Brown Univ Workshop

Brown Univ Workshop, a set on Flickr.

A few photos of mandalas created at a workshop at Brown University over the weekend. Great fun!

postcards

postcards, a set on Flickr.

I'm experimenting with scanning some 4 x 6 images I created this summer for possible postcards or greeting cards.

Scanned ten of my small stars today. The originals are about 5" diameter. Here they are...

Youth Mandala Class

I'm just home from a week at Green Acre Baha'i School. In the mornings I helped teach a class to youth about spiritual relationships. In the afternoons, I led an art workshop for youth and we made mandalas. Here are a few photos. Unfortunately, my camera's battery ran out of juice before I could document all of the finished art.

rectangles!

Sometimes my head spins with all the circular art. Here are 2 pieces (one old, one new) that are deliciously rectangular. Watercolor and ink.

My home is the home of light.

Be thou a fountain flowing with the waters of the mercy of God, 

a myrtle perfumed with the fragrances of God 

and a bird warbling the most wonderful melodies 

of the knowledge of God in the garden of Faith.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

3 more star-mandalas

O Lord God! Make us as waves of the sea, as flowers of the garden,

 united, agreed through the bounties of Thy love.

O Lord! Dilate the breasts through the signs of Thy oneness, 

and make all mankind as stars shining from the same height of glory...

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

O God, guide me, protect me, 

make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star.

Thou are the Mighty and the Powerful.

—  'Abdu'l-Bahá

Release yourselves, O nightingales of God, 

from the thorns and brambles of wretchedness and misery

and wing your flight to the rose garden of unfading splendor.

—  Baha'u'llah

more stars

Here are three more stars...  (watercolor and ink)

O Ye Sons of Spirit!  Ye are My treasury, for in you I have treasured

the Pearls of My mysteries and the gems of My Knowledge.

—  Baha'u'llah

... the fragrant breezes of the rose garden of divine mercy

will waft through the windows of your souls.

Love of God and spiritual attraction do cleanse and purify the human heart...

and those souls whose inner being is lit by the love of God are even as spreading rays of light,

and they shine out like stars of holiness in a pure and crystalline sky.

For true love, real love, is the love of God,

and this is sanctified beyond the notions and imaginings of men.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

small stars

These stars have 5 points. They are hanging on a cool metal cord that has a weight at the bottom and attaches art or photos with super-magnets. These stars are about 5" in diameter.

more birds

3 stars with wings...

O servant of God! Through the power of God's love the weak become mighty,

the poor become rich, the little bird becomes a great eagle soaring on the ethereal wave,

the tiny plant grows into a great palm tree.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

a few more stars — with birdies

These 3 pieces have birds dancing in circles and singing sweet melodies...

'Neath the shade of Thy protecting wing let me nestle,

and cast upon me the glance of Thine all-protecting eye.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

Confine thy thoughts to whatever will lift up the human soul to the Paradise of heavenly grace,

and make every bird of the Kingdom wing its way unto the Supreme Horizon,

the central point of everlasting honour in this contingent world.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

O My brother! Sanctify thy heart, illumine thy soul and sharpen thy sight,

that thou mayest perceive the sweet accents of the Birds of Heaven

and the melodies of the Doves of Holiness warbling in the Kingdom of eternity...

—  Baha'u'llah

Constellation Series

I've started scanning my pieces from the Constellation series, but it will be more work than I expected because most of the large star-mandalas do not fit on my scanner, so they will have to be pieced together. In the meantime, here are some photos. A bit dark, but I'll add a few each day...

Take thou thy portion of the ocean of His grace and deprive not thyself

of the things that lie hidden in its depths. 

Be thou of them that have partaken of its treasures.

—  Baha'u'llah

So intensely hath the glory of Divine Unity penetrated souls and hearts

that all are now bound one to another with heavenly ties,

and all are even as a single heart, a single soul.

—  'Abdu'l-Baha

In the Rose Garden of changeless splendor a flower hath begun to bloom,

compared to which every other flower is but a thorn,

and before the brightness of whose glory the very essence of beauty must pale and wither.

—  Baha'u'llah

Spirit Maps

I'm just home from 5 days at Green Acre Baha'i School where I attended the 14th annual Spirit of Children Arts Conference. A wonderful sharing of spirituality, creativity, and arts-making. I led a "Spirit Maps" workshop where people used the visual metaphor of maps to express a variety of spiritual concepts. We had maps about the afterlife, about the journey from lower self to higher self, a garden-map of the highway of guidance (from the tablet to NE states) complete with wandering birds and thirsty fish, a map of the cord of constancy, and a few poetry maps. Here is the sample I made -- a map of the key components of the Institute Process: