For the past year and a half I have been exploring the mandala as a symbol for wholeness.  In the process I have found that the wholeness of who I am includes many faces some readily seen and some obscured and in the shadows,  I continue to work in the round, the symbol of the circle providing a sacred vessel in which to continue to explore myself.  Lately I have found myself working in an unfolding process.  First I draw the image intuitively using a black Sharpie marker and making peace with the imperfection that arises in the image as it unfolds itself on the page.  Then I pull out my watercolors and again release my expectations and let the paint have its way.  Finally I take my drawn and painted image to the photographic process and use my camera editing software to transform the image again.  The image above has actually had the hue shifted and has been flipped from the positive image to the negative.  What emerged from the digging into the shifting nature of the photograph and then exploring its shadow side is immensely more pleasing than the original image.

My continuing lesson from this process is not to judge as things unfold.  If I can shift my perspective I can find beauty even in what appears to be the negative side of things.