Creativity Zendala

I haven’t been around for a while. Have been doing other things, mainly repeat pattern drawing. Have been taking part in a site called Line Weaving, located here
http://lineweaving.com/forums/index.php

Cindy, the Fearless Leader at the site, offers us challenges to keep us doodling happily. Most recently, she challenged us to incorporate words into our pattern projects. I balked. For two reasons. I haven’t been writing a great deal lately, and was comfortable with taking a break from that. Secondly, my ability to print legibly is not what I would wish it to be. But, I tried, lol. However, in the process of those attempts, I found a poem. And also a very clear concept of the wholeness to be found in creativity and its process.

Cindy’s challenge was far more in-depth for me than I had considered. I became fascinated with Mandalas about three years ago. I started simply by admiring them and the very real fact that they are a source of active meditation. I began coloring the designs created by someone else, believing (because I am somewhat mathematically challenged) that I would never be able to create anything of that kind. But, I spent a great many hours coloring those designs with Artists Ink Pens. Sometimes finding brief poems to write and attach to them. Those projects may be found at my poetry site, under the listing of Mandala Gallery I and II.  http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/

Over the past year, I have found writing more difficult, so I simply decided to go with the flow and took a break. I had already gotten involved in the repeat pattern drawing and was really enjoying it. But, then a friend introduced me to some fantastic things that can be done in Photoshop. Eventually, I found that I could actually design my own Mandalas, calling them “Zendalas,” because I was filling them with repeat patterns.

Back to Cindy’s challenge. As I worked through what I wanted to do, words kept dancing through my head. I simply didn’t know how to incorporate them so that I would like the finished project. I had chosen one of the Zendala template patterns, I had created. After giving up on my first attempt, I played with the results on Photoshop and found a different kind of patterning (something I choose to call ‘mapping’). And, of course, had to try it.

This is the template I chose to work with, using pen and ink, and Prismacolor colored pencils. But, as I said, those words kept dancing through my head, so I found a way to incorporate them that is satisfying to me and tells the story of my journey, thus far, on the path of my own creativity. Hope you enjoy,

Creativity Zendala

Words are window
opening door of mind
to world of knowledge
and wisdom.

Colors are a river
flowing through senses
deepening awareness,
while woven lines
create forms, shapes
of secrets hidden
in story.

Elizabeth Crawford  1/30/12

Note: This one I printed on photo paper, with the poem, and intend to frame.

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