After completing the
Book of Days project led by
Effy Wild, I decided not to do another one for 2013. While I learned quite a bit (read LOTS OF STUFF), I felt like I needed to move on. Instead, when
Julie Gibbons let it be known that she was going to guide the willing through a year-long project on Mandalas I knew it was destined that I follow along.
Mandalas have been with me for several years now. I think they came to the surface when I started reading
Rhodia Drive written by
Stephanie Smith, who also writes
Spiritual Evolution of the Bean. Stephanie is an amazing artist who paints amazing mandalas and showed that it is never too late to begin.
From Julie Gibbons' introduction to the
Great Round of Mandala course work:
The Swiss psychologist CG Jung, with whose work I was familiar with in the field of personality psychology, spent many years researching the mandala archetype and related symbols and he was first to deploy painting (for non-psychotic adults) as part of his therapeutic work.
Convinced by its ability to reveal the unconscious, Jung began to create a mandala every day but would argue vehemently that these mandalas were not works of art. He was absolutely committed to them as a tool for the process of individuation – the term he coined to describe the realization of the whole/true self.
And so I begin:
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Stage 1: Resting in the Darkness
January 2013 |
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Qualities of the Circle
charcoal drawing - non-dominant hand |
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Spider Web mandala
charcoal drawing |
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Stage 2: Floating into the Light
February 2013 |
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Soothing Mandala
water soluble pastels |
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Million Star mandala
mixed media |
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Water mandala #1
ink |
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Water mandala #2
tempera paint
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These are all worked in a large multi-media spiral bound journal. I write about each exercise on the left side of the 2 page spread and I make the mandalas on the right side. Because my journalling is private and most likely extremely boring to everyone but me, I won't be putting them up here for public consumption.
If you are interested in doing this project on your own, please look into
The Mandala Workbook by Susanne F. Fincher
. I find it fascinating and perhaps you will as well.
I've also been working in some of my other art journals. I'll save those for another post. Thanks for reading this far.
Peace out!
