This morning I woke up thinking about what the essence of the new deck really is about … and the answer came quickly and strongly.

It’s all about community.

So, of course, I pulled a card to reflect that back to me, and which one came up
(no kidding, and I didn’t cheat!) … “I have come to weave community”.

This new deck reflects how we are connected to everything, always. Even in those time we feel like a forgotten island, floating in the midst of a large ocean, we are always connected to something.

That’s where a sense of wonder was born, in connection.

For me, this was particularly strong when I asked a few friends to vet the deck before I signed off on the final design. Each person I asked helped me in ways that I could not have seen from my own perspective. I needed a community to make sure this deck was doing all that I had hoped for it. Connect.

More and more frequently, I am shown that having a supportive community is vital to who we are,
and how we shine.

So, whatever form community takes in your life, I hope you will cherish it!
Give what you can, accept what you need. Build something amazing!

Please remember that an essesntial part of our communities is the land and animals we share this world with … they are more supportive than we ever give them credit for, so I ask that you remember and honour that thought!

Quite separate from the mandalas, but integral to the deck,
are the words. And they are not necessarily that easy.

As with all creative projects, when completed, they look quite easy. I feel this even when I look at work I know was not.

Along with teasing, taunting and just generally playing with me on the mandala side of the card design, the words that came after were quite a journey too!

I waited a very long time to even contemplate the words. Until I was really sure the mandalas themselves had landed and were “solid” in choice. Then I sat with those images and just started to jot down words, and more words, and some words after that. I ended up with over 60, and I only needed 30.

Then the process of elimination started. Which words were a for sure, that they were where this deck wanted to go? Which words were an instant “no”, even through they were good and seemingly appropriate words. The process was pretty straight-forward really, much more so than choosing the images, that’s for sure.

I then “assigned” words to particular mandalas to see how they felt. Most seemed to slide themselves into place with ease. A few were not happy with my choices, and were not afraid to let me know that. So, there were a few that changed in the process, but there was one that didn’t voice an objection until the very, very last minute, and then a word that was not on my list of 60 appeared. Untangle. That seemed like a very strange word indeed, and yet it also felt in perfect alignment. Yes, I had to let go of “let go”.

The power of a single word.

I am pretty familiar with the power of a single word, when you keep following it, and digging deeper. There is always seems to be some sort of a breakthrough that happens, and it always surprises me.

This is why, when people ask me why they keep getting the same card again and again, my response is always, “you need to go deeper.”

The very first mandala in the deck was the one that lead the way. It was the one that offered the consistent phrase: “I have come to …”.

For some of the words, it is easy to see the “double entendre” effect, that there is more than one way to view/interpret the phrase. For others, that doesn’t seem to be a obvious. I take double entendre to simply mean there is more than one way to take it, however some descriptions suggest the second way to look at it is risqué. I don’t think you would find that within this deck, at least I hope not.  

For me, language is always about where it wants to take you. I have been known to choose a word and follow it for quite some time to discover what message is in it for me. I love language, although admit to English being the most absurd one going, at least on the surface. I don’t understand how I learned it, or anyone who comes to as a second language. For all the “rules” there are exceptions. One word can be spelled the same, but pronounced differently. Or a word can be spelled the same and said the same way, only to mean two different things. It is a rather whacky language for sure. But still worth working our way through. 

And so, this is how a sense of wonder arrived in the world!

I can’t wait to hear all the ways that it works in other people’s lives. It’s very exciting!

A little behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the new mandalas in the sense of wonder deck …

A couple of new ways of creating mandalas came into my world in the past year or so, the first being mono prints, or what you might know as gelli plate prints. This is the technique I have been using to create one-of-a-kind patterns/prints, which then get cut up and used within the building and design of the mandalas.

Here are a couple of the mandalas that have been created using bits of mono prints, cut into shapes and applied.

I have come to be be seen and I have come to contribute.

The second new facet of my design/art work is weaving paper.

I am not sure what brought me to the weaving of paper, but now that I am here, I am in love. Weaving tells a story in itself. It reveals and connects everything in its simplicity. I am still in the very, very beginner stage of it all, but I see how it is a lovely rabbit hole to tumble down and explore.

It’s also about tidying up loose ends, taking the randomness of life and weaving it into a story that feels right.

The first piece that I wove was this one, I have come to understand.  For me, it is the most powerful and grounding piece I have created in a long time. The original hangs in my studio, where it inspires and informs me every single day.

Then the weaving started to take on a major part of some new pieces. Yes, i got sucked into the vortex of it all and continue to have a blast!

Here’s the thing about creating, sometimes the thing you are wanting to produce has completely different ideas. Like this one,  I have come to enquire … a lovely weaving that got “ruined” when I applied the top coat finish. I didn’t realize how much the top coat was going to absorb into the paper and cause it to be quite terrible in some spots.

But, I loved the weaving, so I deconstructed it, and suddenly it became something completely different, and more powerful than the original idea. It had a bigger story to tell and my job was to stay with it and allow that story to be told.

You see, this is why it took me most of a year to complete this deck, because there is a lot of time needed to listen and move delicately with the pieces. Sure, it all looks pretty straight-forward when finished, but the process is sometimes anything but simple.

Next time I will tell you about the hilarious back-and-forth I did with the picking the final 30 images … yet another time when patience and time were needed in quantity. Then came the naming, another lesson in paying close attention and not getting to stuck on one idea!

Some have asked me, where did the name a sense of wonder come from? Well, first it is the title of a Van Morrison album and song. It captured my sister Anne’s imagination for many years, and she always thought it would be a great name for a toy store.

When the idea of this deck started to really percolate, the name popped up to remind me that without a sense of wonder, I am well and truly lost in this world. So, in a way, this was my way of recapturing something that was waning for a bit. And I thought, if I was struggling with my sense of wonder, it is likely that others are feeling the same … so it felt absolutely perfect!