Thursday, May 23, 2013

Mandala

I have a fascination with fractals, mandalas and labyrinths.  Maybe it arises from those early childhood days of playing with a Spirograph.  Lately I've been thinking a lot about mandalas.  The word mandala is Sanskrit and means circle.  Mandalas can be deeply meaningful.  They have a long history of spiritual guidance across many cultures.  In the western world I believe Carl Jung embraced the mandala and helped make it popular.  I'm thinking I might like to do a series of bead embroidered mandalas.  This is the first one I have done.  I struggled with it, because it is not completely symmetrical.  I probably could have made it completely perfectly symmetrical with a ruler and more discipline, but in reality not much in my life is that rigid, so I guess I didn't want my mandala to be either.  Robin Atkins is an exceptional bead artist.  She gives great advice.  She said "It does not have to be perfect" and I believe her.




2 comments:

  1. Liz, I love your piece.
    I wish I could make bead embroidery like you do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely piece, amazing detailed work i love it.

    ReplyDelete

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