Tag Archives: mandala

Mandalas are Magic Part 2

A flower-based mandala

A flower-based mandala

I set out to draw one hundred mandalas to help me find my way as an artist. It took about six months. Part of me thought, “why not one thousand,” but I only got to about one twenty five before other things became more interesting to me. I still draw mandalas sometimes, but it used to be a couple a week.

A mandala inspired by Aztec design

A mandala inspired by Aztec design

Patterns started to appear in the mandalas. Although each was different, there were many based on flowers or other plants, many based on crystals. There were mandalas inspired by holidays and mandalas inspired by tragedies. Comedic ones made my smile, perfectly symmetrical ones made my work a little harder.

Too obvious?

Too obvious?

Mandalas Are Magic Part 1

The first of 100 mandalas

The first of 100 mandalas

After my bulletin boards became a regular part of my life, I began to see how visual art made me feel, and how others responded to it. While it was work, it was enjoyable. While I might not be one hundred percent satisfied with the outcome, viewers derived pleasure from it. One day, on a whim, I purchased the Crayola telescoping tower (one hundred fifty colors!) and drew a mandala, something that had interested me in college, but that I had never made a serious study of.

A caddisfly themed mandala for an entomologist friend

A caddisfly themed mandala for an entomologist friend

Mandalas are sort of spiritual maps, or maps of the artist’s soul, if you like. Drawing fast ones had always given me an idea of where I was, balance and focus-wise, and taking more care in creating them helped me see when to take better care of myself, to add more art into my routine.

A monsoon mandala

A monsoon mandala