5 Day Mandala Workshop

I signed up for this free online 5 day mandala workshop. Today was the first day and it was great. It confirmed one thing for me, I don't care for straight lines. They are ok in a zentangle pattern, but I still prefer curves and circles. I attempted to make a hexagon mandala and hated every second that I was drawing it. I found that really interesting, since in quilts, I love hexagons. I love English paper piecing hexagons and other straight shapes, not so much the curved shapes for quilts, but when it comes to drawing, I find the idea of circles and curves much more satisfying and relaxing. I am having a hard time with things not being perfect in my mandala practice, but I am making sure that I continue to share and hashtag pictures of my mandalas, even when I'm not thrilled with the outcome. The funny thing is, people will comment sometimes how much they like ones that I'm not theta fond of. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is very true when it comes t art and design. Tonight, I am sharing my drawing of playing with circles. I believe it is my 35th mandala. I am really enjoying learning about this and have wanted to learn for a long time now. I have also, finally, learned what zentangles are, due to this challenge. I have seen the books and never knew what they were. This challenge forced me to look at things that are outside my comfort zone. I can't wait to do more and learn more.

circle exercises

circle trinity

Day 33 and 34 of the 100 mandala challenge Looking forward to sharing day 2 of my mandala workshop, Amy

More Mandalas

I have shocked myself in the fact that I have been keeping up with the 100 mandala challenge. I am on day 13 and have made a mandala pretty much every day. One of my Facebook friends mentioned how this could be my morning meditation. I am so not a morning person and tend to stay in bed as long as I can, so there is not always time for morning meditations or morning mandalas. I am however, seeing the benefit of getting up a little earlier and having a little more time to myself before the kids get up and I hate to get my morning going. That may be the next change in my mandala practice. I have been doing a sugar detox and have definitely notice I have more energy until recently when I started being lax and adding more sugar or sugar like foods in my diet. I think this is something that may affect my mandala practice by me not having enough energy of motivation to complete them. I am back on the sugar detox as I think this may be how I need to live my life. I am hoping that I will continue to have more energy and become a more morning person when I am sleeping better throughout the night and have more energy through the day. I need to start working on a community mandala and get a rock to create a rock mandala which is the theme of this weeks mandala challenge, as well as finish Halloween costumes for my kids. Here are my latest mandalas as well as the start of my Halloween costumes.

Check out my friend Kathryn at http:/collagediva.typepad.com and try your hand at mandalas, zentangles, or just plain old fun doodling. Amy

Quilting Thoughts

In my last post I mentioned how I bought some new quilting books. One of the is "Quilting Modern", by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederesen. Prior to this, I never paid much attention to the modern quilting movement. I was a little interested, but really thought I was only interested in the historical quality oh quilts and quilt patterns. After reading just a few pages in this book, I fund myself more and more interested in learning about modern quilting.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still love old, traditional quilt patterns, but I there is something about the large print, colors, geometric shapes, in modern quilting that I absolutely love. I have started to realize that I need to use more black and grey in my quilts. I want to use more color. And, after reading the beginning of this book, I want to be more of a designer than just following traditional quilt patterns.

I am hoping that this book may help me to see myself as more of an artist and less as a home crafter. There is absolutely nothing  wrong with being a crafter, but I want to see myself as an artist too. I'm looking forward to reading more and actually making some modern quilts.

Amy