Mandala Painting: The Art of Symmetry
For today's episode of #FridayArtWithJ9, I'd like to focus on painting mandalas! I've recently received overwhelmingly positive responses to my photos in my portfolio of my mandala paintings, especially the acrylic paintings on river rocks. So I'd like to share with you a few pointers so you all can create them yourselves and be just as satisfied and calmed as I am when I paint them :)
A bit of background about the mandala: A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, lit, circle) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. In common use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe. A mandala can also be known as an integrated structure organized around a unifying center. But ultimately, mandalas are seen as being perfectly symmetrical from that center.
To achieve this in your artwork, there are a few things to consider:
Tip #1: Choose your art medium
First thing to consider are your tools and the medium you will use - are you going to create this in pen? Pencil? Marker? Paint? It actually doesn't matter, but you want to make sure you choose your "canvas" appropriately too. If you are going to use rock, like most of my pieces, I'd recommend to use acrylic paint. It's not too runny or textured, sticks to rock well without primer, and dries very quickly. For your "canvas", you might want to prefer something more flat in surface, like traditional stretched canvas, paper, or smooth rock. This is why I choose to use river rocks, because those surfaces tend to be very smooth and easy to paint on. Something too ridged won't achieve the symmetrical effect, unless you're really good at shadowing and want to get that illusionist effect...haven't tried that yet.
You can get a giant bag of river rocks of all sizes and shapes (though I prefer the very round ones) from the garden section of your local hardware store.
Tip #2: Choose your tools
If you are going to do dot mandalas in paint, I highly recommend you use blotting tools or sculpting tools to achieve dots as that are perfectly round. Unless, of course, you're a pro with a brush, you'll need to make sure your amount of paint stays consistent to achieve consistent sizes of dots. I personally use a modeling brush (the ones I use for painting my tiny figures from my Kawaii Munti Collection), and my old mini-sculpting tools that I don't use anymore and have repurposed. There are also tools out there specifically for dot mandala painting, but honestly, they are expensive and you can get sculpting tools much cheaper and they achieve the same effect.
If you are going to paint traditional petal and line mandalas, I recommend a liner brush with paint that flows fairly smoothly (like Golden fluid acrylics -- highly recommend these). You want to be able to get the consistent line weights as well, especially in smaller areas closer to the center.
Tip #3: ACHIEVE SYMMETRY!
Mandalas are all about symmetry, and to get the wonderful, even look, I highly recommend planning out your design first on paper, sketching out a rough design. I personally love to doodle in this fashion, trying out different design elements, like petals, shading, different line weights, but like most art pieces, I'll do some dry-runs to ensure I'm "practicing" before my final piece.
Depending on your mediums, I also recommend getting a protractor and compass, which also come in sets. The protractor will help you get the angles right, while the compass will allow you to get perfectly concentric circles from your center, so you know your "layer" widths. When you get your line guides set, you're able to start playing with the different elements and dot sizes.
And here's a great video to get you started on getting the symmetry planned for a line drawing of a mandala.
Enjoy creating!