EVOLUTION OF DREAMS

Blue Dream Mandalas 1-4 (Dream Circle Series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2009
source image - ornamental kale

Pre sleep imagery and those visions that appear behind your eyelids during meditation inspired this series of mandalas.
--------------------------

I am taking an online class at Digital Art Academy learning how to paint in Photoshop. I love learning new Photoshop skills. On a spiritual level I have been blessed with information on how to take my art to a deeper level which I have been seeking. Now it is a matter of creating that spiritual practice for myself and my art.

I have been away from my blog for a while because of a greater need to regroup. Like this series of mandalas, I too am evolving. Sometimes I feel lost for words. I just feel. My dream state has been vivid lately. I don't know if it's the full moon in Virgo or just because I am asking for answers in my dreams, but they have been wild. Elephants and shimmering discs and messages to wear more turquoise and aqua....this is the stuff my night life is made of!

Leah's theme for the month of March at Creative Every Day is dreams. She comes up wit some great creativity prompts. If you have never visited her blog, be sure to wander that way (or astral project in your dreams, if you are in to that kind of thing).

I hope everyone is witnessing first signs of spring. May you be blessed with new growth, in more ways than one!

~Sue O'Kieffe
Sacred Circle Mandalas

DAY 2 - CREATE EVERY DAY MONTH

On my daily walk around the block I often study this particular palm tree behind the local laundromat. (Isn't it amazing the gems we find in such mundane places?) ...


and took some photos of the leaves using various shutter speeds.











Green Mandala - © Sue O'Kieffe 2008

When I took the bottom photo into Photoshop to be mandalized, I used the same basic technique from the photograph in Saturday's post...Photoshop's Find Edges filter set to Multiply and a wee bit of Gaussian blur which gives it that dreamy look. A strong Curves adjustment added boldness and grounding.

I have been craving green in my imagery lately. Even with most of the blooms faded away with the arrival of autumn, I thank goodness for shrubbery and living in a land of evergreens!

MEANDERINGS

Orange Ade
pen and ink, crayons
© Sue O'Kieffe 2008



Anyone visiting my blog for the first time might well wonder what this meandering doodle has to do with mandala making.
Every Saturday I take a break from my regularly scheduled programming and offer up my version of sacred silliness. I began these doodles in November to ward off some boredom I'd been feeling and to get a break from the computer. For the past two months I've tried to doodle every night before I go to sleep. Sometimes these scribbles are done rather quickly and others take longer to complete. This meandering was a week long project.

Orange is such a delicious color. I want to squeeze and savor it and wipe the juice right off my chin. One time, visiting Florida, I ate tangerines as big as grapefruits and a million times as sweet. Twenty five years later, the memory of such succulence remains vivid and delectable.

Are there colors you just can't get enough of? Are they related to events in your life? Do you think that color heals?

All of the doodles I post in 2008 are going to the Creative Every Day group folder as well as to sue's doodles, both on flickr. Fun stuff. I am honored to be playing with and contributing to this amazing group of artists. C'mon by.

DOODLING

inspiration
ink, crayon
© sue o'kieffe 2007
















hair brained ideas
ink, caran d'arch
© sue o'kieffe 2007
















all along the watchtower
ink, caran d'arch
© sue o'kieffe 2007















the effects of watching
'ghost whisperer'
pen and ink
© sue o'kieffe 2007


On her blog Creative Every Day, Leah suggests doodling and sketching first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I look forward to my night time drawls. I've been having so much fun with this process that I even purchased some new pens. I know that eventually I will want to incorporate these doodles with Photoshop, but right now Im grateful for some time away from the computer. Yea. As if that could happen for too very long.

Thank you, Leah, for encouraging this playtime for us all.

INTERNAL JOURNAL

Disruption
pen, crayon, caran d'arch, digital embellishments
© Sue O'Kieffe 2007

















Busy-ness
pen, caran d'arch
© Sue O'Kieffe 2007
















Inspiration
pen, crayon, caran d'arch
© Sue O'Kieffe 2007

------------------------
I loved making these drawings. I promised myself no pressure in this challenge from Art Every Day Month , and I did find them a satisfying way to unwind after what was an intense week at work. I think my inner world is definitely reflected here. I could say lots and lots, but I'd rather hear what you have to say. My digital ears are wide open!
-----------------
Neda of Papiers Colles tagged me and here are my answers:
1. If you owned a bookstore, what would you name it?
I wouldn't own a bookstore. Support Your Local Library
2. Which literary hero (male or female) would you like to be?
Orlando, by Virginia Wolff
3. If you were given the chance to be born in a different decade, which one would you choose?
One in the future
4. Who would play you in a movie?
Carol Burnett
5. What was your favorite toy of all of times?
I enjoyed playing with spirographs, which looked something like this: go here
6. What do you like to collect?
Rayon clothing
7. What is your guilty pleasure?
Younger men (shhhhhhh.......)
8. If you had the power to change one thing in this world, what would that be?
C batteries would come packaged in 3's and 6's
9. What is the worst book/movie you have ever read/seen?
I don't know if it was the worst, but I think An Officer and a Gentleman was highly overrated. Ugh.
10. What is the worst kind of music, in your opinion?
Anything that glorifies violence
11. What's the only food you will not eat?
worms
12. Tell us 3 things about yourself (2 of them true, and 1 untrue) and let's see if we can figure out which of these is fantasy.
Im a published poet
I know how to yodel
I have a light up clown nose