Mandala Making Magic

This week the Creative Oasis Day Trippers headed to PigmentSchool of the Arts to make our own mandalas. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t spend as much time playing with visual art projects as I’d like. I tend to gravitate toward writing and music for my personal creative time, but I still enjoy making collages and water coloring, ect…

That’s why it’s so wonderful to have a group like the DayTrippers that gives me the opportunity to make a creative play date and dive into something I normally wouldn’t – such as creating my own beautiful mandala and inviting others to join me!

Tori Pendergrass who runs Pigment School of the Arts provided us with a basic outline, loads of great art supplies to play with and gentle guidance when we need it. I provided a creative pre-trip prompt that asked us to consider what we may want our mandalas to represent. (and also gave full permission to just have fun with it and forget the representative part if that didn’t resonate) I’m very attracted to mandalas and their many meanings, hence my Creative Oasis Coaching™ logo!

A few of Tori’s weekly adult students were also in the studio space with us. The atmosphere was inspiring, congenial and chatty. Creative camaraderie was another reason I created the Day Trippers. It’s so nice to get out and meet other like-minded creative spirits. (I wish I had taken more photos – but I was pretty wrapped up in making my mandala.)

Our two hours of drawing, doodling, cutting, gluing, painting, chatting and sharing creative inspiration flew by and this is my end result. I got to play with collage, tissue paper, watercolors, colored pencils and glue! To me, my mandala represents organic growth, radiating positive energy in life, natural balance (rather than perfection), and joy! But it was also simply a blast to create. There was no pressure for it to be one thing or another. All of our  mandalas turned out so differently and so beautifully. (again – I wish I’d taken more photos!) Here's mine:

How would it be to make your own magical low-pressure mandala? Lowest pressure? Simply draw a circle on a piece of scrap paper and doodle it in. Have a little more time to play? Draw a circle on a piece of cardstock and use a variety of materials to fill in the space. It can be asymmetrical or not. It can use one medium or five. It can be one color or many. The main thing is to just have fun. Time a concern? How would it be to set a timer and give yourself just ten minutes to see what you come up with? If you’re having fun and have the time – you can keep going. If you’re having fun, but need to wrap it up, what if you came back for ten more minutes the next day?

My Mini-Mandala on tiny post-it note created in less than 30 seconds!

For follow-up ideas as to what we might do with our mandalas I shared these “what ifs”:

What if you posted your mandala on your fridge for the next week to remind you how good it feels to take time out for creative play?

What if you cut your mandala up and created a collage or a card to share with it?

What if you wrote a poem or song or created a dance inspired by your mandala?

If you live in the DFW area, I hope you’ll join me and the Creative Oasis Day Trippers for future outings. If you don’t, I hope you’ll consider scheduling a creative trip of your own very soon.

Until next time, all the best from my creative oasis to yours,

Jill

(Any typos, grammatical, tactical, or deisgn-related errors were purposefully left in this blog post to uphold the non-perfectionism that Creative Oasis Coaching advises and supports in the name of getting sh*t done!)

The Creative Soul Sisterhood of the Traveling Paisley Velvet Pants & Sparkling Skirt

Mabel's at Sunset
photo by Liz Fautch

I’m sharing a few photos and remembrances from my recent trip to Taos, New Mexico partially because I want to keep the luscious memories alive, and partially because I love living vicariously through other people's travelogues and hoped you might too.

The mere fact that I finally went to Taos ranks pretty high on my “hot-damn-this-is-cool-o-meter.” That I went to attend, perform and participate in a Creative Retreat and Salon hosted by Jill Badonsky amped things up to the “has-the-potential-to-be-one-of-the-coolest-trips-ever” status. But what shot the whole eye-opening, breath-taking, awe-inspiring, first-time Taos trip over the desert moon was traveling with my creative soul sister Jane Baldwin. (Pranasalara & The Double J Hacienda & Art Ranch)

Soul Sisters

No matter where we go, time shared tends to be part therapy session, part slumber party, part creative retreat – usually with a dash of wine, delicious food and chocolate sprinkled in for good measure. And so it was this January when we headed for New Mexico – me the Taos/Santa Fe/Chimayo virgin and Jane the enthusiastic, free-spirited, well-versed guide who knew the lay of the land and even came equipped with the CD from “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” which made for the ideal soundtrack for our drive from Albuquerque to Taos.

