Mandala revisited at Jackie's

Diane's Mandala

On Wednesday, August 17, 2011, I taught my first art class. I received no money for the class. 10 of my friends had admired the two mandala's I had made. One in a class last August at Zinnia's in South Pasadena (see my blog dated Aug. 2010). The class at Zinnia's was taught by an artist named Kari Atol. I believe she had learned the technique from a class she took from Anahata.

Kari's husband had made for class very nice wood pieces to put our mandala's on and then had some extra which she was selling. I purchased an extra one and hence I had two mandalas.

My soldering guru, Margo, has a husband who was kind enough to make us more wood squares. Each student had their own and was told to bring collage/scrapbook paper, gold foil and gold foil glue and craft paint. The other necessary "tools" I made available for everyone to use.

June brought a book with many interested takes on artists in many fields' Mandalas. I brought my one finished mandala that I did myself and had combined designs I had found. I also brought my first mandala that is still not completed (story of a lot of artist's?), for my friends to see up close and tough.

I think I have learned much and so hopefully have my friends. For your project, it is best to work with the simplest of patterns. The one I choose and so did a couple of others, was very hard to follow. KISS (keep it simple stupid) should be remembered when starting a new project with new techniques.

Another very important tip that I don't think I expressed enough because I truly didn't realize the importance of when working with foil and foil glue: apply a very thin coat of the adhesive and wait for it to almost try. Most of us were excited and didn't wait long enough.

Here are my friends as they embarked on their spiritual journal. First step collaging.

lf. to rt. Jackie, June, Deborah and Diane


back to front Robin, Kat, Georgia and Sally

Below are various works in progress. They kind of don't look like much, do they? We still had to let them dry and add the design.

Margo's

Here are my humble beginnings. See my work evolve starting with the collage to the foil and adding elements including Stickles and stars. Still not completely finished but, I think it has come a long way from it's humble beginnings.

Sally's beginnings

Trying to deal with complicated pattern



Sally's almost complete Mandala
It's not quite this dark in person.
Bad lighting

Close up. Can you see the Stickles and Debi's bird printed
on tissue and attached? Sharpie work and punched out stars.
Almost finished.

Robin

Robin's work up close

I believe that Robin said at the end of the day that she wished she had incorporated more color into her piece in the very beginning. I can't wait to see what she has done with this project after adding paint.

Kathie's

Margo and Debi

Kathie working diligently on her own design!

What's up Kat?

I believe we had three people working in the purple color scheme. Kat, Diane and Elena.

June happily at work

June's Mandala

Jackie, our hostess

My first teacher, Georgia

Elena

There are a couple of things special about Elena. One is her charity foundation, Charity Wings, which is a full time job. The other is how fast she works. I have been with her so many times when we all start off at the same time on a project and she just whips through it. And it always looks amazing when she is done.

See below how Diane's project changes as she adds the different techniques and layers to her project. She is so great with color.

Diane

I know all my friends are great with color and designs and some have more experience than others. Check out how much her mandala changed as she added the pattern, foil and paint. Amazing.

Deborah

Deborah

Below is is Debi's collage. I love the way that she seems to have really planned what she was going to do. The directions that were given to me said not to approach this project this way. But, I think again, there is no right nor wrong way to do this and I thought her project was beautiful. It almost looks like a fabric quilt.


Most of us did not finish. This project is probably best done when you can put your work outside to dry. There aren't any pieces totally finished to show you. I have gone back and done a little more work and I think we might all meet and work more together on our pieces. There is still the doodling and extra stuff that has to be added like Stickles to make our pieces sing.