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!