You have to believe that there is good in the world. I’m going to say that you have to believe that the work of your hands will bring it into your life. You may be wrong, but if you don’t believe that you will not have a life. You may call it one. But it won’t be one.      - Cormac McCarthy The Passenger, page 174
Sometimes I think that drawing is enough. I haven't cut any new square mandalas since spring of 2022. I've just been drawing. The pencil drawings above, all 7 x 7 inches, on graph paper, were drawn between August and December of 2022. I may yet expand on them, cut them out, paint them. Perhaps. Perhaps the drawings are enough.
https://www.dougwestendorp.com/pencil-2020-22.html
Contemplative Art in Disquieting Times
Anything, visible or invisible, may be contemplated. However, some things tend to draw the contemplative eye more closely than others. My artwork, and this website, are created with this in mind, out of a meditative intention for all viewers. You will find here both visual work and poetry. It is not a commercial site, but a portfolio site, as well as a forum for community discussion. 
Picture
Teninch four. 10 x 10 inch cut paper mounted on pinewood panel. 2021
https://www.dougwestendorp.com/ten-inch-squares.htm
The drawings above are all from Notebook C.
​Ballpoint ink on 8 1/2 x 11 inch sketchbook paper. 2022
https://www.dougwestendorp.com/biomorphic-c-2022.html
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These "biomorphs," as I've called them, are little more than doodles, really. I've thought of painting them, or in some way adding color... but sometimes I think they might be enough.
 PictureSquare Mandala, cut paper on board, 7 x 7 inches, 2021
Square Mandala series: https://www.dougwestendorp.com/square-mandalas.htm

​"Keep your eyes clean and your ears quiet and your mind serene. Breathe God's air. Work, if you can, under his sky."
Thomas Merton New Seeds of Contemplation
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Finally getting to color!
Ballpoint Ink on 8 1/2 11 paper.

https://www.dougwestendorp.com/new-work-2023.html
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​"Poetry, music and art have something in common with the contemplative experience. But contemplation is beyond aesthetic intuition, beyond art, beyond poetry." - Thomas Merton