Monday Mandala

 

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.

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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!”

 

Soleful Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

 

Wordless Wednesday

Lavender and Lychnis

On the grass on Monday

Today we made flower mandalas

Little Miss M aged 4, with Granny taking orders and happy to be the artist’s assistant.

Master R, who wanted to make an edible mandala

Miss E, aged 9

Joining in with Cathy and the international Monday Garden Party that is ‘In a Vase on Monday’.

 

Photo Challenge: Winter Review

Taken on the Isle of Skye in 2006, it is the photo that starts the Youtube clip at the end of the post.

So exciting to put this fabulous collection together – Winter photos with stories (and Haikus) to go with them:

Rainbow Jane: tracery and reflections

NanaCathy: powerful, with poetry

Melissa: swan lake and more than one haiku

Me: nature’s glitter, with haiku.

Rosalind: Mediterranean Winter

Roz: Gypsy Caravan in gorgeous setting and haiku

Cathy: beauty caught before it disappeared, with haiku.

Denis: Australian saunter with haiku

Jen: elegant birch

Ali at Thimberlina: joy and munching

Christina at ALookattheLittlethings: good neighbours

Dorris: the glisten of morning sunlight

*

12 great entries, with 4 of us also linking in Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge

Thank you so much everyone for joining in and making this such a fun thing to do – if I have missed anyone please shout out!

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Appropriately we have had a wonderful week of Winterwatch on the BBC

which you can still catch on iPlayer, just click on the link above.

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I have been having a tidy up on the computer and came across this little slideshow of a beach mandala, gently transformed by the tide, that I made on the Isle of Skye about 10 years ago, a very timely find – hope you enjoy it.

A possible answer

 

Seen on the Painting Experience’s Facebook Page

So that’s why I feel the need to put petals on twigs ……. and other stuff like this 

and this

Mandala Magic

I am taking part in my first online class.

Dipping my toe in, I have started with Alisa Burke’s mini-tutorial entitled Mandala Magic.

It’s fun, and concentrating on one simple form suits my need to dip in and out according to the weather and other stuff going on right now.

Alisa has a very distinct style and at first I thought my mandalas would turn out looking like hers, but no – not at all – I immediately went off in my own style adding colour from the start. The course provides some wonderful prompts and is hugely inspiring. I’ve started in a small ring bound 6″ square sketch book, so that I can carry it around easily and doodle in odd moments.

I had Miss E and Little Bro here this week. We were mainly in the garden, but needing to dodge the showers we retreated to Pippin (my little caravan in the garden) and did some mandala drawing together.

Here is Miss E’s so far

And Little Bro’s

 

 

 

and because Miss E enjoyed drawing a mandala so much and has a birthday coming up soon I have made her a card that she can continue to embellish herselfAnother experiment for the Etsy shop me thinks – maybe others would enjoy colouring this pattern as well, you never know!

Messy Play

 

We’ve just had our last of 3 Arty Crafty Workshops in Winfrith.

The theme of the afternoon was Messy Play and Sticky Fingers, so lots of paint and glue, tearing and sticking and splodging!

As a focus I chose a floor mandala – 6 large pieces of paper from the Dorset Scrapstore, held down with masking tape on the floor. And bamboo sticks with foam on the ends as paint brushes.

The idea was to feel free to make a mess without being able to be too precise – emphasis on play.

first marks being made

painting with fingers

painting with toes

 

 

fun!

 

more to follow …….