Work in Progress - Large Mandala

I've made some progress on the first mandala and plan to have an updated photo soon.

Here is a second mandala: 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas. This one is about 20-25% along.

The blue outline around the circle is painter’s tape -- the stuff you use when painting around the moulding in the living room. I’ll remove the tape when the mandala is finished.

I’m struggling with the image inside the circle. My understanding of mandalas is that they should be Significant and Important; after all, they have spiritual and psychological connections. You just can’t treat those things lightly, right?

Those thoughts are making me afraid to touch it.

I’m not feeling all that spiritual about it, just fond. It’s never a good thing for me to get too fond of a partially finished painting. I become afraid of messing it up, so I either never finish it or continue too timidly and mess it up.

I love the colors and shapes inside the circle so far. It has a nice three-dimensional feel so far, and I like those blue fingers that reach into the center. I like it too much and am afraid to ruin it.

The interior of the circle is painted with an "interference" color -- the color changes based on the angle at which you view it. This paint appears white in some directions and blue in others.

Just had an idea for it. Hang in there. It may look very different next time you see it.

Work in Progress - Small Mandala

I’ve been waiting to post until I’ve had something Momentous to say – something of Significance that has enough Weight to be broadcast to the whole world. After all, if I’m going to blog about something, it has to be Serious and Worthy.

Yeah right. You can see how well that worked out.

So, until something like that comes along, I’ll post smaller things. I have 3 new works in progress. I’m not sure what they’ll end up looking like or even what the next steps are, but I’m pretty sure that none is more than 50% complete.

One of these new paintings is a little mandala, 7x5 inches, canvas on panel, in acrylics.

The circle is gold paint. To keep that crisp edge around it, I masked it off with blue painter’s tape: the kind of stuff you’d use around a window if you were painting the living room. I wanted to be able to paint freely in the mandala without ruining the crisp circular edge. (I removed the tape for this photo.)

This one is probably the most complete: I’d estimate 40-50% done.

Keep an eye out for progress on this one. And watch for postings of the other 2 works items. If you don’t see any progress, bug me.

Also, I’m formulating an idea for a greeting card project. I’m mulling over different ideas, trying to come up with a workable project. Once I know the details, you will know. I’m guessing it will start in March.

To learn more about mandals, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala or http://www.mandalaproject.org/What/Index.html . I’m interested in how Carl Jung used mandalas, but can’t find much info.