Mandala Magic

This past week I spent some time taking Julie Gibbons free course on Mandalas called 5 Days of Mandala. I've made mandalas before but in Julies class I learned lots of new things. The course will be up till December 31st so if you are inclined you can still take it.

I call this one the collaged mandala. Underneath the mandala are a series of intentions for the year in six different areas of life.  It was a great exercise just doing the first part but the collage on top really enhanced the experience.

Lotus Mandala.  I loved doing this one.  It involved using a compass and measuring points of reference but it made a complex design easier to accomplish. I tend to often just wing it and then my results are not what I wanted.






















This is a Hamsa mandala.  I started with the circle and my hand and then turned it into the hamsa symbol. I added more symbols, moon and stars and spirals which are all symbols I resonate with.

This is how it looked after I painted it with watercolors. I didn't like the lower pink area.  I added some more doodling it and then it was a mess. I  ended up putting gesso over it and repainting the area. It was a perfect example of not stopping at the right time but I think my rescue was successful.

This is the finished mandala. I added more doodling and now I really like it. I have found working on these mandalas to be quite healing. So much that I decided to join in on Julie's 12 month course Mandala Magic. I usually don't like courses that go that long but in this case it seems more like a spiritual journey than an art class. The meditative process of creating mandalas really speaks to me.

Kate