Mandala Monday – Mandalanomadess: Making Art with Nature, Acorn and Oak Leaf Mandala

Today’s tutorial by mandalanomadess is “Making Art with Nature, Acorn and Oak Leaf Mandala.” Here is what she has to say about this video:

“Today I ventured out not planning to make a mandala necessarily, but feeling the impulse to go “nature paint shopping” with the various temptations of fall leaves and acorns covering the oak forest landscape where I am presently located.”

Enjoy this example of using natural materials to create mandalas.

Making Art with Nature, Acorn and Oak Leaf Mandala by mandalanomadess

mandalanomadessTo learn more about these nature mandalas go to:

http://www.mandalanomadess.com – Mandala Nomadess is a “nomadic mandala maker” creating mandala art using natural objects found in nature as her art medium. This is meditation, playtime and art all rolled into one… traveling to the ocean, forests, deserts and rivers of California, making mandalas and loving planet earth one mandala at a time.

TED Talk Thursday – Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers

TED Talk ThursdaysAccording to TED.com: “Hannah Brencher’s mother always wrote her letters. So when she felt herself bottom into depression after college, she did what felt natural — she wrote love letters and left them for strangers to find. The act has become a global initiative, The World Needs More Love Letters, which rushes handwritten letters to those in need of a boost.”

“Hannah Brechner has always loved that her family communicates via handwritten letters. In October of 2010, she began writing love letters intended for strangers and tucking them away in libraries and cafes across New York City, for people to randomly discover. Soon, she offered on her blog HannahBrencher.com to write a letter to anyone who needed one. Over the next year, she mailed out more than 400 hand-penned letters. Today she runs The World Needs More Love Letters, a letter exchange dedicated to connecting strangers across the globe through the art of letter writing.”

“In addition, Brencher works as a copywriter and creative consultant, helping brands inject human touches into their communications plans.”

Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers

 

For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

TED Talk Thursday – Halla Tómasdóttir: It’s time for women to run for office

TED Talk ThursdaysAccording to TED.com: “With warmth and wit, Halla Tómasdóttir shares how she overcame media bias, changed the tone of the political debate and surprised her entire nation when she ran for president of Iceland — inspiring the next generation of leaders along the way. ‘What we see, we can be,’ she says. ‘It matters that women run.’ “

“Icelandic entrepreneur Halla Tómasdóttir believes that if you’re going to change things, you have to do it from the inside. She infused the world of finance with “feminine values,” which helped her survive the financial meltdown in Iceland and nearly made her president.”

“Tómasdóttir’s philosophy is simple: (1) the challenges we’re facing today won’t be solved by testosterone alone; (2) the world would be a better, safer, more sustainable place if we could infuse finance, business and politics with more gender balance; and (3) it’s easier to change things from the inside.”

“True to this philosophy, Tómasdóttir co-founded Audur Capital in 2008, the world’s first investment firm based on “feminine values.” Audur was one of few financial companies in Iceland to survive the crash. Tómasdóttir has since been an active change catalyst, advocating for principle-based leadership and more women around decision-making tables.”

“In 2016, responding to popular demand (and a viral Facebook campaign), Tómasdóttir ran for president of Iceland. A woman in a man’s race. Polls initially put Tómasdóttir as an outsider, predicting 1 percent of the vote. A few weeks later, against all odds, Tómasdóttir came in second supported by 28 percent of Icelanders.”

 Halla Tómasdóttir: It’s time for women to run for office

For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!