Thank the travel gods, the night before we left we decided to rent a car rather than take a shuttle. This gave us the sacred space of a car interior on a long stretch of desert highway to catch up, and dream, and share stories from our pasts and plans for our future.  It also granted us the freedom to stop whenever and wherever we wanted. (I LOVE road trips with people who don’t mind that I drink gallons of water and need to pull over at every third gas station.)

Jill at Santuario de Chimayo
photo by Jane Baldwin

Jane suggested we stop to visit El Santuario de Chimayo – a famous holy site nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  I was especially delighted to visit since Doug and I own a wonderful painting by our friend Tori Pendergrass that features the church.

By Tori Webb Pendergrass

After paying our respects, we made a beeline for the Ranchero de Chimayo so Jane could get her red-chili sauce on in proper New Mexico fashion.  Once we'd refueled with a delicious lunch we stopped at the Ranchos de Taos to visit yet another iconic church.

Feeling Blessed at Rancho de Taos

Things turned slightly less holy when stopped at Walgreens for the essentials (bottled water, dark chocolate and wine) before heading to the Mable Dodge Luhan Lodge for the retreat.

The two Jills sing the praises of Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching

Chilling wine the Taos way

Paisley Pants

Sparkly Skirt

It would take more space than I have here to share all of the wonderful experiences and inspiring people that infused the next three days. So I’ll share a poem and a few photos and offer this gentle reminder:

Set Free
photo by Laurel Aston

If you’re given the chance to step outside your comfort zone, visit some place new, try on crazy ideas (or clothes), and dance wildly like a whirling dervish with people you’ve never met before – DO IT! I promise your life will be better for it. 

Mabel’s Ghosts

by Jill Allison Bryan

Spirits speak through these old adobe walls

In the pops and crackles of the wood burning the fireplace

In the creaking of the floorboards

In the ghostly black and white photographs from another time

“Feel creativity in your bones” they say

“Make creativity your comfort zone” they say

“Go ahead – pretend like you live here – we don’t mind” they say

“Sink into your creative process like the cushions of this well-worn couch” they say

“Give yourself permission to see aliens, awaken sleeping dragons, make crop circles in your mind, and play all day – it’s okay” they say

So I do

All the best from my creative oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. – Jane and I are hosting a retreat of our own – “Embracing Creative Momentum” –  this summer June 10-12, 2011 at the fabulous Double J Hacienda and Art Ranch. Stay tuned…

An Artist Who Won’t Change Her Spots For Anyone

Tori Webb Pendergrass says that it’s not really a choice, she simply must remain true to her own artistic style. Several years ago, when her mother suggested that Tori try painting pieces that would appeal to a wider audience, rather than attempt to change her personal style, Tori was inspired to create this piece.

“The leopard represents me, comfortable in my own skin, while the different 'outfits' hanging in the painting represent other personas that people might like me to be.” In remaining true to her calling, Tori has built a thriving career around her art.

Tori draws on her personal narratives to create vibrant yet primal pictorial stories infused with magical realism. She has exhibited her works in galleries, colleges and rock ‘n roll clubs around the world.

For Infinite Possibility – A Night of Music, Art & Women Helping Women (the celebration for the release of my solo CD, "Dancing in Limbo" & silent art auction benefiting Women for Women International), Tori painted a piece inspired by my song “RSVP,” which she discusses in the video below.

(click here to connect directly to our YouTube channel)

I find myself inspired not only by Tori’s compelling art, but by her ability to fully inhabit her life as an artist as well. In addition to creating and showing her own fine art, Tori owns and operates Pigment School of the Arts, an art school where she teaches and nurtures creative minds of all ages.

Visit her school at www.pigmentarts.com and view her personal portfolio at www.urbanimps.com.