A few days ago I tried my hand at drawing a mandala for the first time ever, and it was a lot of fun! This type of drawing is meditative. It's a great way to relax and I found the repetitive pattern work to be extremely similar to creating pysanky, or Ukrainian Eggs, which I learned to make as a child.
I am a firm believer in art as therapy and I also believe that you can (as with a vision board) manifest energy and positivity through art.
I began my mandala with a series of small simple circles and petals that formed the center of the mandala. I worked from the inside circle outward, creating new "layers" of design as I worked. I chose to work with half-circles from the edge of the page.
This is my completed mandala. I considered painting it, but I think I like it too much just the way it is, black ink on white paper - so for now I am going to keep it just as it is.
It might look complicated, but it really was pretty simple to make. You just draw one line at a time! And of course, if you look closely you will see little places here and there where I put in a few imperfections :) after all, that's what makes it unique and one of a kind. It's not mass produced, and it's not made with painstaking precision, it's a freehand-drawn piece of art that came from my heart. I call it authentic!
After I completed the drawing, I added the Be Authentic text as digital art.
In this age of too many selfies and too much social sharing of personal information online I fear that people begin to lose their authenticity in the process of trying to impress others. Be authentic!
What do you think?
I hope you have a great week!
article and images ©Laura Beth Love 2016
