Weekend Snapshot: Number 40

The big news where I live is the heat. I'm not going to complain; after all I live in an air conditioned house and have air conditioning in my car so I know it could be worse. I will say that after pleasantly chilly weather in late May, we have had record breaking heat in June. In the space of a few days the temperature rose by 40 degrees. It has been this hot before in July or August but I don't remember it ever being this hot in June. Therefore, it was a good weekend to play inside. I have a ton of art supplies left over from various times I've felt like playing as well as ones I have left over from when my daughter was growing up. I need to start pitching some of the old ones I'll never use like the markers with heart and star tips. Great for children but a little silly for a 50 year old with no children at home.
Dee who blogs at Dee's Updates mentioned how she was coloring in a mandala while she was in the waiting room before receiving her radiation treatments for metastatic breast cancer. You can see her mandala on her post here . She mentioned how coloring was bringing down her blood pressure. I thought coloring in the waiting room was such a great idea and mentioned how I could use some coloring therapy myself. Jeanne who blogs at The Assertive Cancer Patient also liked the coloring idea. Dee told us that a person who designs mandalas has a website at Maiah Creations . You can see some of her elaborate designs there. She also has a free download as part of her Mandala of the month (MOM) and explains how you can participate. I'm putting a copy of the blank MOM below so you so see what I used as a starting point.
The MOM is a basic design but you can create more designs within the lines which is what I did. The one I'm showing below is my first try and I'll be doing others because it's so much fun.As a matter of fact, I had so much fun I decided to design my own blank that I could color in. My design below isn't a mandala by any stretch of the imagination. When I was reading about them on the web, one site said that they represent wholeness and can be seen as the model for the organizational structure of life itself - from "Mandela: Journey to the Center" by Bailey Cunningham. My design might be seen as disorganization at the Carver level. First I'll show you the blank design I came up with.

Next I'll show you what happened once I started coloring it in. I didn't even stay within the circle, I got so carried away. In case you haven't figured this out about me yet, I am able to draw and color at a kindergarten level quite well. I am free and uninhibited and don't have any trouble letting my inner child out. As a matter of fact sometimes it would be good if my inner adult could get a chance to develop.
I always find it easy to do programs like the Artist Way which in part help you to get in touch with the childlike freedom and creativity which is so often submerged as we become adults. I don't have any trouble getting on the floor and playing. I even keep a big jar of bubbles by my door so I can go outside and blow bubbles when the fancy strikes me. However, I have trouble taking creative pursuits to the next level and developing the patience to work on a craft. When I was coloring in the Mandala, I grabbed a book to use to bear down on without even looking at the book I selected. After I finished my Mandala and lifted it off the book, I realized I had been using the Michelangelo book to bear down on. Talk about being brought down to earth with a big thump.
Fortunately my watercolor and charcoal pencils didn't go through to the art book. For the mandala I used all of the supplies in the first photo with water to dip the watercolors in. For, Carver Playing in a Circle I just used the markers and charcoal pencils. Does that mean my works qualify for mixed media?

You can find other WS posts on technorati here - weekend-snapshot

On Monday participants post links at the home of WS where you can find out how to participate here - Weekend Snapshot