Creating my first Mandala

Starting with a central spot, I worked a series of doodles outwards, turning my page to complete each 'round'. Working quickly and without planning its exciting to see what emerges - shells, stars, bugs?
I used watercolour washes for the background and aquarelles for the detail, with gold acrylic for the highlights. It has photographed well....
It did however, almost end in disaster as I'd picked up a non waterproof fineliner to draw, which smudged as I added wet medium! Always best to check! Its blurred and muddied in small areas but I tried to keep it as dry as possible.
What struck me about this piece was that I succeeded in squaring the circle and back again....

This just about summarises the story of my life to date! As Mother Theresa famously said ' God never makes you tackle anything he thinks you cant handle. I just wish he had less faith in me.' Not that I'd liken myself to a saint of course...

Purple Haze

This pattern has a vortex like effect, sucking you into the design. The mica paints seem to show up more on this photograph and in reality, they really twinkle!
I agree that it provides a great way to relax and I completed this while listening to Wimbledon - an unusual example of multi tasking but preferable to attacking the ironing mountain in the kitchen!
What might this choice of colours indicate? Its so girly, it reminded me of shimmery lipsticks. Perhaps I need another?

Circles of Light

Typically, I've gone off at a tangent for my next class.... Dion Dior (great name!) specializes in the art of luminescence, namely glitter, shimmer,sparkle and shine! I like to learn a little more about the artists before I start and came across her additional courses. Wisdom Circles- the making of Mandalas- caught my eye and away I went.

This was just a colouring exercise as a warm up but with some doodling I managed to make it look alot more intricate.
I used my existing mica pigment Cosmic Shimmers, an Edding black drawing pen and Koh I Nor intense
watercolours.
Mandala is a Sanskrit word which roughly means circle, but is used to represent the Universe; the tangible world and that of the subconscious.
It is an ancient symbol represented by early Christians, Native Americans, Aztecs, Buddhists and many other cultures and religions.
The making of a Mandala is a meditative process; the choice of colour and pattern reflecting our innermost thoughts and dreams. I selected a pastel of mainly blues, aquas and greens or ocean colours, as I call them. Interesting as I always get sea longing this time of the year!!! (Although I suspect my lovely Porthmeor waves are as grey as this Summer seems to be....)

Daisy from The Great Gatsby

'In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths amongst the whisperings and the champagne and the stars'
F. Scott Fitzgerald.

With trepidation, I practiced drawing a Charleston pose. I never find it easy to get the movement I want in arms and legs and spent alot of time looking at illustrations. I think she's just about dancing?. The headband, sash and shoes sparkle and the dress is pearlescent but dont show up on the photo.

The background was a major challenge. I collaged on deco papers and musical scores including the Black Bottom as danced by Grandma Mary. I wanted the Long Island mansion to feature but it became almost castle like.The cigarette holder and musical notes were a final addition along with the daisies in the grass.

'  So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.'

Unearthing

Danielle Daniel is the art tutor for the next class Unearthing. She believes that dreams are a portal for our subconscious and suggests keeping a bedside notebook for a week. Dream themes will feature in our creations... I tried this and quickly twigged I no longer dream! Probably, circumstances have stopped me having much REM which is a bit worrying as it is supposed to be recuperative!!!
Undeterred and fascinated by her acrylic renderings of whimsical faces, I challenged myself to quickly create a montage of faces, me style just to play with line and remind myself how small changes in positioning etc can result in different expressions.

After watching Danielle's videos a few times I decided to collage 4 small pieces of paper and
practice her method for creating a face and upper torso. Working dark to light with acrylics was alien to me as I am used to laying thin transparent watercolour layers, so it felt very experimental.

Danielle explained how these figures take on a personality of their own and that was so true.

The collaged/acrylic/printed background was fun to create and I like how a layer of white acrylic applied with a brayer knocked the initial bright colours back to make a more muted base. I've called this one Beatrice
as all she needs is a loo seat hat!

