Colored Luminous Healing Mandalas

 These are the colored mandalas from our Luminous Mandala Class.  They are the personal healing symbols that class members drew.  In an earlier post I posted the black and white versions of these pictures.  They are exquisite and so meaningful to their creators.  It was amazing to observe the process of each person in creating these.  I want to thank the class members for giving their permission to publish these.  Enjoy!

 

Artist Way Class

I was contacted today by a small group of women who are interested in an "Artist Way" Class  being taught in the Jackonville area.  I am willing to offer a class but we need 3 more members to make the class a go.  Here is some information about the class:

The Artist's Way Class
Where:  Jacksonville Area(Location will be shared at registration)
When:  Class will begin on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and meet for five more    
             Thursdays skipping Thanksgiving Thursday.
Required Text:  The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron
Fee:  $60
Facilitator:  Janet London, M.Ed.
This six week class will help you expand your imagination, clarify your goals and uncover hidden creative energy.  You can recover from inhibiting blocks that have limited your creativity and develop artistic confidence and productivity.  The first five chapters of the book will be covered.
To Register:  Call or e-mail Janet London, 541-608-9238,  hummmingbird710@msn.com

Holiday Gift Bazaar, Dec. 3

Holiday Gift Bazaar

When:  Dec. 3, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where:  Oak Valley Community(located off of I-5 at exit 21)
              291 Christopher Way
              Talent, Or.
               541-535-5753

Featured Artists:  Jannie Ledard, Alx Fox, Sherry Kronman, Janet London and Diane Tibbitts

Sale Items include jewelry, fabric art, collage boxes, cards, acrylic paintings, stained glass mandalas and more.
                                                                                                                                                                             Refreshments and light appetizers will be served.  Mark your calenders for this fun event.  Many unique and creative items to choose from.

For more information:  Call Janet London, 541-608-9238, or e-mail hummingbird710@msn.com .

Framed Wedding Bouquet and Holiday Collage Boxes

I finished sealing my neices' wedding bouquet picture and took it to the framers and had a backing put on.  It feels so good to have that project completed.  Above is a picture of the framed bouquet.

Now I am on to the next project which is preparing for the holiday sale on Dec. 3.  It will be held at a home in the Oak Valley Community in Talent, Or.  The address is 291 Christopher Way and the sale will be from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  Jannie Ledard will be selling her beautiful fused glass jewelry and stained glass art peices.  Diane Tibbitts will be selling fabric art, mandala cards and other holiday items. Alex Fox will be selling her fine art paintings and I will be selling  some original matted petal girls, petal girls cards and other pressed flower art.  I will also be selling some fabric collage boxes.  We will have a postcard soon about the sale that I will post.

In the collage boxes I use the utmost care in selecting designs from Laurel Burch fabric to create holiday scenes.  The fabric is collaged on black boxes with mod podge and finished off with glitter and rhinestones.  They are definitely and one-of -a-kind gift and will last for years to come.  Above are some of the boxes I have already made.  The next one I want to make will have cats and trees.  I just love Laurel Burches' cats.
Back to the workshop!  

Luminous Mandala Class/Discovering a Personal Healing Symbol

Our next exercise in the class was to help participants discover a personal healing symbol.  First they set a clear intention for healing.  It could be physical, emotional or spiritual healing or they could just want to discover who they really are.  The meditation guided participants to be receptive to a symbol and to be a channel for their spiritual center rather than using their ego to invent a symbol intellectually   They were encouraged not to reject a symbol even if they didn't understand it.  Then they drew the symbol with white pencil and then created a scale of light.  In our next session they will begin to add color. These symbols are very powerful as they come from unconscious place rather than an intellectual place.  Several of the students have given their permission for their black and white drawings to be posted.  I am grateful for their sharing as you can see the power of this exercise. 

