June : Be relaxed with organic mandalas

Another take on mandalas, this time with no rulers and very few rules. I started making these spontaneously during phone calls with friends. I'm not sure if they were a reflection of the flow of our conversation or not, but I found them very relaxing so I started drawing them more and more often, even away from my phone calls. 

Since this kind of mandala is based on flowing organic shapes, you don't need to focus on perfect spacing. While drawing it I was thinking more about how nature would fill the empty space rather than how logic would fill it. There are actually only a few different kinds of shapes and lines you need to do this as well. Here are the ones I rely on most:

I start by imagining a circle on my page. You can make it any size you like, but I tend to imagine one about the size of the palm of my hand. This seems like a "natural" sort of size for my hand to make the shapes easily. Your experience may vary. And, of course, once you've got started, you can keep your mandala spreading out from the center in a natural, organic way.

Here's a step by step ... 

Imagine your circle and starting at the center, draw a line out to the edge of your circle, then go back to the center just to one side of your first line, then back out to the edge again, but this time on the other side of your first line. You've drawn a long leaf. Now turn your page and draw another long leaf directly across from your first leaf. For example, if your first leaf is at number 1, then your next one will be at number 2. Then turn your page and draw a leaf halfway between those two (at number 3), turn and another halfway on the other side (at number 4). Keep adding long leaves in between the ones you've already drawn. I usually find 8 leaves are just about right for this first step.

Step 2:

Now imagine a circle halfway between the center and the tips of the leaves you've already drawn. Draw shorter leaves in between the long leaves. Notice how messy my center is getting! Lots of overlapping lines, but it looks perfectly natural, so don't worry.

Step 3:

Step 3 is where you can start adding fun (and not entirely logical) ornamentation. These could be berries or dewdrops or whatever you like to think of them. The way my brain works, if it's getting too linear (long straight lines), I add small details in a different shape (circles). Add whatever you think your mandala needs using whatever combination of lines and shapes you like.

Step 4 (ad infinitum):

Just keep adding! Tendrils with a curl at the end can reach all the way from the center to the outside edge. Nothing says a leaf can't have a pair of leaves attached to it. Just have fun!

Here's one I drew in my journal. I decided it needed a little company, so I collaged and painted around it, and then being the person I am, I also recorded which lines I'd used. Notice how the "fat leaves" look more like blossoms when you add unexpected colour. Having no rules can be fun ... 

Next post: Zentangle!