Weekend with Sandra.

This weekend with Sandra was a lazy one.

Sandra was in no mood to do anything special so we relaxed and did a bit drawing. She wanted to learn how to make a mandala and I showed her.
She had forgotten her journal this time so we found her some drawingpaper to work on and I think she liked to do her own mandala.

I think she some times feel it's good just to relax and enjoy the stillness in our house, normally she has three siblings around her and it can be quite noisy from time to time. She hasn't felt quite well lately either. Some terrible headaches are disturbing her well beeing.

Below you can see her making the final touches to her very first mandala. It was early Sunday morning and she was enjoying the heat from the stove.


I had showed her how to draw the lotus design and I think she did it well to be her first time. She was so inspired by my bok with mandalas only, that she wrote Mandala book on her drawing.
I think her mandala came out well and she loved doing it. Perhaps she will draw some more at her own.

She likes very much to help my husband clean outside so they did a bit of that too. She earned some money and was happy.

That's all for now.
Have a nice day and take care.

The Evolution in short version.

New day, new possibillities.

Tou Scene.

The second hall shows the evolution, or how the artist thought it looked like. It was done with the end wall as the beginning and then the artist made two lines. One line to the right and one to the left. I'll show you both but start with the right side.




Standing on their feet and dressed, from there on it's all history.
Now you have to look at my first photo again and then these photos below shows the left side.


Out of the water and on their feet too....

I don't think this is breaking any news but I'm so facinated by the work, how well it's done by using spray only. The feeling of standing in the midst of something this big overwhelms me.
If one take a closer look at the work it's possible to see all the small details, look at all the small loops on the trees. The detailing job is very similar to what we do in artjournaling. Imagine how the artists must have felt standing there, ready to start.

Otherwise I was at a new exhibition on this late friday. All of the first graders (art school) held their first exhibition outside school. It was an exciting exhibition, and I'm so impressed what they already can do. I didn't bring my camera this time and couldn't have used either because the room was too crowded.
My friends work was amongst the best (my opinion) she had made a rainbow where the one half was filled with all the beautiful colours that normally are in a rainbow and the other half were filled with a lot of shades of grey. The rainbow was hanging from the ceiling and one meter from the wall behind. On the wall she had written this question: Does love have any colour? Beneath the rainbow she had a pair of black mail shoes standing together and a white pair of small shoes "walking" slightly in front of the black ones.
Her specifications were : Unspoken love. Can you imagine her piece?
That's all for now, I'm off to do some houskeepping.

Towards something new.

This is what I'm doing just now.

Good morning out there. Today I'll show you some of my newest work. I assume it won't surprise you that it's all about mandalas.
At a certain point I started to think about how far it is possible for me to take a mandala by loosen it from the regulare form that I've been doing them, but still be able to recognice it as a mandala. Why, you might ask.
Well, for several reasons, first of all I want to create new tasks for myself and this one could get me occupied for a while. And then I wonder how it can give me (and perhaps you) the feeling of a mandala with well-defined "symbols" at the same time as I try to create a feeling/vision of crumbling. In other words, in one hand I want something very sturdy and in the other something very fragile, both at the same time in the same piece.

I don't know if this was well explained, but I recon you are so smart that you'll understand what I mean even if it's not well explained.

The photo below shows the one mandala that started this whole thing. I had this idea of making a background before I made the mandala and suddenly I saw some other possibillities. This specific one does not crumble but it got me thinking. Isn't that a lovely thing, that one thing leads to another and before you know you are loaded with ideas?



The next one is my first try to combine the two contrasts, sturdy/fragile. As you see I tried to make an opening in the center by leaving the four corners of white paper white, to illustrate the reverse side of my paper. I tried to make a shadow to underline just that and to my great joy, my handyman automatically moved his hand towards them to remove them from the page.

Boy... what a satisfaction that was, to have convinced his eyes and mind in a way that lead to that automatic reaction. That kind of reaction is far more worth than words.
The feeling of crumbling is in it's beginning here, I expect much more to come as I'm practicing. I'm on my way with this one but something about the designs isn't how I want them to be. I love the blue colour though. :-)
Isn't it amazing how many possibillities that excists in a mandala or another object for that part?



Most times I use markers and ink to make my mandalas, and if there is a painted background it's acrylic paint. I love the process I'm in right now, I just hope that it doesn't feel boring for you.
This weekend Sandra is coming and we have to find something fun to do.
Have a nice weekend and take care.

A hall like an art journal.

It's time to show you some more street art.


Today I will show you the first hall. The halls measures ca: 5 by 3 meters. The photo below shows what we saw from the dooropening. A black wall with this image on it. The rest of the walls were filled with writing.

I felt like entering an art journal. This is exactly what we do in our books, don't you think?



