Today I finished coloring Section 1 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year…and with 5 days to spare!
While coloring I did my best to pay attention to the tightness throughout my body…in particular my stomach and shoulder areas. Every time I checked in, sure enough, I noticed my tightened stomach and hunched shoulders.
With each check in, I quickly relaxed those areas. While it still bugs me that I tense up, I seem to catch it sooner each time. Progress!
Here’s the slideshow of the final final touches to this section…
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joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
ps…time to prep for section 2! 
Posted in Markers | Tagged mandala of the year, maureen frank, relax, section 1, shoulders, stomach, tension, the mandala lady | 1 Comment »
During my day 3 coloring of section 1 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year, I forgot to bring my camera with me so the slideshow skips over the progress for day 3 and only shows the end of day 3 & a close up.
I fully represent the day 4 progression.
And as previously noted, I’m working on letting go of the underlying fear that usually permeates throughout my stomach and shoulder areas. I continued with the mantra “I can handle”…meaning if I ‘screw up’ I can handle it and work with it.
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Feel free to download section 1 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year to color for yourself
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Markers | Tagged 2012, fear, I can handle it, mandala of the year, mantra, section 1, stomach, the mandala lady | 1 Comment »
In working with a life coach about my fears, I sensed this fear-based energy as a heavy rock half in and half out of my stomach and chest area (solar plexus & heart areas).
We worked through what its job is/was and how it came to be. I discovered that I created this ‘rock of fear’ a long time ago as a way to help me detect when what I was about to do would get me in trouble with my parents, teachers, religious leaders, and other people of authority.
This ‘rock’ became the voice of my protector. “Oh you don’t want to do that…it might upset your mother.” “You better be quiet in class or the teacher will yell at you.” In my youth and into my teens, this rock served me well.
But some 50 years later, this rock, which actually started out as a pebble, expanded its powers and now keeps me from doing less and less of what I want to do for fear of being ridiculed, made fun of, disregarded, etc. I gave this rock too much power…it’s time for me to take my power back.
I wanted to come up with a creative way to transform this rock, to let it go. I remembered an unfinished painting from 2004 that recently resurfaced. It looks like a multi-color, multi-faceted crystal. I decided to create an art project to transform my rock to a crystal.
Over the summer I found/bought an old round painted wood plaque for 10 cents at our local Habitat Restore (one of my favorite stores in town)…with the intent of doing something creative with it. Turns out it’s the perfect size for my crystal painting. I sanded down the wood plaque and painted it white.
Theses images show my progress from the unfinished painting to completed wall plaque.
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I created this project as a fun, creative way to work through my fear. Now I have a visual reminder that while the rock served me well and I’m grateful for all it has done for me, it’s now time to come from a place of the crystal.
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Acrylics, Markers, Mixed Media, Water Media | Tagged crystal, fear, maureen frank, plaque, rock, solar plexus, the mandala lady, visual reminder | Leave a Comment »
In continuing to color Section 1 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year today, I decided to monitor my body. Usually when I feel fearful or stressed, my body tightens up into a knot in my stomach, my jaw tightens and it seems as if I’m playing this game of making my shoulders reach my ear lobes…ie. super tense shoulders and upper back.
I realized a while back that this stress mode reminds me of being fearful of doing something wrong or fearful of getting into trouble. I seem to always keep myself in this “ready to defend myself” state. At a deeper level it feels like I have to continually justify my existence. I look forward to working through as the year progresses.
It amazes me how quickly my body goes back into stress mode after each time I relax my affected body parts. I stopped coloring at least 3 times to relax. By the end of coloring today, I noticed my stomach managed to stay calm for longer than a minute! Diligence = Progress!
So here’s my coloring progress for today:
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Feel free to comment about your progress with coloring this year’s 2012 MotY.
Happy Coloring!
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Markers | Tagged 2012, fearful, mandala of the year, relax, section 1, stomach in knots, stress, stress mode, tense shoulders, the mandala lady | 2 Comments »
Started coloring Section 1 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year today. I decided to color every section with markers this year. Last year I used color pencils.
Following Susan Jeffers, PhD’s “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway” book for inspiration, I adopted the chapter 1 theme “I can handle it” as my mantra while coloring.
It amazes me how much I tense up when I’m coloring…even though I know coloring is supposed to be a relaxing meditative process. Fear of messing it up seems to always linger in the background as I do my colorings…ergo the tension. I must have repeated “I can handle it” at least 50 times while doing today’s coloring.
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Happy Coloring!
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Markers | Tagged 2012 mandala of the year, fear, feel the fear, I can handle it, meditation, relaxing, susan jeffers, tension, the mandala lady | Leave a Comment »
Last night I put all 12 sections of the 2011 Mandala of the Year together into one large mandala.
I apologize for the quality of the photos. I mainly wanted you to get the feel of how it all came together.
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The sections of the Mandala of the Year are free to download & color at www.MandalaoftheYear.com
Happy Coloring!
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Color Pencils | Tagged 2011 mandala of the year, coloring, mandalas, maureen frank, photos | Leave a Comment »
I spent two afternoons coloring this version of Section 6 of the 2011 Mandala of the Year (MotY). Feel free to download and color your own version. The idea of the MotY is to color one section per month so that by the end of the year you can put them all together to create one large mandala.
Here’s the progression from beginning to end of Section 6…
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Happy Coloring!
joyfully, Maureen, The Mandala Lady
Posted in Color Pencils | Tagged 2011 mandala of the year, maureen frank, section 6, the mandala lady | 3 Comments »
I created “Dream Portal” for the “Portals – Winter Show & Silent Auction” exhibit that will be taking place at The Art Center in Corvallis Oregon from November 25-December 24. You can preview some of the pieces that will be at the show on the center’s web site. Already I see it’s going to be a great show.
I took only 3 photos of the piece without any showing the progress. I used blue paint in spray bottles to lay the foundation of the center piece. Then painted dots with multiple colors all over. On the back, I used copper, silver, and gold paint. I forgot to take a picu
In Native American culture, people use dream catchers to protect the sleeper from negative dreams. The hole at the center lets in only positive dreams, while the webbing traps all the negative dreams.
I created my own version of a dream catcher using a decorative hoop found in a treasure (thrift) shop and a doily I crocheted for this project. Normally dream catchers have a simple webbing design, I opted to use this handmade doily.
I love dreams. They shed light on many aspects of my conscious and subconscious mind. Analyzing them gives me great insight into my inner world. I appreciate the idea of being protected while I sleep so that only that which benefits me comes through.
I love crocheting doilies. As a kid I watched my grandmother, fascinated as she crocheted one doily after another while rocking away in her favorite rocking chair. I learned to crochet simple projects around 10 and later learned how to make fancy doilies without realizing they were all a prelude to my love of mandalas.
Mandala means circle; whole and complete without beginner or ending. By themselves, they are spiritual portals. Since, 1999 I created over 150 mandalas, all through meditation and as part of my spiritual evolution and growth, and as a way to help others along their spiritual path.
In this piece, I combined my love of mandalas, doilies, and dream catchers to form this one dream portal.
May you always experience happy dreams.
Posted in Mixed Media | Tagged crochet, doily, dream portal, maureen frank, paint, portals, the art center, the mandala lady | Leave a Comment »
