Untitled

"What's in a name?" Juliet asked.
What's in a title? is my question today.

I conceived your form and shape and color
And there you are,
Looking at me with your one eye,
how?
Wondering? Exploring?
Existing? Wishing
for a name to describe what you mean,
what you say,
"who" you are?

No defining voice whispers inside.
No sound at all
except for the birds
playing their chirps outside.

What's in a title? What's in a name?
Let others who see you decide.

Today,
I will simply enjoy the creation
you are.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Untitled Mandala
Ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Digging for What's Real

"TREATING mySelf like A PRECIOUS OBJECT makes me STRONG!"

Dig through layers
of ego's harsh deceit
Uncover a forever worthy Self
silent, strong, and sweet.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Mixed media collage

Paint and collage cutout on canvas
Quote from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Coloring with My Imagination

Hidden in Winter's plainness,
dressed down in shades of brown and age:
Fertility with possibility waits,
waits for Time's slow hands
to turn the page
That colors imagination,
Warms the frigid air,
Caresses the world to life,
Evokes the barren to bare.

Each year
this holy miracle
overtakes us by surprise,
this brash and lavish explosion
of hues and newness,
song and scent,
as Spring,
dressed up in finery unsurpassed,
arrives!

Original photo below:

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Fern Collage Mandala
created and color manipulated in Photoshop
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Every Picture Tells a Story

What's hers?

What's yours?

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Caged Butterfly" Collage
Collage Journal Page
Paper cutouts, ink doodles
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Collaging Gratitude

If the only prayer you ever said in your whole life
was "thank you," that would suffice.
— Meister Eckhart


The best way to show my gratitude to God is
to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.
— Mother Teresa


Be grateful for whoever [& whatever] comes,
because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.
— Rumi (from "The Guest House";
translation by Coleman Barks)

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Gratitude: Opener of Doors"
Collage Journal Page
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Finding Fairy Lights

Who knew
that within a brown lily,
one of Fall's leftovers,
the lights of fairies glow?

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Original photo:

"Fairy Light" Digital Mandala
Created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

A Bird in the Hand Makes 12 in the Bush

Winter's blacks and whites
Hide geometric beauty
Where birds seek shelter.

Winter emotions
Deficient in warmth and light
Conceal Joy's dwelling.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Original photo of sparrow in the bush:

"Bird in the Hand" Digital Mandala
Created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Sea-ing Eye

The Sea sees.
After all, It always comes rushing in
to greet me!

Its giant eye

reflects the sky,
Becoming a mirror
for the clouds and colors,
moods and mysteries,
sailing by.

Stars sparkle in Its watery darkness.
Luna admires her silvery light
as the Sea gently whispers
words to caress
the brightness bouncing
off Its glassy sheen.

The Sea sees:
Gazing above and below,
Keeping watch over those who make
their home in Its watery arms.
It is Mother and Father,
Life and Death,
Ebb and Flow,
Unending waves.
The Sea sees.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Sea-ing Eye" Mandala
Ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Angel Blessings Rain Upon Us!

The Angel of Blessings

Serenely towards us she bows;
Love flames in her heart,
Grace touches her lips,
Light glows from her Being,
And serenely she bows to God's earth.

Gently to us she gives;
Starlights to illumine our way,
Flames to enliven our Souls,
Love to guide our Paths,
And gently she gives to us God's gifts.

Softly to us she whispers:
"Peace" to you who fight;
"Comfort" to you who ache;
"Life" to you who despair;
"Joy" to you who embrace this day;
Softly, in each moment, she whispers to us
God's words.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Angel of Blessings"
Doodle, ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Looking into the Vesica Piscis

Vesica Piscis: literally "vessel of the fish" or fish bladder (Latin); the shape that is made when intersecting two circles with the same circumference. "Pythagoreans believed it represented a similar intersection of the spiritual and material worlds, a sacred doorway between two states of being.... [O]ne of the most important shapes in sacred geometry.... Also any place the Goddess is worshipped will generally have a representation of the vesica piscis...." (Taken from The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar, Harper Element, 2008.)

Looking into the Vesica Piscis...

Peering into the sacred doorway of the Goddess,
what magnificence awaits?
What glories lie quietly sleeping there?
What wisdom stirs and moves,
resting comfortably--or maybe uncomfortably--
until the birth pangs begin:
Forcing emergence of the new Life form.
Is it Spirit or Matter, union or intersection?
How can we, who once dwelt in this Sacred Vessel,
enter again this hidden passage to become a different blend,
a re-formed intersection?
Embracing what we once knew, and forgot;
Forgetting what we once lived, to remember.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Looking into the Vesica Piscis"
Mandala in ink on paper
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Message Treasures

What message comes through this collage today?

