala.
Little Miss M is one of those lucky little beings who greets the world with a smile, and the world smiles back. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your mandala is an incredible work of art and I loved the story of you and your granddaughter dancing while the leaves blew in time with the music!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, thank you so much Kris, seeing the world through the eyes of a 5 year old is such a joyful thing! ❤
LikeLike
You are so creative with that mandala and vases…my garden is a jungle these days and neglected but still lots of flowers if I would pick more….love the ambition of walking 500 miles….and before you know it you will have walked those 500 miles….I love that song too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is such a great song isn’t it – I often use it to get household tasks done, but it has taken on a new meaning now – I must get started on those miles – soon!
LikeLike
Wonderful post, Sandra, and wonderful mandala: you are so creative
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Cathy, I had to be creative this week to have anything worth showing to you all. I do love to join in when I can.
LikeLike
Always good to have you, Sandra
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, I always feel welcome. Sometimes I feel like a bit of an interloper amongst REAL gardeners but I do love my garden even if it is a mess and I love to see what everyone else is doing in theirs.
LikeLike
My gosh, my gosh! I hardly know what to say about your fabulous arrangements except that I absolutely love them. Wowsah, as we would say in Maine. Also like the song “500 miles.” Keep walking! Yes, add up the miles. No matter how far you go, it will be fun to keep track of the miles.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your wonderful comment has given me such a boost today Laurie. You are right, it will be fun to keep track of the miles.
Sometimes it surprises me to see what has been created and I wonder how it happened and who did it – it works best when I don’t have much of a plan at the start and ‘get out of my own way’ – is it like with writing? Mandalas often seem to take on a life of their own – there are other forces at work/play!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think a lot of creativity works that way. For me, with writing, I have an overall arc of where I want the story to go, but I have no idea how I’m going to get there. This always fills me with anxiety, but I have learned that if I have faith in myself, the words and the story will flow. Getting out of the way is a good description.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The creative space is such a rich and wonderful place to be isn’t it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that song too, and how wonderful that the garden danced with you both too!
That mandala is such a riot of colour and movement, what a mood lifter! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am thinking I might get the mandala printed on canvas as I too find it uplifting – I may call it ‘The garden in dancing’ – what do you think?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, how lovely! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Start journaling those miles, what a keepsake it will be! I love the flowers added to you Mandela, but the background was calling to me, it was so beautiful. You are painting that? Is it watercolor or something else? The colors are !!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great idea to journal about my 500 miles with Little Miss M – thank you for that Kathy.
The painting is acrylic on canvas and has proved to be a great background for photographing all sorts of things – I may never finish it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It came to me, because I’m hoping to get Girl#2 to send me a picture every day while she is in Italy, then I print it out for her. I can just see you and Miss M laughing and reading through your 500 mile journal when she graduates high school or gets married!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes! wouldn’t that be lovely. I must get the first few miles organised to make a start!
What a great idea you’ve had for creating a visual diary for Girl#2.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I figure if she even sends me one a week it will work. Good luck with yours!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lovely project – thanks for the good wishes. I think we are starting with a couple of miles on Thursday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those Grands are the very best. Love the way your mandala came to be. Most enchanting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Lisa – of course I have to agree with you about the Grands! 🙂
So glad you found the mandala enchanting, cos I think I do too- it was a bit of a surprise to me when I saw how it came out after such an unpromising start.
LikeLike
The Mandala is lovely in so many ways–beautiful way to meditate. Priorities have changed for me also this year and tending the garden has not been as important. I should follow your lead though to begin tackling and taming it again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Susie. Good luck with taming your patch.
LikeLike
those are very pretty; it would be great if you could find a way for them to last!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wouldn’t it! The only way I have discovered so far is to photograph them. i’ve tried with pressed flowers but they do not give the same uplifting feel.
LikeLike
SO pretty! Happy Monday 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Jo. Such a sunny day – a very happy Monday!
LikeLike
Not in my neck of the woods 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh – sorry I mentioned it – sending some your way. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
A worthy ambition, to walk 500 miles with her Granny, you can do it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”! I think we will start adding up the miles we walk together now and see if I live long enough to complete the 500! I have images of my holding onto her arm in my 80s determined to get the last miles in.
LikeLiked by 1 person