Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Oh, and it is a beautiful morning. I especially love it when I remember to and make the choice to sit in my mediation chair as the morning sprinklers make that swooshing, chic, chic, swoosh... as it circulates water to my thirsty tomato plants. I have just a bit of yard that gets a few hours of hot sun... so this year, I've decided to plant there. Never have had tomatoes come to fruition before the frost... but this year is different. Even with all the negativity, gas prices, economy, etc.... I'm keeping my eyes focused on Truth, Love and Beauty. It just makes my world go so much more smoothly. I'm looking forward to today and tomorrow because I'm taking three teenagers to one of our resorts near the Russian River. I'm planning on lots of time to just relax on the deck and read and write. Been reading a really fun book "The Traveling Funeral", recommended by my friend Mary... very inspiring and fun to read. Taking time to read fun "fluff" is an important part of taking care of myself. Something else that's been hanging on the outer edges of my "want to do someday" consciousness is the making of Mandalas. At the SoulCollage conference two years ago, I was inspired by an artist who says she does little pieces of art every evening to meditate and go to sleep with. I thought then, that making mandalas would be such a fabulous interceptor between me and the day I had just completed... an oasis in which I could fall into deep, soulful dreaming. Well, I made one.... Then my friend Cheryl popped up with her Mandala Oasis group!!! Wow, thank you Cheryl. You continue to touch and bless me! So, yesterday, after a huge day of working my eBay business.... I was only going to gather supplies to take on this little trip, but thought I'd at least make a few circles to work with. Then I decided to play with my compass, then to color with my Sharpies... and suddenly I had created a really fun Mandala. It was just so calming to make! and playing with the compass was a learning, fun experience. I would have loved about 20 more Sharpie colors though. So here are both the Mandalas I have made so far. I'm loving it! Thank you Cheryl, thank you Mother Father, God Goddess! Life is good when you open your eyes to God's Love and Truth! Blessings, Chris
PS the Mandala with the light purple background was done on water color paper, silver pen, sharpies, then water color out the outsides. I gave the Mandala itself, a layer of encaustic (bee's wax)... I love the feel of the encaustic and the heavy weight of the watercolor paper. The Mandala with the dark blue background was made on a lighter sketching paper. The colors did go through (I used a waxed paper underneath). I'm happy with the look, but I like the weight of the watercolor paper best.