Tibetan Healing Mandala

I've twice had the good fortune to attend a Tibetan Buddhist Healing Mandala Ceremony. Several monks meditatively work hours to create a Mandala using colored sand and funneling it on to a transportable flat surface with a drawn design. When this beautiful work is completed it is carried to a stream/river and tilted with the sand falling into the running water. With prayer and compassion they enact reality and the impermanent nature of existence.
Further reading can be found at:
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/mandala/mandala.htm
and viewed on youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uazRvR9p0w
To me this understanding of impermanence speaks directly to the sustainable movement in the arts, business, education, agriculture, politics, philosophy/religion and etc.

working with beeswax and pigments

Ahhh, a nice sunny morning and a cup of favorite brew!

A brief how to with beeswax and pigment:

Beeswax and powdered pigments are available at most large art supply stores or online. The more sustainable way is to attain your beeswax from a local beekeeper and gathering your own earth pigments. From my own experience, a problem that may occur by gathering your own pigment is that alkaline and other chemistries in the soils can change the coloring. Not to say this can't be part of your intended creative process. Gently heating the raw beeswax to liquid add pigment to your desired intensity and color and stir. This takes experimenting and open minded watchfulness. Use measurements so you can repeat the process later if you want consistency from one batch to the next. When pigment is thoroughly mixed with beeswax pour into muffin tins to cool to solid for convenience in storage. Right now I'm using block and columnar "crayons" manufactured in Germany by Stockmar. They contain non toxic pigments and beeswax only. I'm using them at room temperature state in applying and then burnish the colors to where I want them on the surface of my work. When I feel the piece is finished I buff it gently with a soft cotton cheese cloth to bring out the luminosity with the surface sheen. Art supply stores also carry the solid pigmented beeswax colors as encaustics. Encaustics contain varnishes/resins, oils, pigments and other additives that typically contain toxins in beeswax. If you want to work with it in liquid form heat colors to liquid by keeping them on a "heating tray". They are available commercially or you can make your own by cutting a muffin tin into individual cups for your individual colors and buying an electric, single or two element hot plate and attaching a metal plate about an inch above the elements. Keep it at a temperature low enough to not burn - if your wax starts smoking!, remove and adjust your heater. You can use regular paint brushes to work. If you go with the encaustics its suggested to wear a respirator, goggles and work in a well ventilated space. Work fairly quickly to avoid the medium hardening on your brush. You can work on most porous surfaces; paper, canvas, wood, stone, etc.

That's the briefly of it. Feel free to ask questions.

one shot deal, not necessarily...

Ran across this amazing (awesome?) site to doodle with computer graphics. Probably a good thing that I neglected to bookmark it. Oh, but what fun it was!

awe

Why do most of us choose to use "awful" the way we do when we have all these choices?

Awful Meaning and Definition

*from http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/awful/

1. (a.) Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken.
2. (a.) Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster.
3. (a.) Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.
4. (a.) Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.
5. (a.) Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.*from http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/awful/

When we are awed do we rush thru or not acknowledge awe because we are delusionally attempting to gain control over our fear, reverence, awesomeness or to whoever happens to be there, self/other? Do we verbage our way through it like the experience isn't pleasureable, too uncomfortable! I like the high of quiet interest, like a balanced place of objectivity/subjectivity, perfected breathing in an asana, the smell and flavor of an herb when it is just right for the healing situation, an eye to an eye. Where do we define the line between frightful and bliss?

Papel de Amate is prepared by the Atomi people in Hildago Mexico. They pound strips of Ficus sp and "lattice" them together. The vertical strips laying over the horizontals in this photo. It isn't woven. Assembled wet so a lot of the junctures are loosely bound by the lignan content. The outer edging provides most of the structure to it. As I work on it many of the junctures come apart and I re - adhere them with beeswax in the Weave Series. The borders have not separated from the verticals/horizontals in the 4 I've done.

harmony with what is

Focussing on acting in harmony with what is. The Papel de Amate, Atomi paper, that I'm working with now has incredible innate beauty and character. As a painter to honor that intrinsic quality through my marking with color, allowing form and design to emerge as I work and subtly shift to a new aesthetic that expresses this relationship between myself and where the paper comes from in a respectful and loving way. Allowing the contrast of light and dark to be, and for me discovering the paintings place of balance there.

Am often reminded of how similar my painting art and healing art are. Each seeking to find that balance of aesthetic and/or healing. Tweeking with herbs, diet and lifestyle, or color, line and form to reach equilibrium with the sacred and the individual or artwork...

Papel de Amate by Atomi peoples

Have just connected with a new friend who visits with the Atomi peoples in Mexico. A paper, Papel de Amate, I'm using in recent Weave and WeaveGround Series is made by them. The Otami, or Atomi as she spells it, don't have a written language so the spelling is at the verge of birth I guess. What an amazing space to be in. Should they even be encouraged to develop one. What occurs with their day to day culture as they do. We take so much for granted. Their culture has never been exposed to alcohol or tobacco. My friend has been in many third world cultures and she tells me she has never experienced such love. John Lennon "Imagine" comes to my mind. Did he write that down or did he just start singing it?!