Mandalas

Last month, I created the “Cultivating Peace” mandala.mandala

The results from Random.org drew the following three names:

  1. Pallavi
  2. Shigh
  3. Lisa

This means that I’m shipping the “Cultivating Peace” mandala painting to one of those three people! (I draw three because if someone resides outside of the US, or is otherwise unable to accept the mandala, I need to select someone else.)

If you are on the list above and don’t hear from me, that means that I got in touch with the winner “above” you and he/she accepted.

Warm Heart Mandala

mandala giveaway

As for the next mandala, I wanted to honor the fact that today is the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His motto and approach to civil rights was love.

I have a couple of my favorite quotes from Dr. King:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

As I completed this mandala, I kept thinking about love, and warmth. This may have been due, in part, to the fact that it’s a chilly time of year, at least where I live.

[bctt tweet=”I feel a flame within: a light of closeness to family, friends, and to my own heart. ” username=”n2itvnspiritual”]

The flame of peace burns in my heart, too. A need to spread light and peace as I can. A need to spread light and peace for all people.

Martin Luther King studied Gandhi before he embarked on his civil rights movement. He took the idea of the peaceful protest to an entirely different level.

As I began this mandala, I mixed purple and red acrylic paint, resulting in a more brick-red type color. I honestly thought I’d get a more “fuchsia” color, but I went with this darker background as it made me really think of the word, “heart.”

Because the background color was rather dark, I knew that if I drew in a mandala design like I usually do, I wouldn’t be able to see it. So, this was the one of the first times I embarked on creating a mandala without any idea of what I would be creating beforehand.

I drew a few “guiding lines” so I’d stay in the center of the canvas, and they’d help me know where to work on the canvas itself.

But after that, it was one of those times where I decided to draw on my intuition and my artistic experience.

Here’s a time lapse of me working on the mandala:

This is the final piece of canvas that I have. I will select another winner now, actually.

After this, I will be switching to drawing mandalas (not painting them – for now) and creating a video series on them. Indeed! As I begin that process, I’ll keep you informed. It’s all about spreading the love. 🙂

I used a different website for the random drawing (Mini Web Tool). Random.org charges for each drawing and I thought, hmm…perhaps there’s a better way to do this. Without further ado, the winner of the “Warm Heart” mandala is….

  1. Joseph C.
  2. Jean Ann
  3. Brina M.

May the folks who possess these mandalas experience exactly what their titles mean: peace, and love.

I will contact these winners in that order.