Hey everyone out there,
The sweet fragrance of the Ceanothus captured my attention as I went hiking around today. The tiny little flowers would puff out from the sun's rays, responding from the light, expanding. I could tell this was the case because other shaded flowers were not quite as open, but I am sure they had there turn later in the day.
Tiny buds were blooming everywhere on most every tree, bush and plant. I found some shiny new leaf buds that were a golden color, and the fresh leaves of the hawthorn with tiny flower balls ready to burst open in a few days.
I cut a few pine tops and pulled back the needles to make use of the inner branch. 
It is an exciting time and energy to feel everything coming back to life and give birth again to a new season and abundant times ahead. I enjoy the spring here in Northern California, there is a freshness in the air, a time for new beginnings where hopes and dreams come back to life and gratitude is felt by many.
Mandala Art Medium:
~~ceanothus blossoms, new leaf
buds, matted roots, blackberry leaf,
milk thistle leaf, poppy pod, pine branch, poppy leaf, hawthorne branch on a brown earth canvas~~
Here I am at the beautiful, rocky western coast of Northern California. Earlier this morning I hiked out to the ocean’s shores. It was dense with fog and I quite enjoyed the mystical quality it provided as I explored all the many gifts the tide had brought in. 
By mid day the fog lifted and the blue sky appeared just after
I completed and photographed my creation.
So wonderful to work on the dark sand again, tucked back in a cliff gorge, it was very cave/womb like and shielded a bit from gusts of wind that would blow around every so often.
Up on the trail to the beach I gather some dried fern leaves that populated the forest floor. Lot’s of eucalyptus bark to be used as well, my favorite for its color and flexibility.
All the materials I have used in my designs teach me something. Working with nature’s artwork in such an intimate way, is the highest form of play to me, as a child loves to explore and take apart something to understand more about it!
I found a piece of bull kelp that was aged a bit from the sun and had a tough, leathery feel to it. I cut it open and laid it out flat. After working with seaweed I notice my hands are very soft, conditioned.
This particular beach had an abundance of rocks of many shapes. Mostly grey with some smooth red stone scattered among them. So I went "rock shopping" for certain shapes and sizes. This becomes a kind of therapy and a sort of instant magnetic attraction to the perfect rock.
I treasured the day spent with my ocean friends, and will visit again sometime soon.
Mandala Art Medium:
~~dried bull kelp bulb, feathery red seaweed, red/white rock, dried fern leaves, bull kelp, red rock, grey stone, black seaweed stipe, bleached seaweed rope, eucalyptus bark on dark sand canvas~~
Here we are at Wilbur Hotsprings, California enjoying the silky, green healing waters of one of the most sacred places in the world. Certain colors in the surrounding earth and hills stand out to me. Soft pastels with accents of rusty clay and lime green pigments.
As I soaked in the springs, I thought about how the water is being heated by the earth’s core and alchemically mixing ingredients to provide some of the most potent waters on the planet!
Being here, I feel a mix of past historical energies all coming together to unfold a more peaceful, more relaxed way of being in the world. Hiking with my husband, we noticed the remnants of the “white man” with there, seemingly, exploitative mining contraptions.
We thought: Would we really have the technology today if it was not for this “merging forth of energy” by the European settlements? Though out of balance with the eco-system, sustainability and the cycles of life…..we perhaps needed the contrast to learn a better way, a more harmonious, peaceful way.
I also feel the energy of the native nomadic peoples that once used these waters in sacred ritual, people who understood the land as an integral part of themselves, with reverence and respect.
Now it is a place of total peace and utter well being. Nature is playfully animated by waters that feed a healing spirit.
The sun was a bit too bright today to create a full Mandala
but it was nice to play with some of the surrounding materials.
Mandala Art Medium:
~~bamboo grass, budding tamarack, oak moss, aged manzanita leaf, mossy branch on a creek sand canvas~~
I wondered out early this morning to gather materials while the sun was still peaking out. The wind was giving a warning of a storm to come.The cattail called to me with a radiant glow as the sun rays illuminated its fuzzy playful energy.
I choose to use it as my center paint. When I work with this fuzz it always seems to have light-hearted and childlike energy that wants to run wild and spread its seeds dancing through the air. 
