Mandalas
With my new found creative expression born with the introduction of pastels, my mind began to explore new possibilities and my imagination came fully alive. When my world was shut down as a young child and my fear of being noticed became the dominating factor of my personality, I lost touch with my world of imagination. I lost my childhood and all that went with it including the ability to explore inspiring ideas. This door was now being opened through the wonderful world of art.
While the animals I drew gave me the strength to face certain aspects of my personality on one level, letting my imagination come alive opened up the door to my childhood, both good and bad. I began to realize how important colour was to my world and how much I had ignored the need to have brightness all around. This brought back a memory from a time in Nelson, B.C. where I met a woman while I selling art cards at the Farmers Market.
I discovered during an enjoyable conversation this woman did energy work. When she came up to my table to talk to me I liked her right away, not knowing anything about her. She told me on that day, once we had shared some time, that I needed to wear brighter colours, start being seen. She knew nothing about me but her message struck me with some intensity because of how similar it was to what Grandma Grizzly had told me only a few months previous.
We stayed in touch during our remaining time in the Nelson area, but unfortunately lost contact once we moved away six months later. She was just one of those people that come into our lives for the briefest of moments to help us find our way, very special really.
The mandalas were my first expression of freedom with art, whereas the animals were very structured and in my mind needed to be anatomically accurate for me to feel satisfied with them. The mandalas were the opposite of that structured form of art, a free rein to try out any and all possibilities. I had great fun, starting each day walking into my art room to look at what I had begun the day before and what was in mid progress. My studio was set up in such a great way, thanks to Patrick, I could have more than one idea going at a time.
Once this door opened for me ideas just tumbled out and I had trouble keeping up with the many inspiring thoughts I was carrying in my mind. Had I been able to stay in that environment I know I would have enjoyed further exploration of this freedom. However, this was a time when we were forced to move once more, changing our world in ways I would not have believed. We moved to Maple Creek and my life as a full time artist came to an end. I would now draw when I had the time, for it was still an integral part of my life, but I could not always follow the flow I had enjoyed while living in the house with the perfect art studio.
The mandalas added another dimension to my life, an expression of my love of colour, pattern and the freedom to choose.
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