In The Middle of Things

Here I am in the middle of things. Notice that the inset picture is of my "feather" duster, that may give you a hint of where I am. But the feather duster is only the tip of the iceberg, there is a lot of mop, broom, bucket, and plain old elbow grease below the water line. I am getting into the Zen of it now and actually enjoying it. I'll be working outside after this and so will probably have this hiatus from my blog for awhile. But don't give up on me, please, because I will continue commenting and occasionally posting. Be back soon.

Young Woman Memory (Hold/Value)

I can't think of a better subject for hold/value than a mother holding her darling child in her arms. There is no love which can compare to the love a mother feels for her children, it is a love that transcends all. I'd love to hear your expressions of love for your mother, or for your child.

If you haven't done an art project for for 2 things challenge, you still have until Dec. 19th to do one and get a free bonus charity donation through the generosity of two bloggers. Click here to find out more and see what it is all about!

Doe Mandala

I had a very stress filled day. I managed to get into a small conflict at work which always upsets me when I let myself do this. Next as I left work I noticed a trash pickup truck spewing trash all over the road, so I followed him to his next stop and let him know what he was doing. He said "sorry 'bout that", but somehow I didn't feel that he was sincere. Then I went to Best-Buy to pick up a new router for my home network and they were playing the music that just thumps and hurts your ears. I complained to the manger, who justified it by saying we only do it when a customer requests it...(saying this as other customers were vacating the store, go figure!). Then I came home and installed the new router, but could not get one of the computers to recognize the wireless connection. Consequently it was late when I laid down late for my nap, then later I got up grumpy. So there...that was my day and I feel better now having complained and whined. I think I brought most of this stuff on myself.

So...I made a mandala and know what? The stress is all gone now and I feel great! Hope your day was better than mine :)

Chinaberry

My sister Audrey and I used to play under the Chinabery tree when we were little and used the berries for all sorts of play things. I still love this tree, even though I am finding out it is on the invasive species list.

Dreams and Visions II

This image represents the second dream/vision I had soon after the first. After this one there were no more, but I do hope that someday I will have another. I hope you will take the time to tell me what you think that this dream/vision means as I would be very interested in what you have to say.

Dreams and Visions

A few years ago I had a couple of "visions". I may have been dreaming, but I don't think I was. I was in a very drowsy state having woken up just before dawn and this is my attempt to show you what I saw in the first vision. The image rotated clockwise, but the animals were running counter-clockwise. I would be most interested in what you make of this dream/vision.

Experiment In Gray

This is an experiment making a lotus mandala. It was pretty difficult but I am hoping that it has promise as a template for making a colored mandala. There are a few rough edges, but it has a lot of hand drawing on it. What do you think?

Green Feathery Weed

I love this green feathery weed and have actually let it grow in my flower garden once. It looks great all summer, sort of ferny, then in fall it gets these whitish flowers that look so lacy. I have camera in hand waiting for autumn color but I don't think we will have much year as there has been very little so far.

We got out dogs houses and chicken/guinea coops ready for winter this past weekend, we still have more to do but are closing in on it. I have special heating pads that fit inside the dog houses and thermostat cubes that cause them to come on when the temperature gets down to 45 deg. so they stay nice and toasty. The chickens/guineas have heat lamps on cubes but I'd like to find something that safely gives off good heat but does not disturb their sleep. dh is hatching some late guinea eggs from a nest and so we will have winter babies to keep warm too.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

This mandala is made from a photo of the seed pod of Sweet Autumn Clematis Clematis terniflora which is a fall blooming clematis. It is a cultivated plant, originally from Japan that which has long since escaped to the wild. But you can't deny it's beauty, both flower and seed.

Hope Abides

I took this picture at my work today where we have a patio that is a little micro climate and butterflies seem to love it there. This Gulf Fritillary is feeding on Lantana. I enjoyed taking this photo and doing this mandala. It was a very centering activity for me. Later after reading the post on Frances' blog about John I added this message especially for him and his family.

Silk

This is something new I tried after reading Mandala, Journey to the Center, Baily Cunningham. I think the results have promise but the points are just a little heavy looking. Tell me what you think, honestly please. When I fell asleep last night I was dreaming mandalas and collages :)

Morning Glories

My mom used to grow these in her backyard and now I grow them. She was a child at heart and would use them to blow bubbles by breaking off the stem. I have to admit that sometimes I blow bubbles too. They are just so pretty floating over the garden.

