Mandala Art in Progress

I've Changed to a new Blog Site

2008-10-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

To view my latest art progressions...goto ArtProgressions.wordpress.com

Circles: 9/24/08

2008-09-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

I continued to color in the lower left hand area of the painting today.

Here's a close-up shot of the details.

Throughout the painting I want to create depth and dimension and the illusion of layers. That's accomplished by coloring in shadows. Some of the earlier areas will need more shadows which I'll go back and finish as this painting progresses.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/23/08

2008-09-28T15:10:00.001-07:00

Today I focused on the lower left hand area of the painting.

And a close-up shot of the details. To create the shadow effect on the blue outer circle, I colored with prismacolor black grape where I wanted the shadow. Then I colored over that with prismacolor true blue and copenhagen blue.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/20/08

2008-09-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

I colored the "Circles" painting in two sessions today. For both sessions I focused on coloring in the upper left-hand portion of the painting. Here's the overview of the first session.

Here's a close-up view of the first session of coloring.

I continued in the same area for the second session.

Here's a close-up view of the second session.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/19/08

2008-09-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today, I continued coloring in the upper left hand corner of the painting.

Here's a close-up shot of the details. To create the illusion of the red ball being above the orange circle, I colored with prismacolor black cherry in the orange section in a crescent moon shape. I then colored over the black cherry with canary yellow and scarlet lake pencils.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/14/08

2008-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Three days in a row now, I've been able to make progress on this painting. Here I focused on the upper left hand corner of the painting.

Here's a close-up shot of the detail in that area.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/13/08

2008-09-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Wow...two days in a row I was able to spend time on this painting.
Here's a close-up photo of the area I colored

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 9/12/08

2008-09-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I colored this piece and I've missed it. I spent about an hour adding more detailed coloring to this.

Here's a detail photo of the area I colored.

Happy Coloring,

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Circles: 7/27-8/3/08

2008-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated this page...many apologies. I had 3 coloring sessions since my last post. Here are the images, in chronological order.

July 27

July 31

August 3

To view the previous post for this painting, goto:
http://www.maiahcreations.com/maiahblog/2008/07/circles-71308.html

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

da Vinci Days: Nautilus Mandala

2008-07-19T14:48:00.001-07:00

I was invited to be a demonstrating artist for this year's da Vinci Days Sidewalk Chalk art event. da Vinci Days is a big deal here in Corvallis and celebrates art and science. So much is going on that it's impossible to visit everything. It offers something for everyone.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I was given a 5'x6' foot spot to create a mandala in 3 hours. This photo shows my beginning blank slate.
The first thing I did was to draw out the grid I designed for symmetrical mandalas. I did the calculations the night before know that I was going to do a 4' diameter mandala. This shot, and most that follow, was taken from the opposite side of the first photo.
Once the grid was in place, I drew out the design, which is similar to a nautilus shell. This, too, I sketched out the night before. It took me about an hour to get this far in the process.
I used the primary and secondary colors for my palette. Here's the first set of primary colors. I used purple and some black to give it a little depth. In the yellow section, I also used some dark orange and brown.
Here it is more than 1/2 way through coloring the primary spirals.
At this point I finished this stage of coloring the spirals.
It's a little difficult to see here, you can just make out the secondary colors used at the top of each spiral section. The secondary colors were placed as complimentary to their primary color (green to red, purple to yellow, and orange to blue).
Here's the completed version. I went back over the spirals adding black and purple to exaggerate the shapes. I also use a light cream on the outside curve of each spiral to lighten & brighten.

For the 'spray' coming out of each point I used primary a light yellow, with a little pink, red, blue, and green. The remaining photos show the design from several different angles. The written message is "I move forward in stillness & acceptance...making changes as I go along" which is all the room I had for it. The full message is "I move forward in stillness & acceptance; making alterations, as needed, along the way."

The most difficult part about creating this pieces was knowing that within a few days it would be completely worn away. I realize that the Tibetan Monks create sand mandalas only to destroy them in the end as a way to express our human impermanence on this planet. I stood an extra few minutes to enjoy it and then walked away.

For more information about da Vinci Days, goto: www.davinci-days.org

Happy Coloring,

Maiah, The Mandala Lady

www.TheMandalaLady.com

Circles: 7/13/08

2008-07-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

I did two sessions of coloring on 7/13/08. Here are the overviews and details of each.

Circles: 7/10/08

2008-07-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

I started coloring in the details for this painting. To give the sections more depth I'm blending black grape prismacolor pencil with whatever was originally colored in that section.

Here's a detailed image of the first section I colored.

Circles: 7/5/08

2008-07-12T11:20:00.001-07:00

Today I finished the entire first layer of color.

Circles: 7/3/08

2008-07-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finished the upper right hand corner and middle right sections.

