Friday, April 17, 2009

I am making a new resolution. Write on my blog every day.

I have been singing the blues lately.
And it ain't a pretty sound. I can't seem to get comfortable in my own body. Personally, I tend to blame it on my friends. Or my old friends, I should say. You know them-Estrogen and Progesterone. They used to hang around a lot but lately, they've left me high and dry. No pun intended. Coming to terms with the new me hasn't been easy. The new grayer hair, the bigger butt, the longer um, boobs, and the urges to hurt people. Oh, and the knowledge that this is only the beginning.

Well, I could set the glass on the bar, change the name of my blog to Short, Bitter, Drunk and fill that glass up with pity. Get a divorce, hang out in bars, join a biker gang, and embarrass my loved ones more than I already do. Or...I could try to find a way to get through this with grace. That sounds better. And I do still have some of my old friends. Hopefully, I won't alienate them all before this is over.

Here is something I am doing to try to find me.

This is a mandala. The word "mandala" is a sanskrit word loosely meaning "circle". The shape is supposed to be a model for the organizational structure of life. A reflection on our relation to the infinite. If you look around in nature you will see this shape often and it represents unity or wholeness or the circle of life, whatever you want to call it. Drawing a mandala is supposed to bring us into touch with ourselves and how we relate to nature, the divine and the universe. Cool, huh?

Some of this information came from this website. I have made a couple of mandala's including this one. I really enjoy focusing on this kind of thing and thinking at the same time. My teacher is a friend of mine who is a nun. She took a class on this type of drawing. The woman who taught the class is named Judith Cornell. You can look at her website here. It is all about light and shading. Please go to her website as I am really not very good at it. The pencils are very special and are available locally at Artmart. They are called Prismacolor.

You can download mandala coloring pages from the internet here.

Have fun and good luck finding balance in your life.