Floating Mandalas

Fuchsia bougainvilla bracts, aloe

vera seed pods, and honeysuckle

leaves.

This weekend I offered an ongoing workshop for the Whitewater Preserve's  2nd Annul Water Celebration, where participants created beautiful floating mandalas made with natural items. Using stems, sticks, leaves, petals, and blossoms visitors arranged these colorful plant elements in a variety of patterns and designs to create their own, wonderful floating mandalas. Mandala creators of all ages enjoyed this relaxing activity throughout the day.

A traditional mandala is an ancient circular design which typically represents the universe. It can also be a symbolic expression to connect with the self. For our mandalas, we were hoping participants would connect with their creative self through nature.

Definitely try this at home! All you need is a bowl of water, small dish towel for clean up, plant clippers or scissors, and some plant material from your yard like: flowers (to keep whole or for petals), leaves, sticks, seed pods, lightweight bark, etc. Experiment with different ways to use your materials, some of our participants ripped up petals into tiny pieces of "floral confetti" that added a delicate touch to their designs. Sticks were used in many different ways to add visual lines, accents, floral rafts, bridges, barriers and more in many designs.

Here are the mandalas created by my family and myself, plus some other favorites from the 40+ participants throughout the day (to see all the beautiful mandalas created visit this album):

I love my husband's traditional spoke 'n wheel style

mandala using whole roses and stems.

A beautiful huge lily is the center of the universe in

in this participant's dramatic design.



I love the layering in this delicate mandala and

how its creator used color, texture, and tiny

flowers resting on floating petals in this personal

expression.

 

My son (4 yrs. old) created this and three other rather

lovely mandalas!



I decided to use sticks and stems as a raft which

made it easier for me to keep flowers in place, plus...

I really loved the simplistic look that resulted!

Another beautiful creation by a workshop participant,

I really like the way the bright yellow ray flowers

(petals) pop around a huge orange rose, on a bed of

red petals, accented with those bright green leaves.

What one word describes the way I feel after

creating a floating mandala? Peace.

For more images please visit this album.

Your Idea!

I've been getting some great feedback about the Nature Awareness Exercises in the sidebar. Some of you have told me about your experiences and have even expressed a desire to share comments on them. It is so fun and helpful to learn how others turn these exercises into personal activities that have helped in unique and clever ways! In an effort to encourage this type of sharing, I've taken your comments to heart and will now be adding these as posts.

The sidebar tasks will stay as is, however once the new awareness exercise appears, the previous one will be posted for comments. I've included the two most recent in this post and will pull some of the more popular exercises from the past to include as occasional posts as well. I look forward to your feedback--your words just might be what someone else needs to hear!

Create A Water Mandala
The next time you water your plants, clean out your pets water dish, or cook hard-boiled eggs or pasta, pour some of the excess (cooled) water—strain through cheese cloth to remove soapy water, pasta, plant or pet bits—into a wide, shallow bowl or extra large plant saucer. Collect older flowers from your garden, along with a variety of leaves. Gently float petals and leaves in a pattern or arrangment that emerges from your inner nature. After a day or two, remove the petals and leaves and pour your mandala water over some plants.

Moon Sketching
I’m a lover of the full moon—hiking in her bright light, camping, gazing…feeling its energy and invitaion for personal reflection. Try this under the next bright moon. With a sketch pad and some chalk, find a natural place to sit comfortably, such as a campground picnic table, your backyard hammock, a boulder-strewn area to sit or lean against the stone. No flashlight allowed. Let your eyes adjust to the night and begin writing, mapping or sketching your surroundings, or draw something that you feel, or catches your moonlit eye. Placing yourself in a different setting like this (if this is different for you) can really stimulate the creative process. Let the energy of the moon pull and tug at your creative flow and see what is revealed.

(If you are having trouble adding a comment, and you wish to post one--please feel free to send your comment to me and I will post it exactly as written, on your behalf.)

Nature's Palette: Chia

Here is this week's nature inspired palette to add to your creativity toolbox. I love our native wildflowers and remembered this photo, taken by Laura Huff, of a musky-scented Chia (Salvia columbariae) field near Cottonwood Canyon, Joshua Tree National Park--a favorite wildflower destination here in southeastern California!

When I first saw this palette come up, I instantly thought of how 1, 2, or 3 of these colors used in different portions together would make a beautiful office, home, or even a blog space. Then I started thinking about how these could lead to beautiful, neutral-toned shoes...and then I thought about some found art ideas! How will these muted colors inspire you?
 
Please share your work or ideas inspired by these posted nature palettes, or of your own nature image-turned-palette!

Click image to enlarge.

Palette generated by BigHugeLabs.com

Nature's Palette

At the site Big Huge Labs, you can upload your favorite photo and run it through their online Color Palette Generator to auto-create a palette. It’s a great tool for artists, designers, and do-it-yourselfers to play around with for color inspiration. The possibilities are endless!

I will post nature inspired palettes to add to your (mental) creativity toolbox. In this example, there was a beautiful variety of oranges and some yellows, I edited the palette down to accommodate the pops of color in the palette as well (to fall within my 12-color template). Upload your favorite nature photo for a palette designed by Mother Nature herself...

Please feel free to share your work inspired by these posted nature palettes, or of your own images-turned-palettes (nature related)!