I know children who are also attracted to its playfulness. Opening up the rapidly expanding fuzz that seems to grow bigger than its actually cattail form. It can be difficult to create with, however, so I usually wet it down a bit to capture its essence in my art before it drifts away.
There is lots of “play” in the air with springtime. Newly hatched birds, frogs, tiny rabbits and coyote’s pups in these California foothills are seeing the earth around them for the first time……and are they excited! 
I stumbled across a downed tree. A gold mine of a find. It was split in two with its inner core exposed; a very special moment. The texture inside was woody, yet had a great lightness to it, reminiscent of cork. It was utterly fun to break apart and I imagined that at one point it was probably funneling water and nutrients up through its spine to feed the tree.
Another pine, a great might one, stood in an open field. I gather up its needles and cones, which it offered in great numbers at it’s base.
Finally the wind began to pick up and before I knew it tiny drops began to fall. This always picks up my momentum a bit, playing with the weather. 
I try to remain calm in these moments of potential
downfall of my art work, and as always, the rain stops and allows me to finish once again! There is something greater going on here. I can feel the "nature spirits" energetically interacting…..it is a wonderful feeling!
Mandala Art Medium:
~~cattail fuzz, dried/black wild rosehips, cattail stalk, inner tree core, pine tree bark, pine cone petal, dried matted roots, pine branch shoot, pine cone, field grass, manzanita leaf, acorn cap, dried pine needle on a brown earth canvas~~
It is officially spring time. As heard by the sounds of the songbirds and frogs. As seen by the hatching of butterfly wings and sudden appearance of a tick on the skin. 
I ventured out to the river today. The water was full with a turquoise-colored flow. All sorts of new things are popping up with the help of the recent sunshine.
I did manage to catch a pic of a butterfly, with a bit of patience, for they don’t seem to sit in one place for very long. It had a kind of “happiness to be free” spirit about them.
A nice feathery shrub caught my eye as I headed down the cliff below. 
It was hardy little plant with a nice light green color.
I cleared a canvas space that was rich with the smell of earth mulch with a layer of nice, soft padding.
I like to find natural objects that are growing in abundance in the places I paint. It is a sort of rule I have, to harvest only when plenty abounds. Soap root was growing on the gentle slope on which I worked.
Also, lots of little oaky leaves packed the forest floor as I cleared my space. I found that searching for the perfect, fully formed leaf within the piles was a bit like mining for gold. All of sudden one appears out of the debris. The leaf has a kind of glow to it and I feel an excitement from it's finding.
So pleasant to work under the old manzanita tree today, I felt like it’s energy was feeding my work as I “painted” directly over its root system.
A peace mandala for this peaceful springful spring day! Literally, Peace On Earth!
Mandala Art Medium:
~~soap root leaf, clay earth rock, oaky leaf, tree bark, manzanita branch, lichen on oak branch, oak moss, fern leaf, river sand, feathery shrub, dried pine needles on a dark earth mulch canvas~~
Today was a beautiful “big cloud” day with moments of bright sunshine balanced by moments of dark cloud cover. 
The wind was challenging to me at times and seemed to be playing a game to see if I would notice slight movements of my placed art. I soon came to enjoy this flirtation with my paints. The air appeared to only blow the dried, light weight material that was angled in it's path of motion.
I pulled apart a digger pine cone that was moist from the previous rains, making the petals easy to break off one by one. It reminded me of peeling the leaves of an artichoke.
I decided to use the big, heavy digger cones. Something about them I really enjoy, they are not delicate little pine cones, they are robust and mightly!
Ceanothus was growing right above my canvas, it’s branch color seemed to match the silvery shade of the digger pine.
I noticed many rocks have come to the surface of the earth after the weeks of rainfall. I
gathered the small clay rocks which was fun to find camouflaged in leaf and needles.
Up by a pond the opposite occurred. The cattails were crushed by the recent pack of snow, turning their leaves a nice cream color.
Another timeless day lost in the textures, scents and sounds of nature…..aaahhhh!
Mandala Art Medium:
~~digger pine cone, small earth rock, blackberry vine, sugar pine petal, small tree cones, digger pine petal, dried cattail stalk on a clay earth canvas~~
