Botanical Mandala

Botanical Mandala - student project

08152020: 4th Mandala

These are so much fun to make. A challenge every time! I really want to try a different kind of paper. This is a hot press watercolor paper so it is smooth, but it is soft so the line isn’t as “solid” as I would like it to be. I love getting into the weeds with details and I may make one and then paint it. We will see...

Botanical Mandala - image 1 - student project

 

07272020: 3rd Mandala

These are getting increasingly complex! I did something at the very end that I regretted not thinking through and had to go into fix it mode. As a result the outer most layer got darker than I wanted it to be. 

Botanical Mandala - image 2 - student project

 

07232020: 2nd Mandala

I was so excited about my first mandala, I decided to make another larger one. The first was only 5 inch diameter - this one is 7.5 inches. It was another balancing act and it may not be quite settled yet but I need to live with it. I approached it differently than the first in that I started to fill areas in as I went along when an idea came to me - in pencil! 

Is it too over the top? : )  It has so much movement in it that my eyes are whirling around.

Botanical Mandala - image 3 - student project

 

07182020: 1st Mandala

I watched the class about a week ago and decided not to watch it again before I made my first mandala. Now that I am here looking at other projects, I see the simplicity of the one I did compared to the details of the what was presented in the class. 

That said, I loved the process of doing mandalas using this method and was actually quite inspired by the continuing 10 degree lines that were going off the page as a possible follow up mandala.

I have been doing mandalas in Chris Carter’s classes - totally different approach with the aim being to learn about color in the context of mandalas. It was a kick to discover this class and enjoyed it immensely.

Now to get out my watercolors and use some color...hmmm...or maybe add some botanical details first. 

Botanical Mandala - image 4 - student project

On second thought...I checked out the worksheet provided and decided that I was thinking too much about painting the mandala - and I have been painting a LOT of mandalas over the last couple of months! This second image is a result of getting more into the spirit of black and white with patterns defining gray. It was really fun to take the mandala I did as a starting point for further exploration. I am really pleased with the results. It was a bit of a seesaw effect when I would change an aspect in the design to get more darks into it and have everything else shift to not quite working. I went through this process more than a couple of times to achieve a balance.

 

Botanical Mandala - image 5 - student project