Hello to Mandala Monday, this is my second one and I'm so excited to finally share it with you. I have Dawn at http://girlunwinding.wordpress.com to thank for this new slightly obsessive hobby of mine now. I spent all week making these and admiring them and for the first couple nights couldn't sleep because my brain wouldn't turn off. I love when this happens, inspiration can hit you at anytime and you should just go for it. The extra chores didn't get done, my sketching didn't get done as often but these mandalas are making me soooo happy and that's all that matters right now.
I had a hard time picking which one to share with you today, show them in order as I made them or just pick randomly each week. So really this one was my 4th and first of several made with squash/veggies from our garden. I told Rich to let me use them when he picks them and then we can cook with them or pass along to friends. I am naming her Squash Surprise because it still surprised me that my brain is seeing mandalas everywhere. Sorry for the little glimpse of Lucky there in the corner, totally wants in the picture can you tell. Now something not so fun happened during this and almost stopped me from making more of these beauties. Can you guess what it is?
To my daughter's surprise when she opened the front door and saw a gardener snake laying right there in our path. I freaked and screamed just like she did. It was small and harmless but I DON'T LIKE SNAKES, EEEEEKKKK NO MATTER WHO SMALL. So all that day I couldn't go out to play and make more of these mandalas. The little guy finally went behind the tree next to our door but was still right there and very close to the door. Finally hours and hours later when we checked it was gone, thank goodness. But wait, if he wasn't there then WHERE WAS HE???? This freaked me out even more, I didn't want to reach into my weeds and clippings or anywhere and pull out this snake. Thankfully when hubby came home he combed thru everything all around the house with a rake and didn't find him. This made him a little sad to have missed seeing him but I was very happy to know he must have moved on. Still a little freaky that this could happen again but I started pulling weeds and creating again. I found out from another mandala maker that this happened to her too, only hers was 4feet long, now that is a SNAKE and she can keep those kind in her yard, haha.
So there is the story of my second mandala, I already can't wait till next Monday to share again. Here is a few things I learned this week....
The weeds/leaves dry up very quickly so I need to use them first and fast before that happens.
It's hard to know what angle to work with still when taking the pictures, I only had 3 of this one above and Lucky peeking into each one. So Lucky might just have to stay inside during the creating part of my mandalas. Once I stand up and look down it's so cool to see how it has come together. I am trying to get more angle shots for each one if I can now.
That my mandalas aren't quite as full as the first one, a few came close but it seems the less I use and the simple they are the more I like them. We will see how this goes on thru the weeks.
A big thank you to Dawn for inspiring me with her beautiful mandalas, so happy that I found your blog and inspiration. Please stop by her blog and see what she and others have made this week. You can find it at http://girlunwinding.wordpress.com
Thank you for the comments on my Hello August post below, these are always so fun to write. Tomorrow I will be back with a new post about something new for me, T stands for Tuesday, you click on the button at the top right to find out more. So happy to have these new interests to keep me busy now that SOC is over. Have a great Monday everyone. HUGS!
My Big Picture
Well, look at you-- dreaming about mandala making, seeing them in places you go during the day. Yes, you have been bitten, lol!
ReplyDeleteI love the simple ones, less is more kind of thing. That truly shows you that you CAN see mandalas in all things if you try. And you telling your husband to let you use them after he picks them, oh that makes me laugh!!
It reminds me of a big golden starfish! with the slight curls on the tips and the bumps on the skin. I love it! and with an encounter with a garter snake! yay!! mmhm, there is nature out there for sure.
Happy Mandala Monday, Dawn!!
I get to use my own name in that sentence, how weird :-)
What a terrific idea.
ReplyDeleteThis was so fun to see. I had to agree with the OTHER Dawn who said it reminded her of a starfish. I thought so, too when I first saw it. Using your own veggies was sheer genius. Very impressive use of them. And of course, your ground doesn't look all water logged like mine. I like that you used it as your background. Simply perfect for such a natural mandala. And Squash Surprise is the perfect name for it, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me while I slept. I was up all night because the storms came through again. Seems we are under a flood watch until about noon today.
Your 'squash surprise' mandala has such a great look and feel to it showing the bounty of summer on that perfect green background too! You and I were both thinking about food this time around ;)
ReplyDeleteI see your lovely shadow picture below...super with the tree captured too on these warm summer nights.
Happy Mandala Monday and I'll see you over at Elizabeth's for T tomorrow too
oxo
p.s. thank you also for your visits and sweet comments on my Magpie's Nest ♥
Thanks so much ladies for visiting and your comments. It's so fun to see what we were all making our mandalas with this week. See you next week with more fun!
ReplyDeleteCool photo; the colors are so vivid!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your lovely comment on my "tea" post. <3
Dawn, this is such a pretty Mandala. It reminds me of all the yellow flowers that I know. I hope you don't have anymore snake encounters.Will be back to see more on your new Tuesday challenge.
ReplyDeleteSusaN
Awww, that is an awesome vege mandala!!. I'm not sure about creating any mandala this week or next, it's a busy week ahead with all the festivity goings on :).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do have a board off All Things Mandala on Pinterest. I pinned lots of mandala inspiration from other people's creation and you can take a peek here;
http://pinterest.com/shahrulniza1/all-things-mandala/
have fun!. Oh, please be careful with the snake, I too, afraid of them!. When I was ten, while cycling in front of my home, a snake cross over the path and I jumped off the bike!. LOL. That afternoon, I asked my grandpa to pick up the bike for me :). Funny.
Your squash mandala is beautiful! That color is just gorgeous! That pop of red tomato in the middle just makes the golden squash pop, and the green grass background amazing! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove your mandala Dawn (although i will have to read more and find out what it is exactly) i can see a starfish as well, the colours are so bright and say summer to me.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the snake thing I hate them, unfortunately we don't get harmless ones, only killer ones, i don't know what possessed us to buy a house opposite a bush but there you go.
LOVE this garden mandala~!!~
ReplyDelete:-)
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