WHEN ART CREATES ITSELF THROUGH YOU

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. I just wanted to jump on for a second to wish you a wonderful day. I am currently in Lake County, FL and not traveling for a change. I am at my own home (thank you Universe) and am helping out a neighbor who went up north to be with family for the week. I am taking care of his dog.

No, this is not a photo of Slippers from next door. This photo spread is from one of my books NATURE MANDALAS WITHIN AN URBAN LANDSCAPE - BUENOS AIRES. I came upon it while pulling some images for the lecture that I am giving on January 10th at the Leesburg Center For the Arts. The red of the ceibo flower (cockspur coral - the national flower of Argentina) is so vibrant it made me think of Christmas. The dog is a former neighbor from when I lived in Cabillito, a barrio of Buenos Aires. Oh those eyes... they sure know how to pull at your heart strings.

The two images, nature and cityscape, worked perfectly. The red of the flowers and of his collar, the shape and color of the corner leaves and his ears, the straight lines of the cut reeds and the lines of the paneling mirror one another. It wasn't planned. The entire book was not planned. The pairing up of the small nature mandalas made in the urban parks with photos of my adopted city just created itself. I will be talking about the aspect of art and intuition and flow on the 10th. Yes, in the right circumstances you are the instrument AND you are the music - you are the art.

Enjoy! I hope to see you very soon.

HOLIDAY DECOR IN THE FOREST

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
May it be a joyous season full of love for all of human and animal kind and for Mother Earth!

The weather has warmed up this week in Central Florida (thank goodness) and it was time to head out for another afternoon of trail walking and exploring Nature's Paintbox. I chose to go to the Flat Island Preserve in Leesburg. This particular park is my top pick for the upcoming Create Your Own Personal Mandala event on February 24, 2018.

Along my path I spied some fallen palm fronds and magnolia pods. I simply had to make a "bright" arrangement. I have been preparing for a kid's plaza chalk mandala event (details at a later date) and I had one of my homemade portable templates with me. What a great time to check out its five pointed star design. I found a relatively clear spot on the side of the trail. With just a few items from the ground nearby I created a very full earth mandala for random hikers to enjoy. Thanks to digital photography I can capture an image of this fleeting art piece and share it with you too.

I was in JOY JOY making this lovely example of ENVIRONMENTAL ART. All chaotic thought floated away. I was IN NATURE, IN the ZONE and OUT of MY HEAD. After all these years of creating in natural spaces I am never not amazed at the POWER of PEACE that occurs. I do not use my head. The inspiration simply flows through my hands. I believe using what is found on the forest floor is extra powerful. I am not translating an "idea" of nature onto a canvas. I become part of the forest's magical mix. And you can too. Come with me and play!

Please check out the video. I talk about the creation of the mandala and also about a presentation coming up in a few weeks where I will be showing many images of earth mandalas both mine and of other artists. It is a complication of creative work worldwide. I will be speaking of sacred geometry and mandala history plus will have some visual and tactile items for you to play with. The event is free and open to the public. Do come play!

MANDALAS IN THE WILD (LECTURE EVENT)

WEDNESDAY    JANUARY 10, 2018    6 - 9 PM

LEESBURG CENTER FOR THE ARTS

429 W. MAGNOLIA STREET

LEESBURG, FL

SEE YOU THERE!

MANDALA MONDAYS - AN INTENTION

It has been a long time since I posted to this blog. Two and a half years to be exact. Have I been busy? OH YES! I have relocated from Argentina and Massachusetts to Central Florida. It took two years of going across and back and up and down the USA to find my new space complete with art studio and lake. I have been drawing and painting mandalas all along the way and winning some art shows for my earth art creations as well. It has been grand and it keeps getting better. I have events to announce coming soon but for now I am only calling out one...

MANDALA MONDAYS - AN INTENTION

I made an intention and wrote it down the other day. "Get back to posting. Make Mondays for Mandala InSPIRITation." Mandala drawing soothes anxiety. The neatness and symmetry pulls one away from fracturing thoughts and into focused pleasure. It is best to draw them with non-lyric soothing music or in quiet. Ditch the TV and background conversations. Put on some headphones to drown out the noise and head to a calm space outside and within.

There is a cold snap happening here right now. It won't last long but it is uncomfortably cold in my studio so I headed to the Fruitland Park Public Library. I set myself up by a sunny window, booted up my netbook to complete some business outlines and correspondences and then plugged into wonderful meditation music. I took out a mandala that I wanted to finish and now I feel so centered and peaceful even with a long "to do list". I am writing this post as the silver metallic ink dries. It feels so beautiful. There is inner peace where there could be chaos.

This is The Practice. It is Meditation with Art. More on that in future posts...

Intend for yourself to take at least 20 minutes a day and chill out. Do something peaceful, focusing and centering. You deserve it. That "to do list" will get done far faster and with more ease so you will gain back those 20 minutes and more!

All dry and my belly calls for some of the spicy chili that I cooked up yesterday to take the chill out. I am heading back to the studio for lunch. Namaste.