More Mandalas

Here are the mandala drawings I’ve done since my last blog post.  I have 13 now; more than enough to make a 2019 calendar. Yea! (if you want to see these images in a larger format, they are also posted on the Gallery page).  Like the earlier mandalas, these are about 12 inches in diameter and are drawn with colored pencils. It is so much fun to see the infinite possibilities that can be created within a circle.  The circle has always felt particularly special to me.  It communicates something ineffable.

Randy likes the middle piece best.  He likes that it deviates from my usual symmetrical patterns.  The inner circles are a deep indigo blue, and they kind of lure you into their dark space…

I have been working hard on my new book.  The first chapter is complete and I’m now working on chapter two.  The writing process has been very engaging.  I thank God for computers, because I have been editing like a mad fiend!  I cannot imagine trying to write something if I had to do it with pencil and paper, or even a typewriter.  I am constantly changing, rearranging, and reworking.  It would be a nightmare without Word…

For me, the writing process works exactly the way I compose a piece of music.  First there is an idea.  Then I keep ruminating on that idea until more ideas come along to accompany it.  Then I refine and change, over and over, until I get a feeling that it “clicks.”  Until I get that feeling, there seems to be a lot of disconnected parts that don’t want to connect.  I write and rewrite and re-rewrite. At some point the pieces magically fit together.  A feeling comes: “It is done.  It is the best I can do.”

I also came to the realization that I can only write what comes to me.  I can’t write something else, or like someone else, even if I wish I could!  Somehow that recognition keeps me from second-guessing myself each step of the way.   Whatever comes to me, is what I write.  And then I just try to craft it as concisely and coherently as possible.

My goal is to complete this book before the end of the year, and then I will take on the herculean task of trying to find someone to publish it – if that’s even possible!  Not the fun part, but nonetheless I want to try.  Of course, I need to finish it first…..

Why do we have this lingering cold and threat of snow? Isn’t it April???????