New Year’s Mandalas 2014

I created twelve different mandalas as part of a project with an artist’s group to produce twelve monthly mandalas for the coming year. Each one was an example of what we wanted to bring into our lives.

If you are unfamiliar with the historical background of mandalas, Wikipedia has a good overview.

As I noodled around the Internet, looking for inspiration, I became intrigued with the concept of combining the radial balance of traditional mandalas with the ancient practice of using words as forms of magic in mantras, incantations, prayers, and spells. In other words, to create ”a sacred utterance…or a group of words [with] psychological and spiritual power.”

I began by choosing twelve words and twelve corresponding colors. I typed each word into Photoshop and then manipulated it through font choice, reversing, pivoting, layering, selecting, stroking, coloring, and adding gradients to create the final mandala.

The result is an intricate and beautiful mandala created from a word.

I think I’ll start an Etsy store soon, and create personal mandalas for couples, families, pets, lovers, or requested words that have personal significance to visitors.

What fun!