Ever since I was a kid handed my first cardboard kaleidoscope, I have been intrigued by the circular visions seen through the eyepiece. I have looked thru the eyepiece of a camera for 40 years, the lens is circular but the film is a rectangle. Now I am creating Mandala's from those pictures. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning center and circle, the circle is a complete shape representing wholeness. Circles are self-contained, everything you need is in them. There are many circular things in our lives. Circles are sacred; Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, Rose Windows, Stone Henge, medicine wheels. Circles are fun; Smiley faces, balls of every type, Ferris wheels, merry-gorounds, Long Playing records (LPs) and CDs. Circles symbolize the earth, the sun and the moon and all the planets, galaxies and nebula. The iris of the eye is a circle; our blood cells are circular. Some people live in circles, tipis, igloos and yurts. I love the magic patterns that form in the middle of the mandalas created from my nature pictures.

Ellen Westbrook, Artist web blog is
http://toseethelight.blogspot.com/
And the web site is
http://www.ellenwestbrook.com/