The Joy of Color

In the service of keeping the creative fires burning during the course of a long project, little things get played with. For instance, today while I was searching for the symbolism of the octopus (they have been appearing in my personal journals for about two years now, and I have been seeing them out in the real world during the past few months), I came across a link to the work of Judith Cornell. I have her book Drawing the Light from Within, and in it she talks about using prismacolor pencils on dark paper to bring out inner world out to view. This is the mandala I worked on this morning. A full shot is at my flickr, this just had a better angle on the color and detail.

I had intended a lotus in the center when I began, but it morphed into the dragon or octopus-like figure seen here. I had thought perhaps a golden sun at the top, but the bird is what happened. I think it is appropriate, in that deep way of knowing something belongs.

And this is the big project. Some would call the mandala avoidance, I would call it sanity saving. This piece is for the local Hillel and will hang in the lounge above the loveseat. The green will be divided into hills by strips of opalescent batik that will have fruits embroidered on it, and three buildings symbolizing the local communities will be nestled among the hills (those are what is intimidating me right now, though I know once I start they will go quickly). The base is the bricks that the local streets and buildings are covered with, and will contain a quote about being blessed in our homes and our communities. It's only 36" h by 54" w, I don't know why I'm so intimidated (after all "What Lies Beneath" is 69" x 42" and Bean Gildorf's Rambler quilt in Rice's new book is only 544" long!).

It's been raining a lot here. Good weather to stay in and work!