There are words: Treasures--a new life--love every day.

There are images: leaves--circles--spirals--buttons--ribbons--flower--stamp--odds and ends--wings--a partial wisdom face--statue--dragonfly.

There are textures, colors, even a bit of black and white doodling.

What message comes through this collage today?

Love every day is the wisdom I see.
Love every day is the "seed."
Love every day creates growth--a colorful flower from leaves of black and white.
Love every day reveals treasures and a new life that begins in each moment that we. . .

LOVE
EVERY
DAY.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Treasures"
Collage Journal Page
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Black or White Revelations

Despite the many shades that fill my life,
is black or white still my guide?

Perceiving of each experience,

situation, person

as either/or:

"good" or "bad"

"worthy" or "lacking"

"enough" or "not so much."

Too many black-or-white moments

blur the image of the One

who stares back at me,

reflected in the Mirror of Life.

Black or white reveals:

judgment sticking to my thinking.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Black and White Revealed"

Mandala created with ink pens on paper

Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

New Collage Mandala: my interpretation

Today I am posting a new mixed media collage mandala that I finished yesterday; I call it "Fabric of the Universe."

Most people will focus on the bird in the middle. I love the bird, too, which is why I chose to cut it out and use it in the collage. To me, the bird represents the Universe. And the Soul message from the Universe is by Rumi, reminding us that to enter the Mystery, we need to go within, to find the "fabric of the Universe," we need only to look inside.

But the background of the collage is just as important as the central image. I created the background by tearing the elements and choosing pictures of wood, metal, fabric--anything that is used to build or create something else. The painted part is like the sea or space of creativity. So the "fabric" part comes out of that sea/space and in the center of the "fabric," we discover the Universe and the inspirational message for our journey.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Fabric of the Universe"
Mixed media collage mandala
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Collage Mandala Wanderings

I have been thinking and trying to figure out how I can blend collages and mandalas. I have come up with two ideas that I have posted here today. Both are using the same collage, which you can see below.

Not necessarily my most brilliant work. To be honest, I call this collage "Odds & Ends." I created it using a piece of scratch paper on which I did all kinds of things like put leftover paint, doodled a bit, tried out a sample collage element and a different type of paper, and finally added a few collage cutouts to make it more of a cohesive collage.

The first collage mandala is done in Photoshop. I took a slice and created a digital mandala from the collage. I call this mandala "Kaleidoscopic Senses" because 4 of the 5 senses are represented--sight, smell, hearing, and taste or touch (depending upon whether you see the red shape as a tongue or a heart, although technically we don't "touch" with our heart, but we do "feel" with our hearts--you get the idea...).

The second collage mandala is the actual collage trimmed to fit into the circle I drew. After gluing the collage, I added some of my doodle art. This mandala is titled "Wishing Upon A Star."

Each version of the collage seems different to me.

• The original collage has the feel of "odds and ends" and fragmentation. But there still is a sense of balance in the way it coaxes the eye to move from the bottom to the top where the star is. There is also a feeling of movement due to the "wave" of the music and the plant sketch at the bottom of the collage.
• The digital mandala definitely looks different, of course, and more conventionally mandala-like. There is a bit of humor in it, though, because of the way the eyes point in opposite directions. But there are lots of interesting shapes that give it a kaleidoscope-feel. The outside edge is very Art Nouveau. And I find the star in the center is hypnotising in the way it draws the eye into the center. The color palette, however, is a bit strange!
• The final version has a cohesiveness to it. The collage seems to grow out of the doodles. Michel said it looks like the collage is rising as a mountain, like the collage is created from things being piled on it. I find my eyes looking everywhere because there is a feast for my eyes. The doodles seem to be the foundation for the collage.

Which one do you like best? Which one seems to be more of mandala to you? I would love to know what you think about this experiment.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Odds & Ends" Collage
"Kaleidoscopic Senses" Collage Mandala
"Wishing Upon A Star" Collage Mandala
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

The Energy Behind a Collage

The mandala posted here was taken from a collage I created a few years ago for my two daughters. The collage (posted below) is titled "On the Path to the Sacred Feminine."

To create this mandala, I took a slice from that collage. The finished result is an introspective into the energy of the Divine Feminine. For example, what do the longest arms of the center star look like to you? To me, the answer is obviously female! (That shape came from the skirt of the central gypsy's dress. How interesting!)

Creating this mandala has shown me that my collages have an energy behind them...and like a hologram, that energy resides in every piece or section of the collage. What a delightful discovery!