Circles: 7/2/08

2008-07-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

I added some more coloring to the upper middle and right section. Slowly but surely it's coming along.

Circles: 6/27/08

2008-06-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

I continued to color this piece, the upper middle & middle section. I choose my colors randomly by looking over at my palette of pencils, which include true blue, copenhagen blue, indigo blue, goldenrod, yellow ocher, canary yellow, lemon yellow, raspberry, scarlet lake, crimson red, cloud blue, black cherry and dioxide purple. All are prismacolor brand pencils.

Circles: 6/14-6/20/08

2008-06-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

This project idea came out of sitting at the bus stop during a particularly wet spring while watching the rain drops hit the puddles and their ripples. The circles are a little difficult to see in this photo. Rather than do a traditional mandala shape, the mandala circles are within the 22x30 in rectangular paper.

Step 1: Drew the circles 6/14/08

Step 2: Lay the first layer of color throughout the piece. I began with the upper left hand corner 6/19/08

Step 2 (cont): Added more color, working down the left side and towards the middle 6/20/08

Mixed Media: Daisies 6/14/08

2008-06-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I started applying color pencils to this painting. Basically what I do is look for shapes and add more definition, contrast, and color to them.
View previous entry for this painting

Mixed Media: Coils 6/14/08

2008-06-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

I removed the coils to reveal this. The next step is to add color pencils and possibly some markers to enhance the nooks and crannies of this painting.
View previous entry for this painting

Abstract Watercolor/Mixed Media: Blues & Reds 06/14

2008-06-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Now that I finished with the watercolor spraying, I started coloring in sections with color pencils to give it more shape and definition.
See previous blog entry from this painting.

Mixed Media: Coils 6/13/08

2008-06-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Last night I added yellow ink to this painting. I sprayed the paper with water first and then 'dropped' the ink onto the paper. Some of the coils had moved while moving the whole piece from my table to the window shelf of my studio.

In the lower left hand corner you can just make out about 5 or 6 blue blobs where a coil had been.

Mixed Media: Coils 6/12/08

2008-06-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

I know...it's been awhile. I let other things take precedence over playing. What a world...what a world.

I started a new piece today. The white coils are from the coil bindings I use for my coloring books. Because the coils are longer than the length of the books, I have to clip off the excess. I was going to throw them away and thought better of it.

I taped down wet watercolor paper, dropped the coils down on the paper, spread them out a bit, and then, using a dropper, drop blue drawing ink onto the paper. The ink immediately spread out. Whatever pooled up, I sprayed with water to help spread it around.

In this photo the paper and ink are still wet.

Mixed Media: Black/Red Shapes 5/30 - 6/1/08

2008-06-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

On 5/29 I had the idea to put down strips of tape on watercolor paper and then spray with watered-down watercolor paint. On 5/30 I started one. Here I sprayed with black and then red. It's still wet in this photo.

On 5/31 I sprayed another layer of black and then red so that it would create more contrast when I removed the tape. The paint is still wet in this photo.

On 6/1 I removed the tape to reveal the white paper beneath.

After looking at the white space for a while, I saw shapes within the white spaces. I pulled out my color pencils and began coloring. Towards the end of coloring for that day, the thought "a little rough around the edges" came to mind...That may be what I'll call this piece in the end.

Mixed Media: Lapis/Quartz 05/29-30/08

2008-05-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

I started this on 5/29 by grabbing a piece of scrap watercolor paper and taping to a piece of gatorboard. I added some lapis beads, two quartz crystals, and a piece of a butterfly wing, the pattern of which was used in the creation of the Butterfly Mandala I created in 2002.

I sprayed the damp paper with diluted cobalt blue and some diluted sap green watercolor paints. This is how it appeared while it was all still wet.The next morning (5/30), when dry, I took this photo. Some color pooled up around the edges and then around the lapis and crystals.
Here's a close-up shot.
I removed the lapis beads, crystals, and tape. This is how it now looks.
And here's a close-up of it. I decided to leave the wing in the painting. Now it's ready for painting or colored pencils.

Mixed Media: Green/Black 05/27-30/08

2008-05-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I started this piece around 5/27. While the paper was wet, I sprayed it with diluted black and diluted yellow watercolor paints. Because the paper was wet without it being taped down, the colors blended and pooled creating the effect you see here after it dried.
On 5/29 I added some coarse beach sand that I collected in Yachats, Oregon. I also placed a clear quartz crystal just above and to the right of center. I sprayed it with some diluted phtalo blue and diluted yellow watercolor paints, giving it a greenish tint.Here's a close-up shot of the dried painting the next morning. The crystal is more visible here. Notice how the color pools up in feather lines around the sand.

I removed the sand and crystal and this is what remains.