Illuminated Rose

On a recent trip to the mountains, I only brought along some crayon pastels and tag board thinking I might makes some quick studies of the beautiful mountain landscapes around. I was feeling very connected to the nature around me but instead of a landscape, I felt like making a mandala. What else is new? I revisited an old project that I used to do with my younger elementary school art students – Scratchboard – although we used to call it “black magic”.

You can create your own scratchboard using either crayon or crayon pastels. Pressing firmly, cover the entire piece of paper or tag board, making sure not to leave any paper uncovered, and then cover completely with black crayon, black ink or tempera paint mixed with some dish or hand soap liquid so it will stick to the waxy crayon. Afterwards we scratch our design into the black paper and uncover all the colors below. It felt like I do was doing scrimshaw rather constructing a mandala. Although I think it was a nice change and kids of all ages will love it. I only had a nail and my compass point to work with but there are tools available with varied thicknesses.

If you try it, make sure to use some newspaper underneath to catch the bits of black crayon that you scratched off, and let me know how it goes.

Love,

Rosie

As the seasons change – and the internal, solitary energy of winter starts to fade – the gentle energy of Spring joyfully emerges.

The harsh soil of Winter thaws and softens. The seeds stirs in the ground and delicate roots spread out and down. Just as the trees, buds and crocuses start to emerge, my cells feel like they are vibrating and I too feel my energy being refreshed and renewed.

I looked out the door and saw the dove in my blue spruce courting his love. The sparrows in my neighbor’s air conditioner are busy getting their new nest ready. Any feelings of melancholy have been replaced with excitement and renewal. I am ready to spread the roots of what needs to blossom for me this Spring and Summer. What a great time to set intentions for what needs to blossom in you!

This year the equinox falls on March 20th, 7:21 p.m. EDT. On this day, the sun is in the midpoint in the sky and both day and night are 12 hours. Last year I remembered to try and balance an egg on its end and it worked!

Here is a link to the website of a dear friend of mine, Laural Virtues Wauters, that shares more information about the Vernal Equinox and shows some of her beautiful mandalas.

Blessings to all that all blossom beautifully for you this Spring.

In February, at our last mandala training with Judith Cornell, all of the new interns were required to teach a class. I attended a class with Kaho Koinuma of Hawaii and Japan. She showed us how she created mandalas using gel pens.

Over the summer, I created this mandala inspired by Kaho’s work using colored pencils with the addition of gel pens. Thanks Kaho!