Lumunious Mandala Class

In the second chapter of the Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing, the participants were ask to draw an outline of their hands and then to illluminate their hands with a scale of light.  This exercise helps to develop will power through inner visioning to move the healing life force through the body and hands.  In the meditation before drawing participants are ask to visualize radiant energy from the center of their heart and feel love and send it flowing out the hands through the tips of the fingers.  In the book, Judith Cornell says,
"After deep prayer, and in a state of unconditional love, the healers(from many spiritual traditions) use the power of will and mind to direct this light(prana of life force) through their hands to those in need of healing.

The laying on of hands, therapeutic touch, loving embraces, and most physical acts of creation involve the hands as powerful ministers and architects of our thoughts".

The hand outline drawing and illumination shown here was created by one of our class participants, Melissa York.

In Chapter 3, Judith Cornell will teach us how the create radiant symbols for healing.

Luminous Mandala Class and More

Diane Tibbitts and I have 9 people enrolled in our Luminous Mandala Class.  In the class we use the Judith Cornell book, "Mandala:  Luminous symbols for Healing" in which class participants learn to draw healing mandalas on black paper using the scale of light technique for illuminating their drawings. In the first class we did Exercise 2, Expanding the Light Within, from Chapter 1 in the book.  This exercise helps participants spiral inward, open thier hearts to unconditional love, and release fear.  Judith Cornell says  breaking through the inner barrier to reality will enable the participant to experience balance, wholeness, and spiritual light within themselves.  They are instructed to start at the center of the paper and place a white dot and begin drawing a scale of light with a white pencil.  Then they are ask to repeat the scale of light and change its size and shape in reponse to intuitive insights gained in the meditation before the exercise.  One of the participants, Jennifer Efusia, gave us permission to share a drawing she did in reponse to this exercise. 

Melissa York had contributed her latest mandala design which she generated on the computer.  It will be up in my mandala store on the website as a free download in a couple of days so you can print it out.  It's title is "Getting Closer".

Holdiday Idea

If you are looking for a unique holiday gift, go to my Pressed Flower Art Store and look at the Petal Girl Print Cards.  I made the original designs using real flower petals and leaves.  I have sold several boxes of them and have received very positive feedback from the buyers.  I sell the cards in as assorted box of 6 or 6 of one kind.  The assorted box of six has been the biggest seller.  If you live in the area and want to avoid shipping, call or e-mail me with your order and we can arrange for you to pick them up at my house in Medford.  hummingbird710@msn.com
541-608-9238

Framing While Waiting

I need to leave the wedding bouquet at the graphic designers until next Wednesday.  So yesterday, my husband Buzz and I sealed my "Fairy Garden" picture in a method I learned from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild.  Marie Ann Robinson and Pat Smith who are WWPFG members were especially helpful to me in learning this process.  Since I injured my finger last week I needed some help from Buzz.  We sandwiched UV glass, the pressed flower picture and myler and sealed it with aluminum tape and added to the back side of the picture silica gel packets and oxygen absorbers before the final sealing.  It was quite a relief we did this as this has been such a missing peice for me and has prevented me from wanting to sell my original pressed flower work.  Next I will put a matt in the frame with glass and the sanwich and put bracketts to hold the sandwich down and then back it with brown paper.  Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!  This will keep the picture much fresher and the flowers will keep their color longer.   More later.....

Next Step/ Scan with Graphic Designer

Today I am taking the wedding bouquet design to graphic designer Rene Childs at Harmonic Designs so she can scan it.  That way I will be able to offer giclee prints for sale if any of Shelley's friends or family want to purchase them.  The next step will be framing.

Finished Wedding Bouquet Design

The design is now completed and I must move to the next step which is to put the picture in a box with some silica crystals for 8-12 hours so the plant material will fully dry.  This will preserve the freshness as moisture is the enemy of pressed flower art.  So I will do this and gather some of the extra flowers and send them to my neice, Shelley, in case she might want to make something with them.  So when this dries an I glue down any petals that stick up after the drying.......... I will let you know the next step in my next blog. 

