Creative Nests...

My current drawing and writing space, close to the hearth, with a good view of approaching weather...

Thought I'd share some of my creative "nests" with you...


... teachers would tell me at school:"a tidy desk is a tidy mind"...
 I'd now say to them, with the authority of my own experience, if my desk were to reflect my mind by being tidy, I would not be using my mind to its fullest capacity....

One of my favourite things...

This is the exploding magical basket, that contains shiny things I adore, like little scraps of exotic sari silk from India, Venetian glass beads from discarded old necklaces, and pearly buttons from Victorian London, to name a few... I am proud to say this basket feels like a better reflection of my mind, than a tidy desk... it is full of possibility: of tales and dreams, ideas and adventure...

At night, I sit here and stitch, and write and draw.... and dream and invent... the tidy desk forgotten...

Last mandala a day - "The Flowering"

Final design in this series of creative exercises... It feels like the flowering...

The design itself reminds me of a flower, or butterfly: adulthood... completion.

A vesica pisces has become a door, heavily strapped with a golden cross, and a red "eye": a shield as well as a way in...

I am now in the habit of drawing when I wake up, which was my original intention for making a mandala a day, & I've regained my artistic focus...

Quite a few creative friends have joined me in this short journey, by creating mandalas of their own, and I thank them all for their companionship, as well as encouragement.

Where to from here? I shall continue to create & refine mandala designs, in the hope that I may create a body of work with them.

 I hope this work with the magic circle is as ripples in a pool...

.... activating latent creativity everywhere...

mandala a day - Fish Need to Swim

Still going with this process, words are now needed to explain the imagery..

This isn't only about keeping the waterways clean, but also about tolerance... encouraging all life to its potential... taking responsibility for my own part in the puzzle of inter species community...

Reminds me that every living thing has its own destiny, and its own needs for survival...

Day lost count, mandala a day- "Moonbathing"

Here, I'm loving the "Super moon", basking in its soft illumination, comfortable in my dream boat, and moon-bathing...

Enjoying the undercurrent... enjoying the dreaming...

The Moon itself looks a little "unfinished"... perhaps I'll work up this image another time...

In rather a hurry this morning with a busy day ahead... hope this image carries me through calmly

Day 22 or 20 - mandala a day - "Shine"

NOTE TO SELF...!

This was drawn freehand, & I was dismayed, 1/2 way through the sketching out, but the spaces I had created were there for a reason... the hardest part was working out what was meant to go there...

So pleased I found out!

I think the symbolism is self explanatory, but if you need to know, there is a comments box where you're welcome to ask...

Day 21 - mandala a day - "Dreaming the World" - Frithgarth/Eden

Here sleeps an angelic child... Mabon... child world soul.. a childlike facet of a human collective consciousness...

She's also me, dreaming of a better world... an ideal situation... where all is innocence and unblemished...

In process of drawing, the sheet began as a bridge, and wallpaper as pendulous wisteria blossom... Monet's garden in France... where I've never been... but have imagined as a perfect garden for most of my life...
the iris remained... as did floating marigolds...

And the hearts? Once the circle is drawn around the child in 3 dimensional form, they meet, and become whole...

If life is a garden, I hope I can dream up a kinder, sweeter, softer place...

Day 20 mandala a day - "Singing My Own Song"

I am learning that to sing my own song, is a metaphor for remaining visible as the individual I have grown into, no matter what, because it is good for my metaphorical heart, and makes the world a kinder place...

New Year's Eve, I gathered with friends, to make intuitive collage from old magazines, as an ART/ Art Therapy/divinitary practice...

Mine ended up being named:"Singing My Own Song"...
It seemed a pretty, although mysterious collection of images...

Now, into the 8th month of the year, I begin to see what this means to me:
to keep singing my own song, not shutting up or shutting down about what is important to me...
When people try to try to silence me for their own self-gratification, I will not take it personally...
my vulnerability is my own to protect, and not theirs, to take as my sacrifice...

Day 19 mandala a day "Moon in Leo - Battle Crow - Morrigan - Kali Ma - A Rainbow Warrior"

Death & renewal...

Starting out with a diminutive figure, riding a dragon that looked more like a horse/cat, I forced myself to keep working, & the result is a doll-like figure, badly drawn, but with a lot to tell me about the quest of a Spritual Warrior.

Full moon's in Leo, a forceful, warlike phase ... powerful... taking no prisoners...
Will magnify that which people focus upon...

Now false ideas about my world drop away by the sack full... The illumination of shadowy failings & shortcomings is a gift... I fight for victory over my own illusions...

So, Day 19's Goddess is me... I'm wearing Polariods, instead of my usual rose-tinted glasses!

Day 18 - mandala a day "Netted Mermaid"

 

 Here's Her Majesty, queen of the sea...

a pilgrim's shell hangs on the wall, as she casts her net to collect that which she needs....

Last few mandalas are stronger... intuition is sharper.... symbols deep, and resonant... 

I'm beginning to feel rather exposed on the internet... yet, the habit of drawing when I wake up is still not ingrained... posting it here disciplines my wayward ways....

Day 17 a mandala a day - Firebird and the Goddesses

Something returned yesterday that I now see in a different light.... in my own light...

Was feeling a bit flat because of it this morning, and didn't feel like making a new drawing...

So glad I made the effort...

Day 16 - mandala a day- "Clown"

"Clown" - in the great "Circus of Life"...

Just as I carefully added my finishing dots of glitter, to represent joyful giving, the applicator blobbed uncontrollably... in a big messy globule... all over my initials, making a mess... my first art "disaster" in 16 days...
Or was it?
Now I wonder what I could read into that accident... I've never wiped glitter away before... always thought more is better...

Day 15 - a mandala a day "Off Grid"

Was very surprised this came out of my pencils this morning...

I suppose the illusion of safety in numbers, of fitting in to a community... of any kind... it can be toxic in the long run...

Golden swirls of energy and inspiration can flow more freely when not cramped, and growth expands into something that supports life... hmm..

That's big, for the first task of the day...

Day 14 a mandala a day - Tea...

Domesticity...nicety..
It's me.. and stuff I learned from watching the women in my family... I don't think it has served me well... 

Day 13 mandala a day - The 13th Faerie

Could also be called: "Be Where you are, Love what you have, Do what you do".
It's about acceptance... and wanting to be understood... searching for that safe place where you can be authentically the phenomenon you are, without having to explain yourself...

Day12 - mandala a day - Mabon

This is getting rather personal now... here's my Mabon - my child of light - and the tale I tell myself about my life and how things are... Of course, I'm perfectly at liberty to change this story, any time I wish...

Day 11 - mandala a day - Imbolc

This morning I woke before the dawn... rekindled the embers of the fire, and lay down to listen to a lone, warbling magpie, heralding a new day, and the beginning of a new season...
As I lay, the little dog, snuggling against me, reminded me of a snuggling child... and that the new spring is as a tender child... and that my heart is still that of a child...
I thought: "if I allow the last 40 or so years to drop away.... perhaps I can stand as firmly and as confidently as the child I once was"...
So my spring undertaking is to protect my childlike heart... my Mabon... to nurture it... keeping  alight the flame of love.... the flame of creativity... of healing..

Blessings of Brigit to you, in the South, and to your loved ones, this cold morning! And if you're in the North, enjoying the warm harvest, may it sustain you well, until the year has turned full circle.