Red Star Mandala

When I want to create but have little energy, I often turn to the free graphics editing program Sumopaint and make mandalas from images I already have on hand.

This mandala was created from a photo of a painting in progress (shown below).
I really love how the texture of the canvas itself shows up in this mandala and makes beautiful, feathery lines.

The painting in progress is small and simple so far. I'm enjoying the colours.

Golden Light
5"x7"
acrylic on canvasboard

Pink Morning Glory Mandala

created using sumopaint.com

Source Image:

Flower Within Mandala

I love this mandala - both the regular and the inverted versions make me smile :-)

created using sumopaint.com
source image (an envelope I decorated by hand):

Inspiration Cloud Mandala

Hmm... this blog seems to be mostly mandalas lately.
I have been doing a huge amount of art journalling/playing and painting.
These mandalas get shared most because they are so easy to post since I don't have to upload and edit images from my camera! And they're sooo much fun to make :-)





The source image for this mandala is a pen and marker drawing I did that I called an 'inspiration cloud' - doodles surrounding an empty place to write inspiring text:

Sunny Mandala

Rain has returned to southern Ontario and I am yearning for the sunshine that has made only brief appearances so far this spring!
This sunny mandala was created out of that yearning:


created using Sumopaint.com

Source image (St. John's Wort):

Sparkly Mandala

click on image if you'd like to see a larger version

created in Sumopaint.com from source image:

Three More Mandalas

source images:

Serpent Mandalas

These mandalas are made using Sumopaint.com






The source image is of a beautiful garter snake I met a few summers ago:

Willow Tree Mandalas

I'm still having so much fun using the graphics programs I learned of recently.

Both of these mandalas had the same source image - weeping willow branches glowing in the sun against a blue sky.



I'm so excited at how they turned out!





Source image:

Springy Mandala

Thanks to Shala from the blog Don't Eat The Paste, I was just recently exposed to some great, free online graphics editing programs. She wrote excellent reviews of them and I encourage you to check out her post on the subject: Online Graphics Applications

Having lost my Photoshop Elements CD a few years ago, I've been so excited to play with these programs! They each have things I like best about them. This image was made in SumoPaint.
The original image is my watercolour painting Jubilant.
I love how this mandala turned out SO much! The colours felt springlike to me.
You can click on the image to see a larger version if you like. There are some really neat details. Every time I look at it I see different things in it :-)
Happy Spring!