The walls were completely filled with writing. I can read a lot of peoples names here.



The wall with the dooropening looks like this.



The hall felt quite airy and had good light. It was fun to enter this hall with the feeling of beeing included in an artjournal.

This was the first hall, the next one shows some kind of evolution, but that one I'll show you in another post.

Wish you all the best.

Kaleidoscope.

Wouldn't it be lovely to own a kaleidoscope that, in a little fragment of time, made a new breathtaking design each time you shake it?


This is my latest work. It was really fun to make it and it took me three days.
The first photo is taken when I was ready choosing the design. At this stage I've decided how I want the design to be, not only the design itself but also the depth of it. In this specific mandala I let the four "side figures" have almost the same design as the main one.
Once this is done I start to choose the colours. And then add the colour as the next photo showes.

I prefer to work on one mandala, so the colours of the rest are decided for when needed.


Not everything is planned, sometimes things appears while working. If you look at the main mandala, you can see the small checked areas which really forced their way to be included. And I'll have to say that I like them very much. The checks are so small that they don't interrupt the rest, on the contrary they help the rest pop out.
The pattern of a ready cut cake wasn't planned either, but when I chose to make a quite heavy line between each square outside the star I got that bonus effect.
The design in the outer sircle (of the main mandala) could have been different. I aimed for a design which held the feeling of air and dissolubility, and it does, but it would probably be even better with that design in just every other or third square. That way it could have been clearer what I wanted to create, instead it can easily be seen as a repetitive design only as it is now. All these things are much easier to spot when the mandala is done. When I'm working on it I'm so focused that I don't see other opportuneties than those I've already chosen. I'll have to work on that.


Don't you just love the red petals?
I do!! They really pop out and looks like velvet, so much that I have to touch them from time to time.
For me mandala is a circle, as you might have noticed, but I'm working on bending the rules. Step out of the frame so to speak and it's exciting.

I hope you're all well and enjoying your time.

Street art.

Today I'll start to show you a photo of a statement :



I've told you about the exhibition of street art. When I was back there this last Sunday I recieved this paper, made for those artists who had made the art.
The back page of the paper is what you see in the photo above. This statement is so speaking to me. In one of my very first posts I spoke about "your own design" that is "is it originally yours" The statement above was the words I was missing at the time.

For me now, I'm still making mandalas and the mandala is not my design for sure, but where I take them I dare to call mine. And this process of making them have started to evolve some ideas that feels like a bubble inside me and it's moving towards the surface.
I can't wait to see the results of that.

In this post I'll show you the three first photos from the exhibition. I have so many photos that I feel it works best to show you just some at the time.
The photo below shows an image from the hall. (before entering the exhibition itself) It is quite amazing what the artists did here. They have peeled of concrete so the only thing painted here is the black colour. Can you imagine how it feels to make an image that big and keep the overview at the same time? (I had no chance to reach the window, just to tell you about the size of this.)


On the opposite wall this image was made. It needs no further comments, but I feel like saying it was really well painted. Remember, sprayboxes are what have been used to make this whole exhibition.



The last imaage today was the smallest one of them all. With this photo I'm on my way to the old Beer halls where each hall has it's own theme. And it was when I first saw them that I felt it relates well to art journaling.


That was all for today, but I'll be back with more. Have a nice day and take care.

What's going on?

Good morning out there.

Yesterday I saw something that made me wonder what is going on in nature. One of my spring-plants are blooming! (?) At this time of year? It was so nice this spring and bloomed a lot back then, but now.... Well, it's beautiful even now but isn't it the wrong time of year?
We've seen it before that spring-plants do bloom out of season so I count that is just what's happening here too, but it really got me thinking.

Today I'll go back to photograph the street art I told you about earlier on. I'm looking forward to that and it will be fun to save it for the future.


Otherwise I've made another mandala and finished the dull one. This time I photographed it before I started the detailing job, just to see the changes. I'm not that pleased this time but it's ok. It came out with a bit too much squared lines, but then again they can't look the same each time I make one. Have a look yourself and see what you think.


Now I'll have to go to let my handyman take a measure of my elbow-hight. He is going to fix my wandering-sticks.(don't know what they are called, hope you understand what I mean.) Almost the same as the ones used when skiing.

Have a great Sunday and take care.

New Journal.

This is the first spread in my new journal. I like the left page, that mandala means something to me and contain my wishes for this new journal. In the right page I've tried to make a "copy" of one of the main glasspaintings in the Chatedral in Palma, Mallorca. I found it was not a good way of working. It's not mine and I don't feel any relations to it. Dull!
I will try to finish it though, wouldn't dream of starting a new journal with an unfinished project.