This is very Maid Marian. I liked the background colours and these inspired the pagan maiden that emerged. The use of a pearlescent copper on her plait seems to make it glow. I think Danielle's tip of making the irises look left or right really gives the faces character.
This one looks wistful.




I wanted to experiment with a slightly darker skin tone and this girl developed a 50's vibe with her flicked out hair. I tried to include a bit more of a background. I'm not sure if its a gate or ornate window, but with her bouquet, I think she looks like a bridesmaid.

Finally, girl four morphed into Toyah Wilcox with her spiky bobbed red hair and feline features. Its quite exciting to see who is going to emerge
from the background..... I tried to create a blossom tree behind her but I'm not sure if it is too abstract and indistinct?

After practicing I now feel confident about producing a larger piece.
So far I've had only one weird dream about being inside a light bulb so I decided to take inspiration from the film The Great Gatsby which I've just seen. F. Scott Fitzgerald's prose is too beautiful for words and this cinematic version is a feast for the senses WHATEVER the critics say!
So instead of seeing who emerges from the page I'm going to have a go at creating a Daisy Buchanan in all her flapper glory.

Doodling Your Way

Class Two was with Cathy Bluteau,using mainly collaging techniques and marker pens to create a floral design. I had a few Sharpies but not the Copic markers that were recommended... So I followed the 'Just
Work with What You Have' mantra and used Koh i Nor intense dye paints and water soluble crayons as my substitutes.

I love the cover on one of my notebooks which is a copy of a 1902 textile and this scanned provided a source of flowers for my design. These were outlined and doodled and I think the overall effect is very chintzy.
I noticed afterwards that I had slipped into my bubble colour palette again! A way of working which was another novelty for me but very soothing on a wet Summer afternoon.

I started to think about incorporating other scraps such as architectural features and people and decided to have a go at an India themed piece next.

I think my favourite parts of this are the sari colours,the shishas and the Sikh peering out of the window on the right. I loved looking for the different elements to print out and it was a further challenge then working with the different shapes and incorporating them into a whole. I had to add the salutation Namaste - the light within me honours the light within you.

Various 'doodle' searches led to a discovery of Zentangling type activities and this led me off at a tangent. I made a doodle monochrome sampler  from some of the thousand designs that are available.

I especially like the designs with a 3-D 'pop' and the way that even quite complex patterns are built up.
I have already started doodled initials and a name for my daughter in law and husbands birthdays. I must remember to photograph them!

Following the Wild Winds

The first class was by Carissa Paige and called following the Wild Winds. Her philosophy is to actively try to reconnect with our childhood sense of joy and spontanaiety. She creates her art in a very loose and intuitive way, never having a particular endpoint in mind. It has a very spiritual vibe with her talk of animal totems and original medicine and really made me think. The art methods took me out of my comfort zone as I'm usually very neat,precise and disatisfied with anything less than perfection. This way of working was good for me!


The back of this piece was collaged,acrylic paint added with fingers or printed and the figure added last. It represents a very young me lying in the grass reading, with my tipi (complete with healer symbols), a memory of feeling bliss as a child. I found the quote by Tagore, an Indian poet, which expressed my thoughts exactly.


The next piece was such fun! I took a photo of myself, outlined eyes, nose,mouth etc. with pencil and painted over them with gesso. Around this I created a fantasy girl, a Strictly neon beehive and frilly rumba frock that glitters. While I am not remotely this glamorous there is something eerily recognisable in the face,which
I think must be down to our familiarity with the way our features are spaced. Loved doing this.....

Starting Out....

I am currently working my way through 21 Secrets, an online mixed media workshop with tutorials by 21 different artists. I have created a Blog to document my learning travels, but first I need to introduce my beloved travelling companion who particularly 'helps' me with paint,glue and paper. Alexander my 7month old Birman/Ragdoll cross is always within stroking distance or lying in the middle of the table in my craft room!