The first night that David was in the hospital, I was trying to sleep on the super-uncomfortable couch next to his hospital bed. I was feeling anxious about the surgery in the morning. I'd already posted our news on Facebook, and when I opened my phone I found that within hours, hundreds of people were praying for him and for us.
I tried to go back to sleep, and I still felt afraid. At that moment, I had a vision. In that vision, David and I were being wrapped with strands of golden yarn. Each strand was one of the people who was praying for us. They formed a cocoon or web of protection around us. Immediately, I felt calm and went back to sleep. When we woke up again, I shared my vision with David. In the early days after his surgery, when one of us was anxious or worried, I would say, "Remember the cocoon. It's wrapped around you." On Sunday, I realized that I wanted to draw a mandala that represented that vision of comfort. David asked for blue was the primary color, with purple and green accents. This is the finished mandala. Thanks to all of you whose prayers are represented in the golden yarn woven into this piece. We felt your prayers and they made a huge difference to both of us.
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I hadn't drawn a mandala in almost three months. Having David home from the hospital and on the road to healing made me want to draw again. I was thinking about water and forests when I drew this and colored it in.
I began this counted cross stitch after our youngest granddaughter Elise was born, probably in the spring of 2015. I worked on it off and on for more than a year, and was slowed down by our move from California to Virginia. I was determined to finish it before her 2nd birthday, and was successful! It arrived in Texas yesterday.
I took a break from mandalas to finish a stitching project. That project got finished earlier this week, and I finally had some free time today to finish this mandala that I started earlier in the month. It's still a learning process. The paper's the right size. The marker I drew the lines with was sub-optimal. Once I stared coloring, I discovered that it ran a bit. I'm still learning about colors. And, I continue to be thrilled with how this process frees my brain to be creative in new ways.
This time, I decided to color my creation. I'm still working on small paper, but tweaked a few settings. Again, I know it's not perfect, but I love stretching myself in this way.
Sometimes, you discover an art passion accidentally. That's what happend with me and mandalas. I needed a clear ruler. And the least expensive one came in a case with a protractor and a compass. So I ordered it. And then I remembered that a few months before, I'd seen a video from Kara at BohoBerry, demonstrating how to draw a mandala using a compass, a protractor and clear ruler. So, I decided to give it a whirl. My paper was a bit too small and my pens weren't quite right. I was still thrilled and instantly smitten with drawing mandalas. You can find Kara's video here.
This one is my first effort. And while I can see the flaws, I'm also reallly proud of it. Drawing is completely outside my comfort zone. But I find the act of sitting down to draw a mandala relaxes me and frees my brain to think creatively. I took this photo last spring, on the island of Iona in Scotland. Iona Abbey is the large stone building in the background.
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