Starting again- Mandala Magic 2017

A new beginning

It's quite appropriate to be restarting this blog, as I'm also about to undertake the Mandala Magic program with Julie Gibbons in 2017 http://www.juliegibbons.com/mandala-magic/

It's all about self discovery and developing understanding of self, and the place of self within the cosmos- through the art of the mandala.

Sounds really interesting, and this is the place that I will use to chart my progress through this journey of discovery and art :)

Each month I will undertake the prompts and exercises that form the program, and create an art journal using those prompts and the guidance to create the mandalas that form each stage of the great round of the mandala.

Foil ATCs

I was inspired by some of the artists on Facebook who swap ATCs (Artists Trading Cards). A video was shared showing how to use foil to create an aged metal look. I thought I would give it a go, and went to Wickes and bought a roll of 45m of Aluminium foil tape...that should keep me quiet for a while!

Here's a picture of my first attempt. I was working with an Autumn theme in keeping with another ATC swap that I am involved with on Facebook. However, this is not ATC size- a little smaller and square! Plus the fact that I would not send this to anyone!!

So I had found materials that would work together: Card shapes, foil tape, acrylic paint (with a little water) and solid graphite pencil and Sharpies. Now the technique needed some refinement!!

Here's attempt 2 and I must say that I love this card and don't want to send it away in the swap!

So I'm going to make some more. For the swap I think that I need 13 cards...so I had better get busy! I made some before, that were straightforward ZIA, but I'd feel bad about sending different kinds of cards to different people. Maybe I will have to think about postage weight and thickness as most of them have to go to the US.

Thanks for looking

Delia

Foil Art Cards

Today I have finished off colouring the flycatcher (based on Ben Kwok's template from Ornate Animal Illustrations on Facebook).

I coloured it with Inktense pencils, water and Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.

It's got some lovely sparkle!

Last night I decided to have a go at using foil tape to create ZIA. My first experiment is quite dark. I used black acrylic paint to accent the contours of the piece and the surface textures. The I used Sharpies for colour. It's the right general effect, but not quite there yet.

So this morning I had another go, and I'm much happier with the result.

It's quite hard to photograph these foil pieces to show off the sparkle and still keep the detail.So I  tried in a couple of different lights. I think that you will get the idea!

Thanks for looking,

Delia

Dragonfly

So here's my interpretation of Ben Kwok's template of a dragonfly, again from his page Ornate Animal Illustrations. I printed out the template full size onto a piece of A4 copier paper, and used a 0.05 Staedtler pigment liner, and shaded with HB pencil and a blending stump.

I'm happy with the result. I was anxious once I had finished the dragonfly not to lose it into the background, so decided to keep that very simple. My elder son suggested to treat it as though it was a brooch as the dragonfly looked jewelled, and so the pearl border was born!

Here it is when just the dragonfly was done...you can just see the pale blue of the template lines for the background.
I took a photo at this stage in case I ruined the whole piece with the background! Nothing like confidence in yourself...and that was nothing like!

So here's the finished piece. I might go back to it with colour....still considering that idea.

Thanks for looking,

Delia

Pyjama Party- Tying the Knot

I have been using another stamp set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps to create this card. I love the various knots in this set and felt that they should definitely be metallic and shiny...so out came the Versamark ink pad, gold and silver embossing powder and the heat gun. I wondered how the knots could be combined to emphasise the knotty idea. So I cut them out and played with them until I had a combination that was something like I imagined.

I finished it off with some adhesive gems, a scored border and backed onto matt gold card. The sentiment that I have used is also from the Tying the Knot set at WMS.

Why not pop and see the other cards at the WMS pyjama party?

Delia 

Today has been tangled too!

I started the day with ironing, then picking blackberries. After that I decided that the day was my own until dinner needed cooking- how very decadent of me!!

So I took out the template by Ben Kwok from the Ornate Animal Illustration page on Facebook. He was kind enough to give us the template free!

Here's what I did with it

It's a flycatcher. I used a 0.1mm Staedtler Liner.

I had such fun that I thought that I would try adding some colour.

Im not finished yet, but here's the work in progress. I am using Derwent Inktense Pencils and a waterbrush which makes the pencil colours come alive!

I'm looking forward to finishing him off tomorrow and trying the new template, a dragonfly.

Thanks for looking,

Delia

It's all gone a bit tangly here!!

I have to admit that I haven't made a card for few days, but that is often a good thing and I will come back to that with a fresh outlook soon!

What I have been doing is brushing up my zentangling skills!! Having joined a couple of groups on Facebook I'm almost compulsive at the moment. I expect things will change when I am back to school next week. Until then, Yay, for Zentangles! (Copyright)

A couple of posts ago I showed you my ABCD tangle for a challenge. Well I have since completed my EFGH tangle, which is a little rough, but gives the effect that I was looking for.

The tangle patterns used for those of you who like to name those things are: E-Eddy, F- Fescu and Finery, G- Gryst, H-Henna Drum. It's on a 4x4 inch tile, drawn with a 0.1 and 0.2 Staedtler fine liner, and shaded with HB pencil and blended with a stump.

I have also been  getting on with the Autumn ATCs for a Zentangle swop. ATCs are so tiny (2.5x3.5 inches) 64x 89mm, so it's very addictive and you can make several very quickly. Hers are my first few, I think that I need to make about 15 for the swop, so I'm nearly there....what will I do then?

I used Memento ink sponged over stencils that I made from a drawing of leaves to create the background colour. Then I added some sparkle with Sakura gelly roll pen- Clear Star.

I enjoyed creating the negative leaf shapes, and will pursue this idea.

Then I got really carried away with colour!

Happy Autumn everyone!!

Thanks for looking

Delia x