Magical Mandalas

I am doing an www.atcsforall.com swap on Mandalas - this has come at a perfect time as I have been reading about Carl Jung and his interest in and creation of mandalas:-

“ The mandala is an archetypal image whose occurrence is attested throughout the ages. It signifies the wholeness of the Self. This circular image represents the wholeness of the psychic ground or, to put it in mythic terms, the divinity incarnate in man.”

Memories, Dreams and Reflections
Pages 334-335

(Apparently Jung did a mandala a day for years - which is a fascinating idea - mmmm....!!) 
The challenge is very interesting because the circle has to fit on an ATC sized card  which is 3.5" x 2.5" (- though it does not actually have to be a circle, and there can be decoration around the circle if you do use one so it is very flexible!)
 It is to be a mixture of hand drawn/coloured and mixed media.
The first 3 I have done involved a compass for the circles and then I intersected the central point -  it is incredibly relaxing and was a nice break in the middle of all the Christmas preparations. I supposed like semi-conscious doodling.

The next three came from this link from atcsforall.com:-http://www.mandala-4u.com/en/start.html
where there are lots of  free downloadable templates (for non-commercial use)I scaled them down and printed them out and did my "colouring in"
 This is also great and it is truly incredible how the same template can produce totally different effects...

The ones I have used so far are all by Dala Freeman

And last but not least and also with heartfelt thanks to www.atcsforall.com there is a fabulous free class with a truly inspired tutor,  Guadalupe Brizuela Cabal,  here:-

  http://willowing.ning.com/group/the-mandala-free-class 

Continuing 30 Days in Your Journal

 Christmas arghh! I found myself in a red mist waiting for the tea pot to fill in Morrison's cafe yesterday so I think I am needing a bit of zen-like calm now!

However the journalling journey continues so Julie's course has been such a complete inspiration!

For the first pages I used my fonts and numbers and stamped a load of autumnal leaves as the last leaves were finally falling from the trees -  although not until December!


The next pages use stencilled letters and my black and white numbers - which are a bit drab I think.

I also have a lovely rubber stamp set that prints a paper doll, so I used that with a Faber Castell sanguine artist pen - my new favourite! - for writing December inside the stamp.

I think it makes for some interesting focal points!



I have prepped some pages ready for Christmas week - I have used Christmas Emporium papers by graphic 45 and cArt-Us Christmas Collection 2. They both have a lovely vintagey Christmas feel to them.


I shall have to pull out the stops for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day pages!!

A decorated font - structured italic

I am still having great fun playing with decorated letters and numbers!
This one is an actual font, called structured italic, which I drew on a grid in pencil, inked in a black Faber Castell artist pen then erased all the pencil marks.
I found the font in a calligraphy book and I think it looks really curvaceous!
For the colour I used Sakura pens, acrylic paint, Marvy Uchida liquid applique, and Faber Castell pens in black, sepia and sanguine.
I shall scan it in and use it in various sizes in my journalling- watch this space! I think it will be interesting to see the effect of using an actual font instead of the random letters I used before... I will see which I like best!

Alphabets and phrases - inspiration from 30 Days In Your Journal - continued

The alphabet was drawn on a grid and, after decorating it with everything I have, was scanned.


I realised that I can now play around with the scanned alphabet.


First I used Enhance, Adjust Colour,  Adjust Hue/Saturation in Photoshop to give me a green hued font and a blue hued font.


This gave me two new alphabets as well as the really colourful one that I made first.


For the monochrome version I used Convert to Black and White then selected Vivid Landscapes to get it as contrasty as possible. 


The spread, right, uses the original coloured font to prepare pages for journalling - I really like the effect and it makes it very personal....

Then finally I have made another grid and this time used it for days of the week, months of the year and the seasons, so I have ready made phrases which I can also scan and modify on the computer, and print out and collage into my journal...

Alphabets and Numerals - inspiration from 30 Days In Your Journal

HAPPY DECEMBER!

I have loved drawing and colouring my own alphabet for the 30 Days in Your Journal  course - loved it so much that I have done a set of numerals as well. Then I scanned them in, printed them on an ink jet printer and cut and pasted them into my journal... I used a mixture of watercolours, Creative Imaginations Luminarte Twinkling H20 s, Sakura souffle and gelly roll pens, Derwent Inktense pencils, watercolour crayons, and assorted pens plus Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique - so it has also been a workshop on using all the stuff I have got stashed away!

I printed multiple sheets at various sizes and think they are a nice way to personalize my pages - I edited the first title page I did and I really prefer it. So  I have got the bug now so another alphabet - or two! - is calling me!!