Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Mandalas, Zendalas, Zentangles



Mandalas are sort of doodles on steroids within a circle. I think the Buddhist monks make them in sand, spending hours drawing them and then, with a whisk of a broom: all gone! Nice symbolism there, right? Drawing these suckers is addictive and ... whoa ... hyp.not.ic. I know that you are supposed to stay within the circle on a Mandala, however, that little devil on my shoulder taunted me and I broke out of the circle. I got really involved in these a couple of years ago and had forgotten about them until I stumbled upon Milliande'mesmerizing video. Check it out:





Note: She makes the circle and then just breaks the space within the circle with a couple of squiggly lines to get started.

Take a look at the Zentangle website as well for beautiful examples and inspiration. Only the Zentangles thingie is in a square and I like the circle much better, but that could be just me.
(If you read my writing around the Mandala, I'll never do it. No way could I sustain a project for a whole year, one a day. I'd like to but I won't.)

3 comments:

Karen Cole said...

Hey Diana!

Funny, my last post at the holidays was about mandalas. I made them for my family.

The other interesting note is that I was with Milliande in Italy in September. She was in Michael Demengs workshop with me. What a hoot. We danced our way into a creative frenzy. She's an artistic machine.

Leslie said...

Oh yes she is. I was there with Karen and Milliande too. She is a machine.

Love your mandala!

jeanjoel said...

I love it!!!