About Mandalas

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What a Mandala means to me

To me, creating using this sacred circle is a journey into ourselves. It creates a space of quiet contemplation, sacred marks, intuition and belonging.

I loose myself when I am creating a mandala and find the beauty and completeness of creating them one of the most opening and satisfying creative practices. Mandalas can take as little as 2 minutes to create in my journal or several hours when I am working on a mixed media painting full of layers, colors and depth.

I love creating mixed media mandalas, nature mandalas and photographing natural mandalas in nature

What is a Mandala?

The word “mandala” is from Sanskrit, and can be translated as “the sacred circle of life”. I absolutely love this description as my key focus of the mandalas I create are all about what we see in the natural world.

AND of course, my studio “The Flower of Life” is named after the universal pattern of life and energy in mandala making 🙂 Mandalas in nature can be observed through the macro lens into flowers, snowflakes and fruit to the vastness of galaxies, planets and universal energy.

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Images above: macro view of the center of a flower, red cabbage, a line drawing of an onion and the rotation of venus.

The feeling of creating and viewing a mandala can be very personal to each and every one of us. You may prefer to create a mandala intuitively from the center out using small icons to connect together, or start with a circle already drawn to doodle inside the shape. Of course, there are some more formal views on what a mandala is and how traditionally they are created, but the two main types I like to refer to are 1) Mandalas that can be of a free form organic expression of shapes, doodles and colors OR 2) they can be exact in mathematical proportions which results more towards “sacred geometry.”

Why Create One?

The creation of mandalas are used frequently within art therapy, meditation and many other vehicles for journeying into the self or mind. I believe that mandala creation can be whatever we would like it to be and this is why simply sitting silently to be with yourself for a moment will enable that creativity to flow freely. Many meditate before creating a mandala and many see the process of creation as a meditation in itself. I use mandala drawing as a meditation practice and it helps me get back into my creative flow.

Drawing a mandala will center you and may also offer a sense of peace and calmness which is why they are such amazing tools to start the day with.

Would you like to explore further?

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Mixed Media Mandalas online classMixed Media Mandalas Online 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.

 

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Monday Mandala {includes a free mandala mini class}

Check out my FREE MANDALA series from my blog here. In this series, I show a few ideas on getting started with creating mandalas using different materials and drawing from a variation of inspiration sources. Most Monday’s I also post a Monday Mandala on instagram or my facebook page here.

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