Wedding Bouquet Progress

Last night I made some progress on my bouquet design.  I finished putting the flowers and leaves on the outside edges of the design and began to fill in the flowers in the middle of the right side.  Hopefully today I will be able to finish the design.  The hardest part for me is having the patience to glue down small individual parts of the flowers.  As it comes together it gets to be more fun as the design comes more into focus.  Thanks for sharing this process with me and there will be another picture tomorrow. 

Fall: Time to Pull In and Create....Wedding Bouquet

Summer has been a whirl of traveling and social events and I realize it is now time to pull in and create.  One of the most memorable of the social events was my neice's wedding in Seattle.  She is my only neice and a very special person so I was so happy to see her marry a wonderful man and create a time to celebrate and see relatives I hadn't been in touch with for several years.  For her wedding present I am pressing her wedding bouquet and framing it.  It has been quite a project as it was a beautiful big bouquet with lots of flowers.  The gerbera diasies have taken the longest to dry out and yet they came out looking very colorful.
The bouquet was originally mostly pink but in the pressing the hydrangeas turned a nice lavender color and the gerbera daisies, a deep violet.  I am beginning with gluing down the stems and outer small flowers and the largest flowers.  Then I will add the flowers in the middle.  There is a picture displayed of where I am right now.  I will post more pictures later.

The Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing class that Diane and I will be starting Sept. 14 is full and we have one on the waiting list.  We are both excited about teaching this as we have done the process ourselves and have seen some amazing results in our lives.

Well, must return to my studio........

Pressed Flower Art Sale, Sept. 3

Pressed Flower Art Sale:  Petal Girl Print Cards, Bookmarks and Laser Prints

Where:  Jacksonville, Or., Corner of 5th and C St. (Directly across

              from old courthouse.)

When: Sept. 3, Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

To view the petal girl designs used for cards and laser prints go to my website:

http://www.tamlondonhummingbirdarts.com/

and click on the Pressed Flower Art Store.  Scroll down and you will see the lovely petal girl designs.

The original designs were created with real pressed flower petals.  I took an on-line class from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild and learned the technique from a teacher in India.

For further information call or e-mail me, Janet London.

hummingbird710@msn.com

541-608-9238

Attention Facebook users! Free offer!

I have recently created a new Facebook professional page for London Hummingbird Arts! Here you will find links to posts from both of my blogs, as well as updates and shared items of interest found on Facebook. You can find it at this address: http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-Hummingbird-Arts/261019903924051

Anyone who signs up as a fan of my new facebook page for London Hummingbird Arts  and emails me with your snail-mail address, will receive a FREE laminated bookmark printed on heavy translucent vellum, with an original pressed flower “Petal Girls” design, “Mother and Daughter”.

Have you already “liked” my page? Thank you! You're already eligible for this offer, so email me for your free bookmark today (remember to include your mailing address!).

This bookmark is not yet available in the online pressed flower store at my website, so "like" my page today, send me an email, and I'll send your bookmark as soon as possible!

Visit to San Francisco to Museum of Modern Art and More

Last Friday we went to see the "The Stein's Collect, Matisse, Picasso and the Parisan Avante-Garde" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.  What an amazing show....Gertrude Stein was a pioneer in her writing and also the art she purchased.  She played a pivotal role in art in the 20th century and the new styles that emerged, especially from Matisse and Picasso.  I was particularly struck with the courage it took for Matisse to paint, "Woman with a Hat" in 1905.  It was a portrait of his wife wearing an enormous hat and it was brilliantly colored, unlike anything being painted in that time.  In the exhibit they said that when people first saw it, they didn't like it and even clawed it because the colors were so "unrealistic".  His wife had actually been wearing black when she posed as that was what respectable married women wore and yet he saw the humaness of her and all the beautiful colors.  I was quite touched by this.  My art form of course is pressed flowers and one of my friends, Marie Ann Robinson, who is an excellent pressed flower artist, did a pressed flower rendition of this picture and it is very beautiful.  Go to her website: Prairie Petal Art.com and click on services and scroll down to see her pressed flower "Woman with a Hat".  

