One of the first poets I ever loved was Juan Ramon Jimenez:

Gather it, gather the rose
But no, it is the sun!
Gather it, gather the sun
But no, it is the rose!

I had a small antique plate, made in Italy, with the face and rays of an ancient sun. I treasured this little piece. It was that combination that inspired my beginning efforts with the mandala. I’ve always found my center in symbols and colors. I began to draw suns with flames and petals, roses with flames and rays.

Carl Jung believed that we would come intuitively to the mandala when we needed it. There was a period in his life when he painted a mandala every day as a way of marking his journey. He explained that a circle was the first drawing of children and they too, place themselves on the path towards wholeness when their drawings reflect art with circles.

Many years passed between those first mandalas and these current ones. In the intervening time I’ve made all kinds of art and lived with a curious mind that turns to the outer world and the inner.

The innate sense of using the four directions was natural and deeply familiar to me, perhaps because of my Native American, Pima heritage. In these mandala paintings I began to notice the appearance of the four elements. Each mandala became a symbolic representation of earth, water, fire and air. Then I began to explore the different approaches to the four directions and I see that each one carries subtle influences that reflect some understanding of another time and other cultures.

I feel amazed by what each painting reveals and trust that what I need to see and understand is there. They came when I needed them most. I offer them to you with love.

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