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...