My art time has been limited recently between it being too cold in the house to hold a pencil or paint brush and kids getting sick one after the other. I admit, therefore, that, when I saw that last week’s Life Book lesson was on the subject of manadalas, I almost decided to skip it entirely. Mandalas are just not “me”. Just as I am not zen enough to translate my doodles into zentangles, nor am I precise or measured enough to produce mandalas. I actually much prefer asymmetry, wonkiness and imprecision in my art. I am also a little queasy about the cultural appropriation inherent in producing something related to a style so rooted in a particular culture and one to which I do not remotely belong. However, you know all too well that I am a control freak and anal retentive. It was making me feel a little twitchy to not attempt a lesson. After all, the entire point of me participating in Life Book is that it forces me to leave my comfort zone and try new things and – in doing so – learn what things work for me and perhaps assimilate them into my regular practice and find out what things don’t work for me and henceforth avoid them like the plague. Finally, after a week of bone-numbing cold and having kids home sick – one after the other, of course – I really needed to decompress with a good chunk of art time.
The lesson was taken by Faith Evans-Sills and involved collage and layering and, obviously, adding a mandala as a focal point. As you can see, there is no accurate measuring, no mathematical precision in my mandala but it is as good as I can get. I used colours I associate with Spring because man oh man do I need Spring to arrive.
I think this is just beautiful and it is perfectly mandala and yet totally your own work, I see your style in it. I also love the drips/hair/tinsel.
Thanks. Yes, drips, spatter, and dots had to be done. The tutorial involved using stencils and such like to add layers but making deliberate mess with paint felt much more “me” than making a non-deliberate mess with stencils.
ah – I totally get this with mandalas and symmetry! that said, I love what you’ve made here. These are the colours of spring – it’s on its way soon I’m sure!!
Thank you very much. I certainly hope Spring will arrive soon. I am so done with Winter.
I love mandalas and like this one you have made – I too think it has signs of Laura-ness all through it 🙂 I hope your home is warm again and everyone is starting to feel better. Spring can’t be too far away – I’m hanging out for winter 🙂
“Laura-ness”. I rather like that. And I really love that you can detect my style even in pieces that are not so much “me”.
Yes, we had new heating installed on Friday so are all cosy and comfortable once again. Just in time for the temperatures to rise outside. I really hope we have seen off the last of the snow. I need a new season.
I think it’s the background 🙂
That’s definitely the bit that’s my style. The mandala definitely isn’t.
Oh my gosh Laura, you’ve hit a home run here!
Thank you very much, Hannah. I always appreciate your encouraging comments.
Absolutely adore this Laura! Such beautiful colors and lines which all work together perfectly!
Thank you very much, Laura. I appreciate your supportive comment.
You did a great job in a short time! Love the spring colors you used.
Thank you, Carmen. Not doing the stencilling layer helped shave off some time in the process. I also did no measuring for the mandala. No time for even attempting precision.
I love mandalas and I love your mandala and the colors that went with it. It is so hot and humid here now and your mandala gave me the feeling of freshness, cool winds and a few drops of rain.
Thank you. I’m glad those colours had that connotation.
Looks great… I love the contrast if the mandala against the collage background! Glad to hear your hearing woes are over too 😃
Thanks. It actually turned out better than I expected but mandalas are still just not my thing.
Mine neither. I reckon the repetition of motifs and trying to get the symmetry right would drive me nuts!
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