Mandala Magic ~ Hamsa Mandala

More catching up with Mandala Magic. Here's my Hamsa Mandala.
Thank you Julie for an excellent course.

I look forward to taking part in Mandala Magic 2015.

Mandala Magic ~ Manifestation Mandala

Just catching up with Julie Gibbons' 5 Days of Mandala Magic course.

Here's my Manifestation Mandala.

Mandala Magic

I'm currently taking part in the wonderful, free, online workshop 5 Days of Mandala Magic with Julie Gibbons.

Yesterday Julie demonstrated how to create a lotus mandala. Here is my first ever attempt at a lotus mandala.

I took to this like a duck to water! I've always been fascinated with geometric patterns and although I've been aware of mandalas, something about their traditional form always felt a bit inaccessible to me.  But Julie explains how to create these in clear terms without losing any of the mystery and magic behind them. Thank you Julie!

some recent mandalas

evolution of a journal

At the beginning of this year, I bought myself a gorgeous, chunky, lined and dated moleskine diary with the intention of capturing something in it each day, in a way that was different from the usual way of keeping a diary. I bought it because I loved the feel of it, the weight of it in my hand, the dark hard covers, the smooth shiny pages which pens and markers glide so beautifully across.

When I discovered mandalas, they became my way of keeping a diary. And it's the one activity (apart from keeping this blog) that I have been doing with any consistency and regularity throughout the year, so much so that it has become a natural daily practice, and it's all come about organically. It has been a true journal in so many ways, and I didn't even realise it. And just cos it's lined, and I don't paint in it, shouldn't have lessened its value as an "art" journal to me in any way.

It's not only been a personal space, my personal space, it's been a practice of spontaneity and freedom within a simple structure. I have also experimented and played instinctively with colour, design, line, character - things I love most about drawing and making drawings, free from the harsh self-criticism that I usually unleash over my other so called "proper" attempts at art. And free from expectation. So - I had already been keeping an "art" journal and I hadn't even realised it, because I thought an art journal had to be something else, something that looked different to what this looks like, something more elaborate, something more "serious", something a lot more "arty", whatever that means. In the end, I didn't really need somebody else to tell me how to do this. All I really needed to do was trust myself.

Realising this makes me both sad and happy. Sad because I didn't see the value of what I was doing until now, but happy that I finally have. And also relieved, because I don't have to try to be anything or anyone "artistically" other than who I am. I am also relieved, because it means I can let certain things go and simplify and concentrate on the things that really matter to me. I had already been trying to do far too much.

I can't wait to buy my moleskine diary for 2008. And next year, in addition to mandalas, I will perhaps aim to fill the whole page with line and colour and words. And I might just share some of them with you too. ;-)

love, love, love (and some mandalas)

Thank you for the love! It must have done the trick because you know what, I feel almost normal now, which is quite a feat for me. What a relief! Thanks again. xxx

mandalas from the sick bed

I have the flu. I feel like shit. Please send me some love.

mandalas from the week

The fourth one has been photoshopped, it was originally a hand-drawn image and then altered.

latest mandalas

today's mandala

It's been awhile since I've done one of these...

some recent mandalas

the latest mandalas

moon mandalas

dark moon dreaming

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crescent moon emerging

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moon child rising

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dark moon falling

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The changing faces of the moon...and a happy event that my moon mandalas coincide with this week's illustration friday topic...

some recent mandalas