Nature has a way of balancing the forces within us and reminding us of who we are.
Today is August 1 and the height of summer. It is the season of plenty and my trees are laden with figs and plums and the bushes populating my urban yard have provided such a huge quantity of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries this year that even a fruit lover like me can’t keep up with the picking.
Nature is extravagant and rich and because we are nature and nature is us, this is our essence too. Anytime we like, we have access to this vast, abundance within us. We are far more powerful, have more energy, courage (heart), and brain-power than most of us realize, myself included.
By keeping an open connection to our natural world, we are connected to our own core. Nature has a way of balancing the forces within us and reminding us of who we are. Maintaining a strong and continuous link to this nourishment is one of the keys to wellness for all of us. There are so many ways to do this, everything from a walk in the woods, to connecting heart to heart with another person, to deep focus doing something we love, to simply enjoying the trees or listening to the call of the birds.
I’ve made this Flower Mandala as another tool to help tune us in to the pipeline of wellness, abundance and love around us and within us. As with all of my mandalas, it is made and imbued with specific intention to bring the highest good for all who experience it.
Nature is extravagant and we can always access this vast, abundance within us.
This piece began as an image in my mind that marinated for months. I love the natural geometry of flowers and their petals and this is my first of many mandalas that are simple natural flower based formations.
First I made it in wet clay and figured out how to do this as I went along.
For this piece it took a few iterations to figure out the glaze and I could only see one step at a time. First a base coat with a celadon crackle glaze:
I knew it needed contrast and a rich depth of translucent color - the glazes needed to be not just color but have layered effects.
I knew it needed contrast and a rich depth of translucent color - the glazes needed to be not just color but have layered effects. It took 4 firings to bring it to completion.
For some scale and context, I put it on my studio altar to see how it looked:
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STOPwhoohooo!!! Thanks so much, I love awards :-))
Wow , beautiful work, thanks for sharing.
Love your art work. Its a nice sculpture. wish to see more like this.
thank you! I have lots of previous posts on mandalas and yantras if you like this!
Four firings, very impressive. The richness of the layering shows through in the way the background highlights the mandala foreground topped off with the soft but strong center. Positive intent manifested. Beautiful work. Resonance with nature is always a positive influence. Here's to your reinforcing that with your thought and work.
Beautiful comment (as always ;-))) @bloomview, a heartfelt thanks to you!
Waow - good skill! Beautiful end piece!
thank you @kate-m!
That is amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks @bigpanda!
A beautiful and enlightening post. Thank you for sharing. :)
My pleasure, thanks for reading and supporting!
Beautiful sculpture
great work.. i love it.. thanks for sharing.
Have nice day!
thank you @dinsha, hope you have a nice day too!
Nature is indeed awesome. #Beautiful sculpture. Thanks for sharing.
thanks @ememovic!
Beautiful one !
Great work my friend @natureofbeing !
Perfect mixture of art and skill .
many thanks @akkha :-)
You are welcome @natureofbeing !
so beautiful work! I love so much the shades of colors, so nice!
thank you!
Nature is wonderful, and so is this!
:-) sure is @opheliafu and thank so much!!
I adore all the blues in this one @natureofbeing! :) So peaceful.. ^^
thank you @mayasky, I appreciate you!
Beautiful, keep up the good work!
thank you !
@natureofbeing Good blog, Subscribed. Maybe you will be interested in my post - How to fall asleep for a minute ?
thank you @boso
You are so poetic, Ruth. You have a deep connection with the nature you speak of and it is apparent in your wonderful work!
thank you so much and it means a lot from my favorite poet!!
I love this so much
thank you ;-)
Wonderful to see the process of your craft up close. The layering of the blue/green glaze is beautiful... complex but also peaceful. By the time August comes around in NYC I find myself craving a serene nature-escape. I'm envious of the black and blueberries in your yard. Maybe my fire-escape could hold a berry bush or two... hmm...
Thanks @voronoi, I understand since even here the oppressive of August makes me retreat to the cool forest and river!! And blackberries especially do very well in pots....they grow tenaciously so need little tending. Next spring on a trip upstate you can dig up a wild blackberry bush (weed) by the side of the road, put it in a pot and voila! ;-)
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STOPHey @natureofbeing , would love to offer to come onto my podcast sometime.
It is all about entrepreneurs; what you are doing, believe in and what difference you are making in the world.
Here is the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5CpCNPna6p95oJfKPew0N3ZT0k-khdgg
It is audio only over skype. Does this sound of interest to you?
Nice piece! Great process breakdown. I'm new in here and also creating mandalas in glass. It's so helpful in integrating the chaos of life. Following!
thanks for your support and I look forward to seeing your glass mandalas!
I love making mandalas <3 I will post my most recent one soon (it was ultimately an embroidery.) Definitely following for inspiration in images and words! I really like this piece, especially seeing it on the alter.
I look forward to seeing it - embroidery sounds like a great medium for a mandala. Thanks for your support!
Wow, I too love working on Mandalas. I have some paintings on it. They give me lot of peace and sense of confidence. I see you also work with Crystals. Beautiful crystals and the Ganesh Idol. Someone like minded I appreciate
:-) I agree that it's great to find like-minded people here! You are a yogi and meditator too I see....
I enjoyed this post, thank you for sharing!
so glad to hear it!
very nice
Loved the artwork in general, but I wanted to comment on how beautiful that bronze hand is in Gyana mudra!
I love that too!! It's actually painted wood so not quite as nice as a bronze, but I fell in love with it too!