Today, I am so pleased to bring you a lovely interview with Katie Flowers from Wild At Art Studio in Honk Kong. Katie has taken a couple of my classes and also teaches art to children and adults. She took the Mixed Media Mandala class earlier this year and I am so pleased to be sharing her work and mandala insights below.
What kind of mandalas have you explored before?
I started making Mandalas through the process of teaching Grade Two Students in an art class and researching the “How to’s” . After that I stumbled upon Dion Dior who was running a class on 21 secrets called Wisdom Circles and I began to explore all sorts of pens and surfaces and methods. I then filled big and large sketchbooks with penned Mandalas.
What is it you love most about mandalas?
I would say that I have become captivated by the rhythm and repetition of developing motifs that work in a circle. I have become soooo precise in my practice which I didn’t think I would enjoy.
Recently there has been some turbulence to life! Moving house and place of work at the same time and I have found that coming him to continue working on a mandala painting has been a truly ‘grounding’ experience and I have craved the gentle security of the repetition……
What kind of mandalas do you love to create with the most?
Paint and doodles for sure.
What excited you most about taking part in the “Mixed Media Mandala” class
Breaking out of my sketchbook ! and learning new ways to experiment with an artform I am truly addicted to !!
Which was your favourite part and why? What did you enjoy most about the class?
LOVE collaging mandalas alongside painting them and have enjoyed experimenting with blending both.
In what ways did the course open up a new world of Mandala creating for you?
I loved how Louise’s course started us all off in a free range experimental way, exploring circle designs, that really loosened me up and I loved the “play” and legitimacy of “anything goes!!” Doing this helps me to grow new styles, and shapes and starting points, try out new ideas and not get stuck in developing the same repetitive motifs.
What are the top 3 things you are taking away from this class?
Create boldly and elevate your work by creating on a canvas! Doing this course gave me the impetus to move out of my sketchbook and onto a “public” surface !!! So now my Mandalas are hung on my wall instead of just occupying pages.
Creating on a mixed media background gives the mandala images a rich layered sense and of course that background is more forgiving of any blips and slips!!
For me using backgrounds papers that have relevance helps me to give my mandalas deeper meaning and context. For example I used the pages of the England map book deputing destinations that had visited to make a Mandala when I returned from a trip this summer and I have just made a mandala for a departing friend using the geological maps of our Island as the background.
I always return to Louise’s loosening up activates though, otherwise I can get stuck in a similar design groove, I need to break out and experiment every now and then to keep fresh.
What would you say when recommending this class to a friend.
Totally accessible, anyone can come in from a whole variety of starting points. Brilliantly written, unbelievably thorough material. Well paced, anyone can work at their level and speed. Highly stimulating to be sharing participants work on the Facebook group page.
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I live with my family on a small island in the South China Sea. I create Art and Art Journals on a daily basis, the driving need to create and share the magic of the world inspired me to become an art teacher and I cannot imagine my own life without making art each day.
I teach art at Hong Kong International School and run my own business Wild at Art Ltd, facilitating adult art retreats in Hong Kong. I have recently learned to create Mixed Media Mandalas with Louise and utterly love the rhythmic process or repeating motifs in a circular form.
Connect with Katie here: Website | Facebook | Flickr
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Join us in the next class!
Would you like to explore the sacred circle and mixed media mandalas further? I would love for you to join me to dive deeply in the 4 week “Mixed Media Mandalas” online class.
By the end of class, you will have a journal full of sacred circles and at least one finished mixed media piece of artwork to hang on your wall.