Social media, despite how addicted to it we all are, gets a bad rap. But through Facebook and Instagram, I have met and developed meaningful relationships with other artists who I likely would never have encountered otherwise. Several of them have become actual friends, even though we have never met face to face, and perhaps never will.
One of these is watercolor painter Jan Heaton. I am a massive admirer of her work. And we both felt something just click over the fiberoptics and wifi. I do believe we are kindred souls.
And so I was devastated to learn recently that her daughter Kristin is seriously ill with metastatic parotid cancer. And she has exhausted conventional treatment options.
Kristin is now a candidate for the Cancer Vaccine Project, but they must raise a huge amount of money in a short amount of time to fund the vaccine trial.
As part of their fundraising efforts, Jan has organized a silent auction, Mandalas for Kristin, through the Davis Gallery in Austin, Texas, featuring mandalas of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, created by over 60 artists.
My contribution to the auction is Flow, a mandala temari I created with Kristin in mind, in blues and greens, the colors that bring her peace.
Kristin lives near the ocean, and spends a lot of time on the beach making mandalas in the sand. I made a small video of the stages involved in creating Flow, and paired it with the sounds of waves and shorebirds.