The Piney Woods Where I Live

I live in the Piney Woods of East Texas and so it is appropriate to attempt a mandala using a picture of pines. I was surprised, as almost always, how beautiful the mandala turned out. Not complementing my work you understand, but in complementing the pine's inner beauty which produced this wonderful mandala. When the wind blows through them it makes the most wonderful whooshing sound as they sway back and forth. The squirrels love to eat the pine nuts and sometimes I find huge piles of spent pinecones where they have dined. I hope this pine speaks to you as it did to me while I was making this mandala.

Goldenrod And Why I Love Nature

The wild goldenrod is blooming now and it is one of my favorites. It is so lacy and free and it's yellowness appeals to me. I've included the source image here to satisfy your curiosity. One can never make a mandala without meditating on the soul of subject. This one has the essence of goldenrod stored in it's turns. I love seeing each season progress and the delights nature has in store. I never tire of nature, it renews me and invigorates me. And so I dedicate this mandala to Hala and wish for her the essence and health of the goldenrod's soul.

Mandala Mania

This mandala is made from the above (bad) photo of a yellow sulphur butterfly and cypress vine which is threatening to take over the covered wagon filled with caladiums that you see in my blog header. The butterflies and hummingbirds love the vine and so I've let it take over. If anyone wants cypress vine seeds (while supply lasts) just email me your address and I'll send them as soon as they are ready to gather, which should be in the next month or so.

Still Nuts About Mandalas

This mandala is made from a picture of some chrysanthemums by my door. I'm enjoying making these very much and took some photos today on my way to work of some wildflowers and grasses that I will try to turn into some mandalas. I ordered two mandala prints from Sue O'Kieffe and received them earlier this week and wow, they are absolutly wonderful! I got the lacy one called We are all Connected and another one called Releasing To The Four Directions.

Update on Make a Mandala-Annoying Lines

How perfect is this? No annoying lines and no extra work airbrushing, thanks to, Sue O'Kieffe who has generously given us the answer to this mystery!

So simple and easy to do. It involves expanding the selection by 1 pixel. Clever woman! I am updating the original instructions to include this, so please use the updated instructions on the Make a Mandala post. Be sure to check out Sue's Photoshop Tutorial today!

Make a Mandala-Updates Are In Blue Text

I've been so inspired by Sue O'Kieffe's mandalas and have made some humble attempts at creating one of my own. Sue has generously supplied the answer to removing the dividing lines by expanding magic wand by 1 line. These instructions are updated per her valuable input. I've had several people ask me about how I make a mandala so I decided to post it here.

Template:Source:
Et voila! here is my mandala which I dedicate to Sue who says: "I think it's important to develop your own vision with the mandalas, and to follow your heart in what you create. I am learning that that is the essence of *talent*."

Thank you Frances and Debi for testing these instructions. There may be an easier way to do this, but here is what I do:

1. First save the first two images above, the first as source.jpg and the second as template.jpg.

2. Open Adobe Photoshop

3. Select the magic wand

4. Window, show info,options, tolerance 20-25, check contiguous, use all layers

5. Open template.jpg and save template as mymandala.psd

6. Open source.jpg

7. Select window, tile

8. Select mymandala window

9. Use magic wand to select the top center left slice, then select, modify, expand by 1 pixel.
   

10. Drag the slice to your source image

11. Arrange it to pick up the area that you like, edit, copy

12. Make sure your top center left slice on mymandala.psd is selected with the magic wand, then select, modify, expand by 1 pixel, paste into
    

13. Image, rotate canvas, flip horizontal

14. Repeat step 12 one time, then go to step 15

15. Image, rotate canvas, flip vertical

16. Repeat steps 12-15 one time

17. Image, rotate canvas, 90 degrees cw repeat steps 12-16

18. Close source.jpg, save changes no

19. Activate mymandala window, select background, turn off layer (remove the eye), layer,merge visible

20. Save mymandala.psd

Congratulations, you have made a mandala! To finish use your Photoshop tools and enjoy!

Mandala - K

Here is my first mandala-tile. Well, I think I should just call it a tile as it lacks certain mandala characteristics. It was an experience and a challenge creating it in Photoshop 5.5. I was like Frances and Irene, I just couldn't make heads or tails out of any web instructions. Can you guess what the source picture was?