Today I'm going down town together with a friend, looking for what's new this season. We have such a beautiful morning here. This last night we had our first frost, and early this morning I could follow the sunrise which made the mountain - edge look like gold. That sight always take my breath away. A lot of crows had their morning meeting in a large tree in our garden and it seems they couldn't come to any agreement. Right now the town starts to awaken and the sounds of it reaches me. It's lovely to be able to have these slowly mornings, which I missed a lot when I was working outside home. I really whish everyone could have the time and opportunety to enjoy the magic moments of a sunrise.



I'm not as creative as usual these days. I don't know why but I prefer doing other things. Amongst other things I've read about low carb food because I'm going to reduse myself a bit. I have gained some kilograms and I don't feel comfortable with that.
My mandalas have inspired others to make them too, my niece (Lill's Life) has made a mandala too and felt the calmness of doing so. I liked her first attempt and am certain that she will make them again. She lives far away from here, so I enjoy following her blog.

Have a nice day and take care.

Closing one, and open another one.

At last I've finished my first journal. When I'm sitting here looking back I feel I just started it, but time flies. It's 6 months since I first started. I've learnt a lot and still enjoy the time spent in it. Now I have a new book to start in and this one is even larger so I have more space to work on.

I have done Mandalas lately and they are so fun to make. I've even made some very private ones. I will continue to make them and try to make them even more "my own" Have you ever tried to make them, and did you put into them expressions of your hope or thaughts of any kind?



This one (below) is made in remembrance to my father, or to this little Buddha that belonged to him. My father was given this item as a gift when I was a child and I always liked it so much. I asked my mother for it some years ago and she told me it was broken and thrown away. Early this summer we (my husband and I) had a clean up in the attic and I found my old schoolbooks. To my pleasure I found a drawing of the Buddha in one of my books and that's why I could use it in one of my Mandalas. It makes me happy to have it in my journal, that way I can always recall my memories of it.



The next one is very private too, it's made for a close relative that suffers from breastcancer. My hope for her is the very best and is expressed in this Mandala. I really do hope it helps. The four seasons of the year are included because she told me that she had to count a year to overcome this illness.


The last Mandala I made is the last page in my journal and doesn't mean anything special. It is the end of my journal and that's it. It is a bit different than the others and I guess that I was influenced by my friend Alw'en when I made it. She came visiting yesterday and I made it while she was here. We spent several hours together painting, and good things always happen when we spend time together. I really enjoyed her company!


That's all for today which is windy, rainy and cold. So cold that we have a fire going in the stove. First time this season.
Wish you all the best!

Mandala

Hello.

It's about time for a new post and what could be better than to show you my latest made Mandalas. It's a very relaxing task to make a Mandala, what attracts me the most are the fact that there are no rules. Use what you have and let your feelings guide you.

Like most people I'm very facinated by the wonderful glass-paintings in the old churches and lately I've start wondering if I could do anything similar to that using Mandalas as my workingspace. I've let me be inspired from a blog where Karin Bartimole are showing how she makes a journal. The journal showed is ment for making Mandalas in. Have a look here, scroll down till you find the name Karin Bartimole and look at her you-tube films on how she is making her journal. It's very inspiring.


As you see I have another space ready for my next Mandala and I just can't wait to start it.
Right now I'm waiting to know who is the one to get this years Nobel Peace prize, that's always such an exitement. Today a Syrian woman is the hottest name.
Today is windy and rainy here so the weather outside is perfect to stay indoors making Mandalas.

Have a nice weekend everyone and take care.

Busy days.

Hello.
Anyone who remember my showerbuddy? Now it's done and in use. It's really nice to use it but so are the ones one can buy. I finally took the time to finish it, so that leaves me with one item less to think of.


I've had a busy weekend with Sandra. Saturday we went to an artshow together with a friend of mine and her kids. In fact it was Street Art painted inside an old building. Unfortunately my camera went flat so I was unable to photograph anything inside. But, I'm going back soon to do just that because I want to save the images and share them with you. I really liked what I saw and it was easy to compare them to artjournaling.
When this exhibition is over all of the art will be painted over and gone forever, that's why I want to photograph it. I was able to snap some photos outside though.


I was so amazed when I first saw this painted building, what a job to do that. It's so big so I wonder how the artists could keep focus and do it right.
There were a couple of artists out painting the walls this day too and they were kind enough to let our children take part for a while. The kids enjoyed it, and had a really good time. This little boy,Isak, below looked like he had been doing this all his life

Here are Malika and Sandra in action.

Here are Sandra and Isak.

On Sunday it was Sandras birthday (her 9th) so we had to bake some cake for her, and later on we payed another friend of mine a visit. She showed me some very nice dresses which had belonged to her mother. From the early sixties. Sandra got some presents too and was all smiles when I drove her back home in the afternoon. So in addition to that I've read some books.