Myself (Mandala Art)

 Mandala art originated in India. The Buddhist monks spread Mandalas along the Silk Road in the form of Rangoli designs. It spread throughout Asia and was soon adopted by other cultures like Tibet, China and Japan. 

(The Silk Road is India's ancient network of land and sea trade routes that connect East and West). 

The word Mandala is Sanskrit (language) for 'circle', and symbolizes the universe, with designs around a central point.

By the 20th century Mandalas had been introduced into western culture as tools for self-exploration and for achieving inner balance.

I found Mandala art through Pinterest and thought I would like to 'give it a go'. I already had some acrylic paints and I found sound thick card pieces that I had saved. In January I started by making some circle shapes. I enjoyed dotting my circles and so went on to make some coasters using various designs. I preferred using black backgrounds as I felt this showed the colours I was using better. Each design took me between 1 hour and 11/2 hours. I made six coasters in all taking around 6 hours. I went on to doing various circular designs and also included some book marks. 

I shared my work with our local Trefoil Guild at one of our meetings. It was interesting to see what designs other members came up with. I found this a useful session as it gave me ideas on how I could improve the way I introduced the art and better ways on how to use the tools to make the designs.

I produced my art work onto different mediums. I painted the lids to small glass jars, and to heart shaped candle holders.

I filled a craft slot at the County AGM. where participants dotted coasters or bookmarks. This proved very successful and I was asked if I would do a session at the Anglia AGM.

I tried using an old CD next. This worked out quite well but I realised I should have finely sanded the disk before I added the background paint layer. I thought a set of three or four of these would made good hangers for the garden.

At this point I thought I would like to try a larger Mandala. I had seen an image of a cat that I thought would work well with dot painting. Having left the board white it took me a while to draw the image onto the board. It took me several hours to complete the image. For my first large image I was pleased with the results.

I took a break from the pictures and painted some ear rings for my Grandaughter to sell at the Christmas sale where she had a stall. I also did some Christmas decorations. They were fiddley to do as each side had to have two coats of background paint before the design could be added. All these items were done using iridescent paint which gave them a sparkly finish.

Having finished all the Christmas pieces I bought a sheet of ply wood to use for some larger designs. I first painted a quarter moon followed by a decorated circular mirror and then a geometrical design. I was really pleased with the results and feel these are the best designs to date. I enjoy working on the larger designs as opposed to the smaller ones. For my next design I hope to do a circular design incorporating a clock.