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):

Mosaic Mandala

I hope you are all having a lovely summer (and winter to those in the southern hemisphere).
The weather has been very weird here this year with temperatures going from cold to hot to cold again all in a single week but in the last few weeks, it's finally been hot more than not and the gardens are suddenly going wild!
I've been spending less time on the computer and more time in 'real life' :-)
My favourite thing about this season is the magic of flowers blooming. I get up each morning excited to go out into the yard and see what new blooms are waiting to light my face up with a smile or awaken my fingertips as I gently touch their petals.

What's your favourite thing about this season?


mandala created using sumopaint.com from source image:

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!

Mandala Drawing 1

As you can see, I love colouring so much that I can't wait until a drawing is 'finished to begin to colour it in.
The only thing I don't like about this is that I would love to make copies of entirely black and white drawing and be able to use them later as colouring pages.
I'm trying to discipline myself to do some drawing without colouring as I go along... for the express purpose of being able to copy them... and maybe share them here in case you'd like to print some out to colour in too!

early in the process

later in the process

I actually kind of prefer how it looked before I drew all of those lines around it (the ones filled with pink and greens).
Oh well!  :-)

I just have to say, again, that I am in love with Pigma Micron pens. (No financial interest)  I just love how they don't smear when I colour on them with marker (or watercolour paint).
:-)

Colouring Fun!

The child in me loves colouring.
There are many neat colouring books you can get these days that are details enough to appeal adult-level colouring skills.
There are also a number of places online where one can print off colouring pages for free.

I can't recall where I printed this one from but it's one of my favourites:

 

My thanks go to http://www.mandalarbre.com for their amazing, inspiring colourable mandalas. They are all designed by Marc Bove and are copyrighted.
They have galleries there where you can see various coloured-in mandalas. It's wonderful seeing all of those vibrant colours!  You often can print out free sample pages.  Here's one:

And if you love whimsy, check out Phee McFaddell's colouring pages!
Lots of fun fairies and fantastical creatures:

I like having a few colouring pages on the go - it can help me get unstuck on a main project.  I think that a freed-up inner child is a boon to any artist!