mandala

It’s been a while…again…sigh.

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It’s been a heck of a year, this 2024. Between anaemia, fatigue and brain fog exacerbated by COVID followed by tonsillitis in the last couple of months and other things going on, it’s been tough to focus long enough to post anything much to social media.

I haven’t done as many colour templates as I usually would in a year for the Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans facebook group.However, I’ve managed to get three done in the past couple of weeks and I’ve just uploaded them to the group. You can see the templates at the top of this post.

I’ll also be making them available for free on my Ko-Fi store. In both instances, terms and conditions for use do apply.

It’s soothing for me to draw and create, but so hard to put words onto a page, or into a YouTube video. I have, however, done a few Draw With Me live streams, which are easier for me to do than record, edit, upload and so on – less brain power needed.

I’ve also learned a lot about my art in the past year. Understanding what is an expression of myself, including in some ‘styles’, and accepting this has been a significant step forward for me. There’s more, but I’ll blog about it another time. The fog is closing in, and I have more to do today…

I know I’ll get better. I’m taking B12 and iron if it’s anaemia. If the fatigue is due to long COVID and/or perimenopause, things will also improve in time. I just have to learn to pace myself and not overdo things on a day when I have lots of energy (or when I’m masking my tiredness to interact with others). This is most definitely a work in progress.

Also, I’ve realised that I must draw designs/sketches before inking in digitally. My mind just can’t adapt to drawing entirely digitally. On paper, I quickly have an overview of the whole design and how it will appear to others’ eyes, too. I don’t get that sense digitally. So, I think that tradigital is a way for me to work – traditional pen drawing with digital colouring.

There is one exception to this, however. That is the drawing of geometric designs such as tiles and mandalas. I seem to be able to do them so much more easily digitally as I can concentrate on the lines and shapes I’m drawing rather than focusing on the maths and measurements.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting used to my XPPen Magic Drawing Pad for drawing mandalas and adding colour. I’ve found that I like Sketchbook and ClipStudio Paint for designing and adding colour.

I really had hoped that the Magic Drawing Pad (an Android tablet that has a paper-like screen and the ability to draw smoothly accurately and with large artwork) would make it possible for me to use it instead of a paper sketchbook. I’ve tried so hard, but my brain just won’t adjust. C’est la vie!

Mandala Art and colouring pages

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Finally, a day where I’ve had energy to get a fair amount done! That included drawing and putting together a collection of five mandala colouring pages, including the one above! Well, I had to have one coloured in didn’t I?

I kept to a quite simple colour palette and I’m fairly OK with the result. It does have a harmonious feel to it. But, there must be an infinite, or at least many, many ways of adding colour to such a design to make it uniquely the person who is adding colour.

Finally, I’ve set up a Ko-Fi account so I can sell small collections of colouring pages and maybe even my original art (or prints) as I go forward.

If you’d like to take a peek at this first offering (preview images of the designs are available at Ko-Fi) then this link will take you there!

Mandala WIP

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It’s been too hot for me for the past few days. I’ve seriously wilted and haven’t been able to focus much. The very broken sleep during the hot nights hasn’t helped.

Today, however, it’s been cooler in my little nook of the world, thankfully. So, I managed to add colour to one of the two colouring pages I need to get done for Daydreams to complete that project.

To keep myself awake this evening, I’ve had a bit of an exploration of creating art without any visible line art.

Now, this isn’t something I do much. I dip my toes into this style occasionally, particularly with digital art. I seem to get on better with it when working digitally.

Every time I work this way I wonder why I don’t do more of it. And then I get distracted by contracts and the like.

As I work this way it feels very uncomfortable, almost unnatural. There are bits of this work that I like. The bits I dislike are mainly the areas filled with blobs and the chosen colours. I really like the curves and the shapes created. I also enjoyed figuring out how to add texture to the areas of colour. Oh, I love the way the colours practically glow against the charcoal coloured background.

I realise I need to get my head around using layers in my digital work as that would make it a lot easier to change colours and parts of the design I don’t like. Tonight isn’t the night for that though; I’m just about asleep as I type and try to think!

Oh, the shapes and forms are very much inspired by the work of Ernst Haeckel. What has flowed from my surface pen onto the screen of my surface studio has definitely welled up from my arty heart and subconscious.

I started off without a sketch. But, I decided to sketch out the main shapes/motifs for the remaining layers. I rather like the ghostly chalk-like outline hinting at the next phases of work.

Colouring Page – 5 September 2023

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A nice morning spent drawing a mandala and adding colour to it. Well, part of it! The full design fits an A4 page with margins.

Mandalas are always so soothing to draw. In this case, I knew I wanted to start with a sunflower motif. And it just grew from there!