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Energy of the Divine Feminine"
Digital Mandala created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2010 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

The Magical Miracle Manifestation Box: A Collage Artist Found!

I am first and foremost a collage artist. I love to make collages. I love to sit myself down in the middle of magazines and my collage cutouts, scissors in hand, to find the images and colors and words that speak to me that day or that have a special message for the person for whom I am making a collage. I love assembling the elements together and gluing them on card, canvas, or wood.

But I got stuck. Stuck in my worries about copyright issues; stuck in my thinking about what my art meant to other people--if it "spoke" to them; stuck in an apartment in which a fan was vibrating and making noise over my head for 12 to 15 hours a day and that was filled with smells and smoke from the restaurant two floors below.

And, in the 7 months I lived in that apartment, I made one collage--only one. I tried selling some of my collage cards at a local boutique and no one bought anything. The owner said that people looked through the cards but no one bought one, not one.

So I really started thinking that my collage days were over and I looked for another outlet for my creativity. And that's when I joined a mandala e-group and started making mandalas and angel doodles. That group opened an avenue for my creativity. I created a whole bunch of mandalas and angel doodles. I even started creating digital mandalas. But then an "interesting" thing happened.

I hurt my right arm carrying my bike upstairs. My elbow was quite afflicted and painful. Soon I couldn't use the computer for any length of time, doodle, or draw a mandala. In fact, I couldn't even write in my "Morning Pages" journal. I was confused and irritated and, yes, angry. What was I supposed to do with my creative longings? Why had this happened? What was the lesson?

There was a part of me that said it was time to go back to collaging. But I resisted. I loved the thrill of making a digital mandala or creating an angel doodle. And I did force my arm to do things it didn't really want to do. Of course, I paid for that in discomfort and a lack of mobility. So eventually I had to let go and stop working on mandalas and doodles. I just had to let go.

Then, we found a new apartment: a place where there was no fan running overhead, where there were no BBQ smells at 10 p.m., and there was no smoke that required running an air purifier all the time; a place where we didn't have to call inspectors and government agencies to get help or keep a log to substantiate our "case." So we moved.

Although moving has not solved all the drama around the old apartment, it did give us a quiet, restful, well-lit place to live. Now, I want to stay in the apartment and do my art. I don't feel like I have to "escape."

The other day I received Denise Linn's January newsletter in my email. One of her suggestions for the new year was to make a "Magical Miracle Box." I took what she said, added a twist of my own, and created the box you can see in the photos at the beginning of this post.

The collage for the box was a struggle in some ways because all the elements didn't necessarily come together easily. For example, I had cut out the word FAITH but couldn't locate it when I was ready to glue the collage on the box. I looked everywhere for it. And when did it show up? After I had glued everything else on the box!

Upon reflection, I realized that it was good that the word didn't "arrive" until then because I certainly would have placed it somewhere else--on the heart was one idea--and that would have eliminated the word "surrender," a very important word in the process of manifesting.

This "Magical Miracle Manifestation Box" has already produced its first magical miracle manifestation--the collage that adorns the top. I wonder what other marvelous, magical, and miraculous manifestations await me in 2010. I await in awe and expectation.

--Vicky Lynn :o)


Magical Miracle Manifestation Box
Idea courtesy Denise Linn
Collage and Artwork Copyright © 2010 Vicky Lynn Macchione

Goodbye 2009! Hello New Decade!

The last day of 2009. A year and a decade finish tonight at midnight! And tonight is special in other ways--there's a blue moon (another full moon in the same month) and a partial lunar eclipse. Wow! That's a lot of responsibility for one day! ;o)

I am happy that 2009 is ending. It has been a challenging year for us: 2 deaths, 2 apartment moves, 2 people (Michel and me) thinking they had gone through some portal into an alternate reality. Things we thought worked a certain way (belief system things) simply didn't this year. A life-lesson year!

In honor of this last day of 2009, I am posting the mandala* I used for my holiday card and also a quote that brings balance to the whole resolution frenzy that happens every year at this auspicious time.


“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.” ~Ellen Goodman

May 2010 be a year where you discover your amazing potential and fulfill your greatest dreams.

Happy New Year!

--Vicky Lynn :o)

*I created this mandala using Photoshop. The original photo depicts a region where infant stars are born in a nearby galaxy. This image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007. You can see the original photo here: http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_070110.html

Happy Christmas! Merry New Year!

Today, as my Christmas gift to my readers, I offer a mandala and a poem. I created the mandala from a fern photo I found on the Internet here. I wrote the poem as my Christmas gift to Michel.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a Merry New Year!

