Prior to this personal project I have never created my own mandala, but now that I have I can say that I truly enjoy the practice. As I began to draw my first mandala I struggled with the techniques of mandala making, such as the symmetrical aspect of mandalas. I was not satisfied with my first few attempts to create a mandala, however I think that the practice that I received from those attempts helped me to produce an outcome that I actually liked. For my first mandala I decided that I wanted to stick to using only a pencil and a black pen to create my art, but later in the process I am planning to add colors to my artwork and use different drawing utensils.
So far creating mandalas has been a very relaxing and calming practice and it has given me the opportunity to find time during stressful days to relax and do something that I enjoy.
My hope for my project is to still experiment with the different techniques of mandala making. As of now, I am creating mandalas on a small scale, so that I can focus on the intricacy of each piece that I make. However, I want to create a mandala on a larger scale and devote my time to creating one big mandala. Although I will still focus on the intricacy of the mandala, I think it will be beneficial to make a mandala that takes a lot of time and patience.
Image of my first mandala
Details of my mandala
I am really glad that you were able to overcome the learning curve that’s presented by designing a mandala of your own. I admire your artwork so far and I am excited to see how it will progress over time! Are there certain symbols that you wish to incorporate meaning into your next mandala? What kind of message are you looking to convey with this or each specific piece? Do they all add up to a larger theme or message? Learning what drives you to choose each design and the meaning / thought behind it would be really interesting!
Hey Jordan! Your mandala looks so cool, I can tell that you have been practicing and paying attention to details. I think it is a good idea to start off with just using pencil and pen so you can familiarize yourself with the process and then experimenting with colors later on. A suggestion I have for you is to connect creating mandala to non-violence text from our class or other scholarly articles online.