Spirit Mandala

So few people visit my blog anymore that it has become more of a record of the steps I took to create my projects. Then at the end of the year I have a blog book printed to remind me. I guess I'm not working hard enough at getting my blog out there so people know about it, or maybe people just don't like it, but that's okay, I do! My blog and my FB page are just more projects that I enjoy doing to feed my soul! If others like them I'm thankful, that's gravy! :)

Anyway, this project began as an experiment in my large sketchbook. I painted the bottom of a foam plate red and stamped it on the page for a mandala base. The bird is an original stencil mask that I cut out and I was just seeing how he might look as a center. I liked him and fully intended on using him right up until the very end...

I used a lid off an air freshener jar, painted white, to stamp and divide the center of the red circle. I was sitting down and the book was laying flat, so the center is a little off, but that's ok. I'm playing, and besides it wouldn't be my art if it wasn't a little wonky! It's just how I see things...

The cross was stamped on to it using the mini Gelli plate loaded with green and magenta paint. Somehow the paint left a lighter oval in the center, which reminded me of an eye...

I brushed in around the cross with Chinese orange and Manganese Blue, and blocked in the eye...

The orange was a little dark, so I brushed Nickel Azo Gold over it and worked on the eye some more...

I used a hand carved eraser feather/leaf to stamp on the cross, a white gel pen to add marks to the outside ring, worked a bit more around the eye, leaving reflections in the iris...

I stamped in the yellow spaces with hand carved eraser stamps and in the iris with a tiny bought stamp of stars, which I colored in for "stars in the eyes", and I added words and marks in white gel pen to finish it. I like it! :)

I had no idea where I was going with it when I stamped that red circle on the page. It just came to me as I went along, but I like how it turned out. It was fun and very calming to work on, and that was good for me and my soul!

That's the fun of it. I may not have a plan, or even an idea of where I'm going, when I start a project, but all of the twists and turns getting to the final piece make for an exciting adventure getting there! :)