One of the things that I enjoy about creating mandalas is that they always seem to be more than the sum of their parts.  Today’s mandala is a wonderful example of that on so many levels.  A friend came to me with this idea a few weeks before Christmas.  For many years she had shared special time at the beach with friends.  Each year they would sift through the surf for bits and pieces of glass, remnants of other people’s time near the ocean.  This collection of sea glass had grown and represented all their memories and the bits and pieces of time and connections that held their friendship together.  She asked if I could make a mandala from an image of some of the sea glass.  Her friend arranged and photographed the glass and sent her the image.  She and I sat down and started playing with the image and creating mandalas.  We made about five before this one that finally seemed to hold the energy that she felt about the glass and all it represented.  I remembered that I had some images of sand, so we pulled those up and placed the mandala on the sand, returning the glass, in a manner, to the beach where they had found it.  But it was now something new, something more.

Our lives are made up of seemingly random bits and pieces but the patterns that those bits and pieces create can be beautiful if we allow ourselves to see.

I wish for all a New Year filled with a sense of wonder and appreciation for those ordinary moments, the bits and pieces, the connections that make up our lives.
BeachGlassMandala_Gail-Haile