Mandala6b pencil 70cm diameter
A few years ago, during a time of upheaval and change, I created this large mandala, using just a 6b pencil. It is not a pretty image and was done purely as a therapeutic "doodle". Some of the images are borrowed from paintings and cuttings from newspapers and magazines. Picasso's, "Woman Dressing her Hair" seemed to be the embodiment of how I was feeling at the beginning of my 5th decade! The marching of time seemed to come out of the pattern from my watch strap. It was an outpouring of pure emotion and now is a snapshot of how I was feeling at that time.
Carl Jung ascribed healing powers to the mandala and felt it was a way to bring consciousness into a concrete form that could be read, much as one reads a dream. He believed that by putting personal symbols together in a circle, which itself symbolizes the wholeness of the psyche, many parts are brought together in harmony. For Jung, all part of the psyche need to have their honoured place for healing to occur. For a time, he used to do a small mandala every day to clear his thoughts and find out what was important on that day.
Both Hindus and Buddhists use a mandala as a graphic symbol of the universe. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning "magic circle".
