coloured pencils

A different kind of mandala from me

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August Mandala 9 © Angela Porter 2013

This one is a little different for me.  The colours are rather subdued for a start.  It shows the influence of my love of Romanesque architectural details, geometric patterns, natural patterns, doodly patterns, and, dare I say it, zentangles, though I do have to say the use of repeated patterns and doodly patterns has been around for thousands and thousands of years not just through the cleverly packaged and marketed brand of Zentangle!  I’ve used patterns like this in my art for a very long time, drawing on my own observations as well as those of others…

Anyway, this mandala has been created using Unipin pens, coloured pencils, a Pentel white hybrid gel pen, and gold and silver Sakura pens.  Yes, there are some very subtle metallic highlights on this one that don’t really show up in the scan.

Yet another mandala…number 6 of the month!

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August Mandala 6 © Angela Porter 2013

This is approx. 17.5 x 17.5cm and was created by me using UniPin pens, Zig Art and Graphic Twin pens with water as a wash, coloured fineliner pens and coloured pencils on acid-free bristol board.

Art is my solace, even though at times I’m doing the work through tears.  Today was one of those days.  I’m really struggling with the inner critics who are beating me up so badly at the moment, and despite me trying my best to quell them, to soothe them, they are currently stronger than I am and are winning.  Art has soothed them a tad…just a tad.

Some days it’s hard to find anything to be proud of about myself, to feel I am as important and matter as much as every other person on this planet, that I’m a good person, a kind person, a caring person and so on.

On days like these, days like today, creating something pretty through my art reminds me that there is something in me, about me, that appreciates pretty things and can create pretty things and so there must be something pretty or even beautiful within me.

This one is ‘pretty’.

Astrologically pinks and greens belong to Venus, the planet of love, beauty and harmony, romance, relationships the urge to empathise and unite with others, pleasure, joy and sensuality.

The lilacs and sea-greens belong to Neptune, the planet of dreams and fantasies and helps to dissolve boundaries and change existing rules.  Neptune can also result in confusion, and confusion is often experienced during profound and/or subtle changes in thinking, rules, beliefs.  Change is never easy.

Interestingly, both planets are related to artistic pursuits and aesthetics and our own personal tastes.

Now, I’m a scientist as well as an artist and all round oddbod, so why the astrological meanings of the colours?  I find it helps me to understand the art that I create intuitively, especially the colours.  Perhaps the colours are telling me to allow the old rules of the inner critics to go and to change them, to let the boundaries they have created dissolve and in so doing let love into myself, first for myself …

Maybe … or maybe it’s just pretty!

August Mandala 4

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I have just finished this.

It’s 18cm x 18cm and I used Unipin pens and coloured pencils on heavy, smooth acid-free cartridge paper.

I assert my rights as creator of this art; it may not be used or altered in any way without written permission from me.

August Mandala 4 © Angela Porter 2013

 

In creating a mandala we open ourselves to all the possibilities that exist inside and outside of us.

Carl Gustav Jung is credited with introducing the Eastern concept of the mandala to Western thought and believed this symbol represented the total personality, aka the Self. Jung noted that when a mandala image suddenly turned up in dreams or art, it was usually an indication of movement toward a new self-knowledge.

Within everyone’s psyche, to one degree or another, can be found a seed-center of the self surrounded by a chaotic maelstrom of issues, fears, passions and countless other psychological elements. It is the very disordered state of these elements that creates the discord and emotional imbalances from which too many of us suffer on a regular basis.

[From various comments on mandala’s pinned on Pinterest].

Abstract Rock 2

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Abstract Rock 2 © Angela Porter 2012

13cm x 13cm.  Rotring pen, Inktense pencils with water wash, gold metallic watercolour paint.

A small section of the previous Abstract Rock 1 reworked.

For Debs

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For Debs © Angela Porter 20Apr2012

11cm x 11cm.  Sakura ‘Glaze’ pen, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Derwent Metallics pencils and Cosmic Shimmer metallic and iridescent watercolour paints on dark blue drawing paper.

A little birthday gift for my pal Debs.

Today’s Mandala

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Mandala 7 March 2012 © Angela Porter 2012

Approx. 8″ square.  Worked in a combination of coloured pencils, metallic pencils and metallic watercolour paints along with the outlines in Sakura glaze pens.

Rainy-day Friday Fish!

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Approx 18cm x 13cm.  Worked in a fine black Sakura Gelly Roll pen with Inktense coloured pencils with a water wash on white cartridge paper.  The colours aren’t quite this garish – I keep saying I’m useless with scanners and cameras!

I found some of my old Art Nouveau books today and thought I’d have a play around with simple line drawings.  This fish caught my eye, though I’ve adapted it to suit me.

I’ve always loved the flowing lines and simplified and stylised forms of Art Nouveau; just like Early Celtic Art and Prehistoric Rock Art  and ammonites and Romanesque architecture natural forms and so on, the organically flowing curved lines and spirals really appeals to me and they often come out in my work.  OK, not often, but most of the time!

This was a really quick drawing to do too – it took around an hour to pencil out, then outline, then colour in and then scan!  That’s super speedy for me!  Usually my works take many, many more hours.

Now, I just have to decide where I go with this … it really is an experiment.