Mandala

This morning I was out for a walk with Kai and I felt the familiar stirring that I wanted to make something. I sorted through whether it was something written or drawn, coloured or black and white, realistic or abstract, 3 dimensional or 2 dimensional and eventually realised that I wanted to make a mandala. Then, in my mind I went through my paper collection and and decided on a grey page. I got home, dug into my art supply stocks and sat down to make this. A few hours later and here it is. I feel so much more relaxed and centred.

Natural Symmetry

Natural Symmetry, 10 x 14″, ink & goache on paper

I’ve been thinking about incorporating colour into my mandalas for months. This is my first attempt at combining mandala and painting. The mediums used here are ink and goache on watercolour paper. Next time I’d like to try using coloured pencils with a mandala to see what’s possible with textures.

This piece considers symmetry found in nature alongside the symmetry of geometry and mathematics. I used the air plants here because of their unfurling nature and the markings on the geometric centre were inspired by the markings of butterfly wings.

A sneaky puppy

 

Bird’s Eye View

Pen & ink, 10 x 14

This is my first mandala of 2014. It’s called Bird’s Eye View. It was snowing steadily all day today. Even though it was a fairly warm day in comparison to recent days, I couldn’t bring myself to walk to the art store for more canvas. Instead, I spent the afternoon drawing at the dining table.

Recently, I’ve been watching a documentary series called Through the Wormhole. One episode  I saw last week looked at near death experiences. In that episode, there was a snippet of footage of a butterfly flying through a forest. Since then the idea of flying with an animals eyes has stuck with me. One of the ideas discussed involved the notion that at the moment of death, our minds might latch on to the consciousness of other being in a quantum like transfer of awareness. That’s the best way I can restate it – non technical as I am.

This mandala explores that idea – of reaching out beyond human form and seeing life through another’s eyes.

Hope you enjoy the mandala, and as always thanks for being interested in my work.

Regrounding

After I wrote my last post I started this mandala. Making mandalas are such good therapy. I feel much more grounded now.

Regrounding Mandala, pen & ink on paper

Union

This piece was done with thoughts of two of my friends who are getting married this spring. The piece is composed of two framed mandalas. Each reflects the other and are bound together by the spirit of the bird. It’s a story about the love and union of two separate and beautiful souls.

Union, pen & ink on paper

Earth and Sky Mandala

Earth and Sky Mandala

I’ve been doing this mandala over the past week. It’s the first full piece I’ve done for about a month. In my past few drawings I have been playing around with different pen & ink techniques to create more evocative shadows and forms. With this piece I wanted to try abstracting the mandala form. While working on it I remembered how much I enjoyed drafting in University. Although I’ve been drawing black and whites for most of my life, my understanding of pen weights is definitely from Architecture school.

You might notice if you’ve been following my work, that I have a thing for trees. This mandala shows what it is about trees that I love so much. Trees are the perfect union between earth and sky. They are balanced between the dark of the soil and the light of the sun. As below, so above; their branches and roots resemble some kind of organic celebration of light and abundance. On a certain level this mandala is about darkness and light and their interdependence in nature and in the human condition. We sometimes forget that it is through our individual darkness that light and life can grow. Each has equal weight and illumination.

I’ll put up a better quality image of this mandala when I have it scanned.

Thanks for tuning in.