Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved Feeling soft and mellow like the rain falling tonight, and that naturally reflects in my color palette. Not much to say, except it's all about love, usually is.... every one, every time....love.
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved A return of the cross. For someone who is not religious...the symbol of the cross certainly makes itself known in my mandalas quite frequently. I don't judge it or try to stop it...I just go with it. It really gives a balance and solidity to the design, how could I not love that?
Jody Cooke 2015 All Rights Reserved One of the greatest benefits from creating mandalas is the time spent in quiet contemplation. This mandala was the vehicle transporting my mind to the happy place where I envisioned selling my house. I have made dozens of mandalas in meditation about my house, but this one was a work in progress on my drafting table when I got an offer on the house (and so was the heart...see below). My daughter, a huge fan of the color blue, is in love with this one...so naturally I like it because of her. The heart mandala reflects softer and more gentle facets, but an important part just the same, kind of the yin and yang of my life...perhaps other people's lives too. Anyway you look at it... they are here to stay. They will always be the two I will look back on and remember the happy day my realtor called and told me about the offer on my house. Thank you Danny! http://www.frebac.com/ If you need a realtor, Dan Fiedler...he's the best! Jody Cooke 2015 All Rights Reserved
Jody Cooke 2015 All Rights Reserved I was inspired by Boxwood and spring! It was a beautiful day here in New Jersey....finally a warm and gorgeous day!
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved Made with a dear friend in mind, God bless his heart. I am so much more motivated to design and color when there is a cause. The only problem is, that sometimes when it's for someone I tend to get in my "other" brain and I start thinking too much instead of letting color schemes and choices come freely. As was the case with this one. I actually made two, simultaneously because I wasn't sure about colors. I should have listened to my daughter...who always liked this one. Well, I have a very sunny red, orange and yellow one as back up for something down the road. Onward and upward!
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reservded A cool color palette to reflect the cool spring we are having here in Northwestern NJ. Brrr.. more snow again this morning! None the less, I have incorporated spring green through out, and I remain hopeful!
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved I was sooooo in my happy place filling this one with color yesterday. I was on the phone with my bff and I truly incorporated her wonderful energy into the outlines of the mandala. It's springy, it's hopeful and I'm glad to post it!
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved My mandalas are usually about letting go and not making things happen...but in this case, the one conscious decision I made was to have a symbol of strength incorporated in the design. I think that was achieved with the geometric element of the "braided circle". There are hearts in the four corners, and a double row of them within the mandala itself, symbolic naturally of love; curls, which are usually found in my designs representing life anew; and flowers radiating from the beginning central point and everywhere to remember beauty.
I am so sorry for your loss, and your losses. Perhaps the soothing nature of coloring may bring peace to your soul and some insights to console you. Please feel free to slide this design onto your desktop and print it, so you can add your colors. May God's love surround you and bring you to where you need to go on this journey. Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved I really like the strong image of the cross. Though not a religious person, I do like the symbol of the cross and it's particular meaning for me. The mandala came out light and airy...full of promise and that makes me feel good. Happy Spring! Don't mind that yard full of snow outside, life is awakening underground. All is well.
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved People have been suggesting that I enter my mandalas into a contest on a Sunday morning news program. They have a segment about sun designs or something of that nature. I so want to do it but, and this is a pretty big but, I truly don't decide on the colors. It's odd to admit that. But I don't really draw these designs either, something larger than myself guides me to these fascinating circular patterns. I never have a plan, I never decide, "Oh now I'll make this, or tomorrow I'll make that"....I sit down, exhale any frustrations of the day, maybe recite my, "What is a Mandala?" quote and then I draw. Whatever comes to mind, I put it down and then repeat it around the circle. I meditate, I trust that what I do next is what I'm supposed to do next, then I let it all go. It is the same with coloring...more than once I've sat down to execute a particular color scheme, only to see my hand reaching for the exact opposite colors. And so it was with this piece. I thought it had potential for a sunburst. The first color I went for was blue....good bye sunshine! No more trying to make decisions. My mandalas are all about letting go, never control or decisions. They have been so freeing because I don't come in with an agenda for them. It's simple: I sit, I trust God, I draw. The end. :)
Jody Cooke © 2015 Easy breezy. I just wanted to do a spacey, isolated nature images kind of mandala. Some of my designs get a little complicated...it's nice to just take it all down a few notches and surrender to simplicity. Enjoy!
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved I just finished coloring this mandala for my dear friend Miriam. It's her birthday tomorrow. I so want to send her the link to this blog so she can see it....but I'm waiting to surprise her on Sunday by giving her the original. Happy Birthday wonderful friend! May your personal mandala be a focal point for your peaceful meditations, or just a design on your wall symbolizing our long time friendship.
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved Every so often a mandala comes along that reflects a change in my thinking. Albeit a primitive form of perspective, this mandala has a depth to it not seen in previous designs. The inner multicolored mandala and salmon colored cross advance to the foreground while the green patterned mandala sits in the background. Both live happily on the page in harmony and complement each other.
There are 20 hearts and 40 flowers (depending on how you view things) in this one. Happy Valentine's Day! Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved This design is actually the same as the previous post but with a different color palette. I started with this one, and thought it was too much color so I abandoned it. Then I started the other one with a more traditional analagous color scheme and I liked it. But my daughter saw this one half finished and fell in love with it....so then I liked it again and finished it. And so it goes. I worked this way in college too and could often be seen working on two designs for the same project. Isn't art just so much fun? Unlike math, with one answer...the creative solutions are infinite...as it should be.
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved Happy Wednesday Mandala! It's a little different from what I normally do...so therefor I like it. Different means, to me, that I am growing and changing. And that's what it's all about! Enjoy!
Jody Cooke © 2014 All Rights Reserved They all start out the same way, with a dot and a circle around it.....but they never end up the same. I think that's what keeps me going.
Jody Cooke © 2015 All Rights Reserved This mandala goes out to Miriam and Ed. Thank you on so many levels for everything. I'm so glad "fate" has brought us together. xo
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Photography: Pat Olds
AuthorHello, and welcome to my website. My name is Jody Cooke and I am a designer living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I have been an artist in some form or another for over thirty years. My new passion is mandalas! Since I learned about them in January 2013, I have created over 1,500 (black and white) of these circular patterns and over 160 full color. Some are very small and sketchy, most are 8 inches in diameter, currently I am creating on 24" x 18" paper (transitioning into a Lotus Mandala series as of summer 2017) and one is a 24 inch square acrylic mandala painting on canvas. Definitely not my preferred medium..but I gave it a try! CategoriesArchive
August 2017
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