After we saw the show at the Museum of Modern art we walked a few blocks to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see one of their exhibits, "Seeing Gertrude Stein:  Five Stories."  It gave a more personal look at Gertrude Stein and her complex relationshop to her identity, culture and history.  It also gave us a view of her domestic life with her partner, Alice B. Toklas.  After seeing her art collection, learning more about her personal life was like "icing on the cake".    



Fall Class.... Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing

We have two spots open in our fall "Mandala: Luminous Symbols for Healing Class".  The class begins on Sept. 14th, Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Medford.  The rest of the class dates are: 9/21, 9/28, 10/5, 10/12, 11/2, and 11/9.(All dates are Wednesday evenings.)  We will be using exercises from Judith Cornell's book,  "Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing".  The class fee is $75 and the class facilitators will be myself and Diane Tibbitts, M.S.  The above drawings are ones that Diane and I did while we worked our way through the class text last year.  

If you are interested in registering call Diane at 541-779-1840 or me (Janet) at 541-608-9238 or e-mail hummingbird710@msn.com 

Petal Girls Assorted Cards

I am excited that I have had 7 orders for the "Petal Girls" cards since last Thursday when they went up for sale.  The first day I posted the cards for sale in my new Pressed Flower Art Store on my website, I received my first order on Paypal from a customer in Eugene, Oregon.   It felt like one of the "firsts" for me like getting my driver's license or graduating from college.  I had so much fun creating the "girls" and they seemed to take on aspects of my personality.  Who would've thought that.  Now I cannot pass a flower without checking out the shape of the petals to see if they would make good skirts for my "girls".  The next project I want to work on is matting some beautiful laser prints of the "girls".   

New Pressed Flower Art Store

I am happy to announce that I have opened a new Pressed Flower Art Store on my website and am featuring my new line of print "Petal Girl" art cards.  I was inspired to create 6 designs when I took a class from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild in May 2011.  It was an on-line class and the instructor,  Anagha Shinde is from India.  She taught us a very engaging style of pressed flower art and for me the "petal girls" took on a life of their own.  You can purchase an assorted pack of 6 designs or 6 cards of one design.  The box of 6 cards is $12.00 plus shipping.  Click on my Pressed Flower Art Store and check them out. 

Just finished my latest work of art entitled, "Fairy Garden".

Fall Mandala Class and Workshop, Bride Petal Girl

I just finished this Bride Petal Girl for my neice who is getting married this summer.  One of the WWPFG members created a bride petal girl for our class and thought my neice Shelley would enjoy one possibly as a desk picture.  I will give it to her for her birthday in July.  The bride petal girl was very fun to make.

I have firmed up my Fall Schedule for Mandala Classes and Workshops.  Here is some brief information.  If you want more information go to my class page on the website.
Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing
This seven week class wil help you learn to create luminous mandalas for healing yourself and others.
Where:  2972 Baily Ave, Medford
When:  Seven Wednesday evenings, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sept. 14th, 21st, 28th, Oct. 5th, 12th, Nov. 2nd and 9th
Facilitators:  Diane Tibbitts, LPC, and Janet London, M.Ed.
Fee: $75

To register call Diane at 541-779-1840 or Janet at 541-608-9238 or e-mail hummingbird710@msn.com

Circles of the Sacred Feminine
This workshop will provide a "moving" encounter with the divine as a sacred feminine presence using movement and mandala art.
Where: Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Felloship, 87 Fourth Ave., Ashland
When:  Oct. 15, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Fee:  $60-$80 Sliding Scale
Facilitators:  Louise Pare, Ph.D. and Janet London, M.Ed.
To register call Janet at 541-608-9238 or e-mail hummingbird710@msn.com

Island Girl

Here is my next petal girl.  She was inspired when I listened to Joel West's new CD Lazar.  He has a Reggae style to his music and a positive message.  When I went to create a new Petal Girl, this Island Girl emerged.
What great fun!   I can't wait to see who will show up next.  I just love doing art when the art takes on a life of its own and that has happened with the Petal Girls.

