To get us started on drawing mandalas, I thought I begin with this simple floral mandala that grew out of the scribbles I tend to make when I'm talking to someone on the phone. I've always felt the urge to doodle with I listen. I've noticed that if the conversation is going well, the doodles will evolve to have a cohesive pattern. If not, it tends to be a series of short, repeated marks, like chicken scratches. This may reflect my brain trying to "peck away" repeatedly, either to get my point across or to understand the other person's point of view ~ only a psychologist would know for sure. One thing I have noticed is that I tend to remember more if I've doodled while listening, and again, only a psychologist could explain that as well.
The more I drew them, the more "organized" the doodle became, eventually settling on this:
For an easy step-by-step to draw this mandala (or your variation on it), have a look at the handout below. I encourage you NOT to try to duplicate it exactly. Feel free to develop your own marks and patterns. The only consistent things are to connect your lines towards the center, and to rotate the drawing as you go to keep it balanced. But don't worry too much if it's not perfect ... flowers are meant to be flexible and organic. Just relax and enjoy the process.
Wow, you're amazing if you can "imagine" a circle and draw 8 equal length petals going out to the edge. Mine would not resemble a circle. (might be the right brain/left brain thing). When we learned these at the Westcoast Calligraphy Society we used a compass or a coffee cup to draw a circle lightly in pencil.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, of course, imagining 8 equal petal from the start *is* difficult. It would be more accurate to say that I drew the second petal directly across from the first one, then drew the third one by dividing the space in half, then drew the fourth one directly across from number there, and so on. In terms of petal length, organic things are never perfect and these maybe less so than usual? :)
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