by atmara | Dec 6, 2010 | Recommended products
As we head into the Holiday Season and subsequently my birthday time since I was born on Christmas Eve, I have been taking some time to review where I’ve been, and where I am going. It’s always been somewhat of a joke when I tell people that if someone told me at a young age that I would be a healer and psychic, radio show host and author, I would’ve laughed them out of the park. Well, an author, maybe, but the rest of it? No way!
I was born an artist, and firmly believed I would live my adult life with a potter’s wheel in the backyard, and a long, gray braid down my back. Now, my hair is cut short, certainly not gray (thanks to modern technology and hair color!), and quite honestly, the only time I used a potter’s wheel was in my 7th grade crafts class in the late 1960’s. But the image prevailed, and I did grow up an artist. I have always lived my heart’s desire in that way. I have painted murals, clothing, written and illustrated children’s books, painted lampshades, designed logos, letterheads, and marketing campaigns. In the early nineties, I opened a Mommy and Me art school. Art has always been part of my life.
So, it is no great surprise that the Healing Arts have also been a huge chunk of my existence.
Ever since I can remember I had vivid past life memories. Nightmares of Nazi Germany, emotional losses as a Native American woman, and leather bound journals during the Civil War. I understood as a youngster that relatives and loved ones who had passed away were watching over me and could see my every move. At age fourteen, I started to fix up my friends according to their astrological signs. Years later, I taught myself to read charts. So, why, do you ask, am I so surprised that my life’s heart desire turned out as it did?
I suppose it wasn’t until much later that I truly embraced living my own heart’s desire and not someone else’s. As a chronic pleaser, I wanted to fulfill the fantasy of what my parents or (ex) husband wanted, but of course, I found that that wasn’t the best idea. My life took many twists and turns to get me to this point, and with pride I can say, I am a master healer, psychic-medium, author of two books, CHAKRA POWER! How to Fire Up Your Energy Centers to Live a Fuller Life, and EASY ART FROM THE HEART, and host of Harriette Knight’s Psychic & Healing Hour on Blog Talk Radio. In addition to that,I currently have two online courses through Daily Om.com with a third on its way.
I have to admit that art hasn’t taken too much of a back seat. I keep my hand in it by designing a line of healing jewelry called Charity Clarity Jewelry where each piece is infused with healing energy, and a portion of the proceeds is donated to charity. It might not be a potter’s wheel, but it certainly is fulfilling.
As we head into the holiday season and the beginning of a new year, take some time to reflect on the joys in your life. The things that might’ve taken a backseat beforehand can easily ride shotgun now. It’s never too late to embrace your own heart’s desire, is it? No matter what age you are.
Happy Holidays and many blessings, Harriette Knight
www.HarrietteKnight.com
To purchase Harriette’s book
CHAKRA POWER! How to Fire Up Your Energy Centers to Live a Fuller Life,
click below:
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by atmara | Sep 9, 2010 | Art, Creativity, Mandala Monday, Mandalas
The mandala is an ancient art form…a circle in which images are painted utilizing an awesome variety of artistic media. Many cultures use the mandala form as a structure for the expression of spiritual exploration. The term mandala is from the Sanskrit meaning circle or center.
A beautiful example of a mandala in architecture is the rose window – a stained glass window in circular form as found in some cathedrals. A famous example is the Southern Rose Window of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Years ago I saw a movie in which some Native Americans were constructing a sand painting. It was being done as a huge circle. Another time I saw a documentary that included a Tibetan mandala, also painted in sand.
I like the mandala as an art structure. Most paintings are done in either a rectangular or square format although there are some pretty impressive exceptions in Middle Ages art. For example the painting by Sandro Boticelli, “Madonna of the Magnificat,” was done on a circular support, 46’x46″. I remember learning of this work for the first time when studying art history in college. Even then I was entranced by the fact that a work could be encircled rather than enclosed.
Taken as an intellectual exercise, I like the idea of confining an artwork within a circle. Somehow the circle seems much more challenging than a rectangle. I have a series of drawings that have as their subject, the tree. Some of them are just one tree, some have several trees. All are stylized or abstracted – I consider myself to be an abstract colorist – and the challenge is to confine these trees within the circle. Imagine thick trunks with rippling roots fighting their way around the circle looking for depth. Imagine the broad leaf heads vying with the sun or moon within the circle for space and prominence. This produces an interesting artistic challenge.
In 2009 I took the year off from painting and exhibiting, a sabbatical of sorts. Like many artists, I felt as though there was a direction I was meant to follow but had not yet discovered. I’ve been a colorist for years – nothing mild for me, my work is as bright as the paint will get [which is one of the attributes of acrylics that I like so much-they are very bright]. I also consider myself to be an abstract artist and an experimental artist. I chose long ago to go on a differing path than my artist grandfather – he was primarily a realist. He did explore impressionism but preferred realism. Me? I’d rather explore the idea and the feel of an idea; I’d rather manipulate color to express an idea or feeling.
So in my year of artistic contemplation I considered three things: one) the basic structure or support for a work; two) a new abstract study and three) painting materials. What evolved was a circular structure, a study of trees in abstract and tiny ceramic tiles as the painting medium. I used a sketchbook and explored the idea of the tree, including a cactus tree and groves of trees. I began to think about the idea of anchoring the roots of the tree within a circle – how would you do that? How would it look?
In my sketchbook I used crayons as an easy color medium to play with color manipulation. Once I had over 50 sketches fully colored I began to explore painting media. I did two designs in colored pencil. I did one design in acrylics. I toyed with the thought of doing one design in watercolor…however none of these choices were expressing what was in my mind.
Then one day I thought: what if I painted these designs using tiny ceramic tiles? I imagined these tree images done not in paint – oils, watercolors or acrylics – but in mosaic tiles. I have found a supplier of wooden plates to use as a support, and a supplier of very tiny tiles to use to produce this series of tree mandalas. All my years of art study and experience is coming together in this one art expression.
Although many cultures use the mandala to express spiritual ideas, I use the mandala to explore ideas and feelings through abstraction and color. I am amazed at how awesome it is to paint with these tiles. Their small size allows for such movement and they come in a satisfactory array of colors. The mandala designs I’m executing with these tiles are tiles alone…by this I mean that I have chosen not to grout them. Typically mosaics are grouted – filling in the spaces between tiles. However I didn’t want anything to compete visually with the tiles or their colors.
Sunset Mandala Mosaic by Linda C. Smith
Text and image © Linda C. Smith
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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!
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