I met today with Louise Pare, Ph.d. and we planned a Mandala a Movement Workshop for this fall around the topic of the "sacred feminine".  Louise is great to work with and brings the movement element into the art work I do with people.  When I have the firmed up information I will post it on my Class Schedule page.

Making a Sacred Connection with Nature

Diane, Susan and I continue to work in the "Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing" book by Judith Cornell, Ph.D.  Our last class session focused on Making a Connection with Nature.  Judith Cornell talked about how most indigenous cutlures perceive all life forms as sacred--a part of divine manifestation.  Interconnected, they form a symphony of nature that feeds and nurtures us on our spiritual journey.  On a CD that comes with the book she guides in meditation to come up with images of birds or animals that will help us heal our connection with nature.  The picture shown was created by Diane after this meditation.  It is done with colored pencils.

Diane and I got together this week and came up with plans to offer a 7 week course using Judith Cornell's book as a guide for creating luminous mandalas for healing.  There are a few more details we have to firm up and then I will post the details on my mandala class page on my website.

"....in accord with the Eastern conception, the mandala symbol is not only a means of expression, but works
an effect.  It reacts upon its maker.  Very ancient magical effects lie hidden in this symbol....the magic of which has been preserved in countless folk customs."  - C.G. Jung

New Petal Girl and More

A new "Petal Girl" has emerged.  She is Daffodil Girl and she likes to collect flowers to press so she can make beautiful pictures.  Her skirt is the nose of a daffodil and her top is from a geranium.  She is happy because it is a sunny and bright day.

I worked with the high school group at the Darhma Center I attend and had them create their own mandala designs for healing.  Again, I was so impressed their self expression and self awareness.  I really enjoy working with others and facilitating both their growth and healing.

I have also been creating some cards using a new technique I learned from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Website.  I have learned that I am happiest when I learn new techniques for creating my art.

Petal Girls

I signed up for an on-line class with the Worldwide Pressed Flower Guild.  The class is entitled "Petal Girls" and is taught by a woman from India named Anagha Shinde.  It is a very fun class and we are learning how to make girls out of flower petals.  I just love doing the class in a group and seeing what the other members of the group come up with.  Everyone shares their ideas so freely.  It is quite inspiring to me that this group of artists are so supportive of eachother.  I just completed my first girl I call Petunia.  She reminds me of myself when I married my husband Buzz 14 years ago.  Since we got married my nickname has been "Petunia".  Now that I am finished with her it is hard to move on to the next one.  It's like when I have finished a novel that was engrossing.....I would want to savor it.  However I am moving on to my second girl.

Yesterday I did a mandala drawing class with the middle school kids at our Buddhist Sangha.  I ask them to come up with a symbol that wouldl help them on their spiritual path.  I was amazed at what they came up with and will post their pictures when I get them scanned. 

Creativity is such a scarey but exciting journey!

Pressed Flower Bookmarks, Healing Mandalas

This is the season for pressing and I have been gathering many spring flowers.  The middle bookmark here is composed of flowers I found in the works at my friends house in Jacksonville, Oregon.  The other two bookmarks I made out of flowers I already had.  I am preparing for a home sale that Jannie Ledard, Glass Artist, and I are planning in May or June.  We had a home sale at my house last year and it went well.  Our work is complementary and it is fun working together.  She makes beautiful fused glass jewelry in addition to other things.  I will post more as we get the plans finalized.