--Vicky Lynn ;o)

Christmas isn’t …
rushing about
wearing ourselves out
or expensive gifts under the tree.

Christmas isn’t …
over drinking
over thinking
or overeating until we can’t see
(our toes, that is).

Christmas isn’t ...
carols & lights
snow & cold nights
or special programs on TV.

No, Christmas is not these things for me.

What Christmas is …
is a silent glance
from eyes you know
from one whose love
to you each day shows.

What Christmas is …
is a passing touch,
a gentle kiss, a soft caress,
a listening heart,
a tender word spoken to bless.

What Christmas is …
is Life that’s shared
with someone who cares
who knows and believes
in all you can be.

What Christmas is …
is You and Me.

Copyright © 2009 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

My 100th Post :o)

Yes, it's true. Today is my 100th post! What a milestone! ;o)

In honor of this event, I have included a mandala of sorts. It is a photo that I have put through a Kaleidoscope filter in Photoshop. (You can get the plug-in at this web site: http://www.mehdiplugins.com/.)

You can see the original photo on my blog here. Yes, it's true. The beautiful mandala above came from my "angel" cyclamen photo!

I have been thinking long and hard about what I should write about for this momentous post. I thought of quotes by famous poets or some interesting fact about what you give your spouse on your 100th wedding anniversary.

(As an aside, the list of traditional/modern wedding anniversary gifts that I looked at only went to the 80th anniversary and the traditional gift was oak. There was no modern gift listed--not too surprising given the lack of longevity in marriages nowadays. Realistically, though, if you and your spouse actually made it to your 80th anniversary, I am not sure either one of you would be able to lift anything made out of oak. ;o))

I also thought about writing about my thoughts about good and evil, which has been on my mind of late. But I finally decided that with that beautiful kaleidoscope mandala, I should include something to contemplate and meditate on. And what popped in my head was a poem by Rumi that I recently put in my journal.

I have decided to give just a few lines that seem particularly meditative and perhaps reflective of the changing facets of a kaleidoscope as well. The poem's title is "Music Master" and can be found in The Essential Rumi (translation by Coleman Barks).

We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity.
We are pain and what cures pain, both.
We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.
--Rumi

Thank you, dear readers, for being my mirror and letting me be yours--(I hope that my posts have a touch of "reflection" in them!) May we be that for each other for another 100 posts or 100 years--whichever comes first!

--Vicky Lynn :o)

Cyclamen Kaleidoscope
Digital mandala created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2009 by Vicky Lynn Macchione

Law of Attraction or the Universe's Web Crawler

The other day while checking my email a thought occurred to me. What triggered the thought was a video advertised in a daily newsletter from Gimundo. The video was about a software product that was being used by an ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) patient that allowed him to create graffiti art using only his eye movements. Pretty amazing!

Now, what caught my attention was the fact that the young man had ALS. Just a day or so before that email arrived, I had been talking with Michel about my ex-husband's grandfather who had ALS and actually died from the disease. So that was two instances about the subject of ALS in a very short span of time. That occurrence fueled the train of thought that left the station of my mind and proceeded along the "thinking" tracks something like this:

Hmmm. ALS again. That reminds me of when I am searching in Google or writing emails in Yahoo about particular subjects. Somehow I notice more instances of what I was searching for or writing about appearing in my Yahoo Spam email folder after those searches or emails. (Yes, I check my Spam folder!)

Is it possible that somehow Yahoo and Google know what I am searching for or writing about and then directs related topics to my Spam email box? Is it possible that the web crawlers checking the Web all the time are responsible for the influx of certain types of Spam and even Inbox advertisements?

Is that how the Law of Attraction works? We pull on a strand of the Web of the Universal Consciousness by thinking a certain thought or talking about a certain subject and then the the Universe's web crawler (aka the Law of Attraction) notices our tug and sends more information or more feelings or more whatever back to us? So the Universe is like a giant Google complete with web crawlers?

(Or as Michel later pointed out--Google is structured like The Universe!) ;o)

So ends my train of thought with one final note. That evening, after this experience occurred, I was reading a library book and can you believe it? One of the characters in the book had...ALS! Amazing!

In honor of my "webby train of thought," I have posted a mandala (called "Playing with the Web") that I created from a photo that I found on posted on the Studio Nemo web site. The photo is a spider web decorated with water droplets. Click here to see the original photo.

--Vicky Lynn :o)

"Playing with the Web"
Digital mandala created in Photoshop
Copyright © 2009 by Vicky Lynn Macchione