Circles abound in my life. Maybe it’s just because I notice them, now that I paint mandalas, teach mandalas and generally my whole existence is about the Circle. On the left is a potholder my grandmother made for me out of scraps of yarn. She was always busy making something, and all of us grand kids got plenty of potholders. Or doilies! On the right.
Earliest Circles
An indication of my earliest encounter with circles. It’s a crib toy made of Bakelite I used to play with.
Circles in Interesting Places
Here is a Native American grinding stone. It is being used in the architecture of a bank building in Quincy, California.
Below right is an art installation by Andy Goldsworthy on a terrace in the San Jose Museum of Art, in San Jose, California.
My husband and I made a small mandala on the ground while on a walk in a park in North Shore Lake Tahoe, California. Well, we make mandalas just about everywhere we go!
Beach Mandala
This is a beach mandala made from flowers everyone brought on the final day of a mandala class. It is covered with small “seed mandalas” we painted and exchanged with each other before the tide came in and washed the mandala away. See more photos in previous blog “Beach Mandala Washes Away.” http://www.michelefaia.com/miscellaneous/beach-mandala-washes-away/
Mandalas of Others
These are some magnificent mandala drawings from my husband, Don Faia. They are drawn freehand with a silver gel pen, and the one on the right has Stickles glitter glue added. They are on black Canson paper. The mandala on the left has
a small cut-out mandala in its center.
1001 “Flower of Life” Mandalas in One Year
Merritt Medusa, a fellow student, challenged herself to paint 1001 “Flower of Life” Mandalas in one year. She did approximately 3 a day, for the year. Unique, beautiful and inspirational, you can see all of them at http://www.sistersofthesacredcircle.net/medusas-blog–mandalas.
My Dad’s “Garden Mandala”
My dad made this art piece for me, on the left, out of scraps of yarn from his latch hook rugs. He designed and created this 3′ x 1′ piece which he called a “Garden Mandala.” He told me that the black circle represents a seed, the blue circle is water for the seed, the yellow is the sun and the red circle is the blooming flower. Surrounding the circles are composted leaves and kitchen scraps in a black garden box. Is this wonderful? What a gift!
Public Art
I created the mandala on the left below, and my husband created the one on the right, for the back garden patio at
the Pajaro Valley Art Gallery in Watsonville, California.
They are etched and painted into cement and each measures 7 feet in diameter.