On April 2, Saturday, I taught a workshop at the UCC Church in Medford, Oregon on "Art:  A Spiritual Practice".  I provided mandala designs from different faith traditions and had people select one to color and interpret.  An 8 year-old girl attended this adult workshop with her mother.  Much to my surprise she created her own design entitled "Calmness".  She drew it after a medition I did on "Inner Stillness".  I posted it in my mandala store as a free download.

I am still working through the book, "Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing" with Susan and Diane.  I completed my black and white healing symbol with color.  Our next assignment is to create a healing symbol for someone else.  See my colored picture above.  I am entitling it "Growing Roots."

Spring Half Off Sale

I am going through a transition in my  art business.  Recently I joined the Worldwide Pressed Flower Art  Guild.  One of the benefits of belonging to the guild is that I have  access to on-line classes and project ideas.  This has inspired me to start  cleaning out my studio to make way for some new work.  I am offering some  of my giclee prints, laser prints, framed laser prints and one original at  a 50% discount. 

You can go to my website, www.tamlondonhummingbirdarts, and  click on the Print Gallery to see most of the work.  I have directions to  where the other pictures are located on my website.  If you live in  the Ashland/Medford area I can deliver your order and if you live out-of town I  can check on what shipping price would be in addition to the purchase  price.  Be sure and call or e-mail me if you have any questions or  place an order 541-608-9238, hummingbird710@msn.com.
 

Sale Items

Framed Giclee Prints - Conservation  Glass 

"Love in Mid-Life" - 36 x  36

This picture was included in the "Women and Man-dala Show"at the  Jackson County Library in Medford in April of 2009 and the "Art in Bloom  Show" at the Rogue Gallery in also in 2009.  (Located in Print Gallery on  my website.)

Original  Price - $700.00

Sale Price - $350.00

"Mandala for Meditation" - 12 x 12

This picture was included in the "Woman and Man-dala Show" at  the Jackson County Library in 2009. (Located in the print gallery on my  website.)

Original  Price - $300.00

Sale Price - $150.00
 

Original Pressed Flower Art - Conservation Glass

"Inanna's Descent" - 12 x 12

This picture was included in "The Gifts of the Dark Night Show" at the  Talent Art Gallery in 2009.  (Located in the print gallery on my  website.)

Original Price - $200.00

Sale  Price - $100.00 SOLD!

Giclee Prints on Foamcore Covered  with Cellophane

"Fairyland" - 12 x  15

This whimsical print is in the print gallery on my  website.

Original  Price - $66.00

Sale Price - $33.00

"Authentic Joy" - 12 x 12

This picture was included in "The Gifts of the Dark  Night Show" at the Talent Art Gallery in 2009.  It is located in the print gallery on my website.

Original Price - $50.00 

Sale Price - $25.00

Matted Laser Prints in Cellophane  Jackets

"Grandma's Garden" - 11 x 14

Burgundy Matt

This picture is located on my website homepage in the left hand column.

Original Price - $30.00

Sale Price - $15.00

"Columbine Dance" - 12 x 12

One blue and one burgundy matt

This picture is located on the homepage of my website under the heading "Flower Pressing."

Original Price - $30.00

Sale Price - $15.00  - BOTH OF THESE ARE NOW SOLD!

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."  Lao Tzu

Drawings of Black and White Healing Images

I am adding Diane's picture of a Healing Symbol in black and white in the top picture.  I added some shading to my drawing from before on the bottom.  Again these healing symbols came from a visualization that is on the CD that comes with the Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing book.

Last Monday evening, we worked with Chapter 4 which covers,"Rainbow Colors for Healing".  We did the first three exercises where we learned color blending.  Color blending is a new concept for me since I have been doing mainly Pressed Flower Art in which the colors come with the flower or leaf.  I did the exercises in color blending again when I got home to class just to practice.  Here is one of my samples.  These exercises are preparing us to bring healing colors into our black and white drawings.
Quote from the book:
"The inherent Buddha-nature is said to be like a diamond, indestructible, pure and emty, but luminous in reflecting the manifestation of energies as rainbow light."   Terry Clifford