There’s a late summer / early autumn kind of feel to the colours I’ve used. I’m eager for the colour of the world to start to change and for nature to be at her most glorious! I know I have a little time to wait, but it’s getting closer. The quality of the light is changing as the seasons change. There’s a feeling of liminality about the world – it’s neither one season nor the other. It’s a threshold of the year, a point of change.

I feel excited as I think about autumn’s incipient arrival. I’m reminded of Bilbo and Frodo in Lord of the Rings who love walking in autumn. The warm enough days to wander, though at the moment it is just way too hot in the valleys of South Wales. Then there are the cool, refreshing nights where sleep is so easy compared to the heat of summer.

There’s a feeling of magic in the air. I feel it, and contentment and wonder follow.

It is these small moments of wonder that raise one’s spirits constantly. They’re there if we just take the time to pay attention to them. Then, for a while at least, we can put aside our worries and troubles and enjoy something full of beauty and awe.

That can be hard to remember when I’m having one of my wobbly days. I’m trusting the autumn will bring a sense of wanderlust to me. The wandering may not be far in distance, but in observation and enjoyment of the natural world, the wandering will be great, bringing inspiration and joy, wonderment and magic of its own. Memories to treasure in words and images.

Colouring Page Mandala

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This is the central panel from this week’s colouring page for the Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans facebook group.

It is a mandala, just not a round one! I enjoyed drawing this, and adding the softer colours too. It never ceases to amaze me what a difference colour makes to my line art.

A nice way to spend a few hours this and art always keeps me company.

Entangled Mandala Colouring Page

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I love drawing mandalas. I love the symmetry, the flow, the sense of calmness that they bring when being drawn or coloured. I am fascinated with the never-ending possibilities of mandala design. They also make it easier for me to arrange motifs and patterns when my head is filled with pink fluffy and sparkly fairy dust (all due to prescribed medication).

This one was fun and a bit different, with some new kinds of motifs in it. The colour palette is soft and soothing, with the splashes of gold give those sunshiny-joyful accents that lift it.

Yes, I know I’ve not finished adding colour. But I really, really need to finish the social media stuff and then go and get something to eat!

This is available as a colouring page to members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

Mandala Colouring Page – 10 March 2023

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I always enjoy drawing a mandala. It’s not often that I completely colour one in, but I’ve managed to do so with this one!

I’m not so sure about the colour choices in some places. I haven’t added enough contrast or shade in other areas. However, they’ll have to stay as they are for now. I can feel my ability to focus sliding away again as I type. It’s actually amazing I’ve done this much today.

The problems with focus are a side effect, temporary, of the medication I’m taking for anxiety/depression. This will pass; it did when I was taking them years ago. I still get some wobbly times, and surprisingly, I can still cry this time around with the medication. This is a good thing, as any upset/distress/happiness/wonder/joy still needs to be expressed!

I may have said too much here, but I know that it’s important for others to know they’re not alone when experiencing mental or emotional or physical ill health.

For me, art really helps me. Though when the ability to focus goes, it is time to nap. It’s nearly that time now, it seems.

Link to Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans Facebook Group.

Mandala Colouring Page WIP

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I finally managed to get some mental focus this evening and enjoyed drawing this mandala, and adding some colour to it. Colour really does put some ‘flesh’ on the bare bones of the line drawing.

It was a soothing process for me to do, which is what I need at this time.

This colouring page is available to members of the Angela Porters Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

Mandala Colouring Page, 17 February 2023

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Given how unsettled my maelstrom and tsunami stricken inner being is, I really needed to draw a mandala.

I love the soothing creativity that drawing a mandala brings. This one, partly coloured in monochrome greens with those little dashes of purple-ruby, looks like some weird succulent or an alien sea creature of some kind. Maybe a jellyfish.

Mandala Colouring Page – 3 Feb 2023

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This week’s template for the Facebook group Angela Porter’s Colouring Book Fans is a mandala.

I need soothing, calming art today. One day I may share why I’m so topsy-turvy emotionally and mentally. But not now.

For now, I’m being creative in a way that soothes my inner maelstrom. It’s a mini maelstrom, but still enough to provoke unease, fear, and unsettling emotions. Still, these things pass in time. And I have a lot to experience and learn connected to this unease and fear. I just don’t know the timescale and that kind of makes it worse!

But art is always my solace, though I need to find others too. There’s my illustrated journal – writing and, erm, art! It’s been a long while since I played my flute. Nearly a week since I went out for a walk. I still have an electric folk harp I’ve not learned how to play! And there’s plenty of tea to drink.

Tea! Twice, thrice and twice-twice blessed! Tea is always soothing, especially at that magic temperature where it just feels like every part of you relaxes, and a sigh of relief and pleasure is released!

So, once I’ve finished all my social media stuff, I’ll get another mug of tea and get a YouTube video done. Yes, more art. But I love drawing!