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Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird's delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life's sweetest creation.
- Unknown
Meet Janet Tam London
I was trained as a counselor, receiving my Master's Degree from Antioch University in 1974. For twenty five years I worked in community colleges, teaching psychology and personal growth classes and counseling. At age 50, I enrolled in an Artist's Way
class, and two things happened: I began creating art using pressed flowers and leaves and later began offering Artist's Way
classes myself because it helped so much to develop my own creativity. Kindness and compassion are very important components of my teaching, and watching women move from darkness into the light as their creative skills blossom is deeply rewarding.
Columbine Dance
In 1998 I saw an art show of pressed flower artist Lane Sharkey's work. I was captivated with the beauty of the mandala designs she was creating with pressed flowers. I began experimenting with my own designs. After completing my first pressed flower mandala design, "Columbine Dance," I went on to create many more.
At that time I was teaching a class at Rogue Community College entitled "Personal Discovery: Art." Seeking a non-threatening way for people to experience art, I came across some mandala coloring books at Barnes and Noble. Reading the introductions to the books, I learned that the word "Mandala" originated from Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, and translates as sacred circle. Mandalas are pictures in circles and are often, but not always, symmetrical. When coloring or drawing a mandala design, we often feel a greater sense of relaxation and harmony in our lives. It is possible to take this effect a step further by looking at colors and symbols to gain insight into our lives and find hidden sources of inner strength. Our intuitive minds respond to a mandala's visual codes and often we tap into sources of transformational information. As I began having students color mandala designs, I observed that they not only felt a deeper sense of relaxation but also started to get helpful insights into their lives.
In 2008 I discovered Suzanne Fincher's Mandala Coloring Books and began facilitating groups around her coloring book titles: "Coloring Mandalas for Insight, Healing and Self-Expression", "Coloring Mandalas for Balance, Harmony and Spiritual Well-Being", and "Coloring Mandalas: Circles of the Sacred Feminine." These groups seemed to help people deal with difficult circumstances in their lives and tap into a hidden internal strength. Later I offered classes on Islamic and Tibetan Mandalas, using cultural designs to help participants explore their spirituality.
In 2010, my friends Diane and Susan introduced me to a book entitled "Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing," by Judith Cornell. We spent about six months working through the exercises in Cornell's book together. A fascinating process, we drew mandalas on black paper using colored pencils, using the technique of illumination to bring more light into certain parts of our drawings. The techniques we learned were based on Jungian and energetic principles, and we learned to access healing symbols for both ourselves and others that would increase health and wholeness. These techniques enabled me to go deeper into my own healing process - drawing on the black paper seemed to access my unconscious, which then presented symbols for my healing.
Luminous Mandala by Janet London
In 2011, professional counselor Diane Tibbitts and I began teaching Mandala classes and workshops. We taught our first workshop at the Congregational Church in Medford entitled, "Art as a Spiritual Practice." We got a very positive response, so in the fall of 2011 we offered a 7 week class entitled "Mandala, Luminous Symbols for Healing", using exercises in Judith Cornell's book. We saw students grow not only in artistic ability but also in their own inner healing potential through drawing healing symbols. In Spring 2012 we are offering an Advanced Luminous Mandala Workshop and plan to offer another beginning class in the fall.
As I reflect on my process, it seems the Mandala form found me. I was not seeking it out, yet it provided another tool for me to help both myself and others. My own experiences and those I've observed in others have given me the confidence and enthusiasm to guide others in mandala work.
If you are interested in having Diane Tibbitts and I offer a workshop or class to a group of eight or more people please or call 541-608-9238.
"Mandala art can help us to accept, love and learn from the very center of ourselves, the Higher Self so to speak, which struggles to live ever more freely and creatively in the world. One of the greatest challenges in life is to discover and nourish the deep springs of inner wisdom that flow within us, and spending time with mandala art encourages our inner genius to awaken, communicate and express itself directly."
- Michael H. Brown, Ed.S.
"The Luminous Mandala class was incredibly helpful in moving me forward with my future goals. It helped me to accept me and my health problems and to embrace and encompass all parts of me as not good or bad, just me. Pure acceptance. The Luminous Mandala class helped me break through a creative block and move with it instead of just frustration and depression until the block was over."
- Jennifer, Luminous Mandala Class Participant, Fall 2011.
"Attending the Healing Mandala workshop changed my life. As a novice artist and professional helper, I was provided with an expressive technique to process painful experiences, encourage others, and discover hidden strengths and resources. I have gained an important skill which I will teach to others who can potentially gain benefits as I have. Thank you Diane and Janet!"
- Rebecca, Luminous Mandala Class Participant, Fall 2011.
About My Work
When I began my journey into this art form, I was experiencing a mid-life crisis that manifested in depression. As I started gathering and pressing flowers, leaves, even weeds from woods, roadsides, wild and manicured gardens, the life-affirming qualities of nature began to transform the depression into joy and happiness. Through my art I want to share the miraculous beauty of nature and its ability to heal and connect us with a sense of hope and optimism.
I thank God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and for the blue sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is Yes.
-e.e. cummings
About Flower Pressing
Pressing flowers is an art in itself. I use the Microfleur press for most of my pressing. The flowers are laid in the press and heated in a microwave oven for brief spurts. The resulting color is more vibrant than when a traditional flower press is used. Occasionally I use traditional wood presses for delicate flowers and for the greens. The placement of the flower is important as often I want the vibrant centers to show. I paint the greens to keep them from fading.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
-Buddha
Upcoming Events
Luminous Mandala Advanced Workshop
When: May 5, 2012, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30p.m.
Where: 2972 Bailey Ave., Medford
Fee: $90 with a $10.00 fee required in advance to hold a space. Scholarships may be available to offset part of the cost.
Facilitators: Diane Tibbitts, M.Ed., L.P.C. and Janet London, M.Ed.
Click for more information on my Classes and Workshops page!
Spring Gift Sale
May 19 from 10am - 4pm, Join me and artists Jannie Ledard, Alx Fox, Diane Tibbitts and Sherry Kronman for a spring sale of creative artistic gifts! Light refreshments will be served.
Where: Oak Valley Community (located off I-5 at exit 21)
291 Christopher Way
Talent, Oregon
541-535-5753