Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 20

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

Today I spent almost 2 hours painting more green.  I should finish up the green sections tomorrow.

So now I’m onto the lower mid sections: chevron/’open book’ shape and the frame around the red triangle.

Close-up of green 'book' shape

Moving right along…here’s the lower red/green triangle.

Close-up of red/green triangle

Full view from inside the display window.  I have 2.25 sections of green left to do, which I should be able to finish tomorrow.  Then it’s on to the purple!

Full View

View from the sidewalk.

Sidewalk View

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 19

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

[I'm 1 day behind in posting this]

Today I spent about 90 minutes painting some more green.  I have to admit I’m starting to get a little bored with green…on the other hand, it’s becoming easier and easier for me to mix and blend.

Here’s a close up of one of the four red/green triangles.

Close up of red/green rectangle

I know it may seem silly to be so close to completing an entire area of green, and then leaving just one corner to do.   I have my reasons…I needed to catch the bus    By leaving that one section undone you can better see the different between the painted and unpainted areas of the ‘frame’.

View of an almost completed red/green section

Here’s a full view from within the display window.  You can see I still have a long way to go with the green (hint:  look over the to right where all the red floating objects are located…they each need a green frame).

Full View

View from sidewalk.

Sidewalk View

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 18

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

[I'm 2 days behind in posting this]

Today I continued on with painting some more green sections.  I spent about two hours in the window.  I’m becoming more and more comfortable with using blue and yellow to make my green.  What’s interesting (or awful depending on your point of view) is that each green section is different from the other.

Here’s the smaller diamond on the right side of the mandala.

Close-up of green diamond

Here’s a close-up view of one of the outer red/green objects.

Close-up of red/green outer object

Here’s a full view from inside the window.  The four diamonds are now done and one of the outer red/green objects on the left.

Full View

The view from the sidewalk.

Sidewalk View

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 17

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

[I'm 3 days behind in posting this]

After yesterday’s learning experience, I went home and experimented with making green the old fashioned way: with blue & yellow.  Plan C: go buy a new tube of green paint.

Thankfully, using ultramarine blue and cad. yellow light made for an interesting green.  I could layer varying levels of yellow and blue to create varying shades of green (light to dark).

Here’s a close-up of one of the green sections I completed today.

Close up of green shape

My general approach to using the blue & yellow is to lay some yellow down first, then quickly dab some blue over it to gradually blend it in with the blue.  I keep adding more yellow to the edge and dabbing it in the center and towards the blue.  I usually have to add some more blue to the dark edge and dab it towards the center.  It’s a back & forth dance between the two colors.

Close up of green frame around red triangle

The only downside to this method of painting is that it’s going to take me a lot longer to complete this painting than I had planned.   Oh well…that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Here’s a full view.  I completed the center green ‘book’, green triangle frame, and half of the green diamond on the right.  If you look closely you’ll see where I painted over yesterday’s 2 green diamonds on the left.

Full View

Here’s the view from the sidewalk.

Sidewalk View

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 16

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

[I'm 4 days behind in posting this]

Today I started the green sections.  Today I had a set-back learning experience with my progress.  The green paint I was using seemed like it was okay to use even if it was quite old;  I was wrong…terribly wrong.

At first the paint when on easy enough however it became glumpy (yes that an official artist word) and the more paint I put on, the more it would clump together or come off the canvas.  Word to the wise…throw out old paint even if it’s a high quality brand.

So what do you do?  What do I do?  That’s when I concede to the moment and pull out the tube of titanium white and paint over what I had spent an hour painting.   “you gotta know when to fold ‘em”

A Learning Experience

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 15

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

Today I painted for three hours.  I really wanted to finish all of the orange sections, which includes the whole lower left section of the mandala.

This is a close up of 1 of the orange diamonds.

Close up of blue/orange diamond

In doing the ‘frames’, I want to create the effect of dimension and depth.  I mix the dioxazine purple with the cad. red medium to create a dark orange, then add cad. red medium alone, and then top it with the cad. yellow.  Rather than paint them in straight brush line strokes, I mostly dabbed the paint on to create a more loose look, almost impressionistic.

Close up of blue/orange rectangle

It’s interesting to see how the orange frames appear different to the left of the diamonds versus to the right of the diamonds.  I used the same paint and stroke.  The difference is that the left side has a light yellow background and the right side has a  light red background.

A view of the lower left orange/blue sections

This section is in the lower right portion of the mandala and perpendicular to the area from the previous photo.

The other orange/blue triangle and 'book'

In this view you can see all of the orange areas.  If you know about primary, secondary and complementary colors, you can probably guess the upcoming colors and where they will go.  Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Full View

The view from the sidewalk.

View from the sidewalk

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 14

[I'm a day late posting this entry]

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

I spent two hours painting more of the orange sections. It’s taking me a lot longer to paint these sections than the previous sections.  It’s the frames around the blue objects that are taking longer than I had anticipated.

This is one of the two blue/orange triangles in the painting.

Close up of blue/orange triangle

Here’s one of the for blue/orange rectangles.

Close up of blue/orange triangle

You can see how all the pieces go together here.

Blue/Orange area

Perpendicular to the blue/orange diamonds, is where you’ll find the blue/orange triangle and what looks like a book (at least to me).

Blue/Orange Triangle and orange 'book'

Here’s a full view from within the display window.

Full View

And the view from the sidewalk.

View from Sidewalk

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangle’ Day 13

[I'm 2 days behind in posting posting this]

Book Bin Bookstore Window Project June 14 – July 5

Today I started the orange sections of the Bangles mandala.  I’m painting with cad. red medium, cad. yellow, and dioxazine purple.

Close up view of orange diamond

The idea with the orange is to put it in or around wherever the blue is.

Two other sections of orange

Full view of the mandala from within the display window.

Full View

A view from the sidewalk.

View from the sidewalk

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 12

I put in 90  minutes today, painting the blue and red background sections.  For these two areas, I used quinacidrone red and ultramarine blue along with an acrlyic ’spreader’ which allowed me to do more of a wash versus a thick slab of color.

Close up of red and blue background areas

A whole section of light red background.

Red background section

A while section of light blue

A whole section of blue background

With this full on view, you can make out the ‘white’ areas around the floating objects.  Those bands around the objects and the areas inside the diamonds are next to be painted.

Full view from inside window

View from the sidewalk.  Another plan is to extend the red, yellow, and blue backgrounds out to the edges of the canvas…at least that’s the plan for now.

View from sidewalk

Live Mandala Painting: ‘Bangles’ Day 11

I’m a day late posting Day 11…I had a busy day yesterday.

Some of the areas I painted white yesterday, I painted a muted yellow. I mixed cad. yellow light with some white to create a light, creamy yellow.

Close up of yellow near center

Here’s a view of one of the two yellow background sections.  Now you can make out the blank outer sections of the ‘floating’ pieces.

One of the yellow background sections

With this full view, you can see both yellow background sections.  The plan is to extend the yellows out to the edge of the canvas.

Full View from inside Display Window

The view from the sidewalk.

View from the Sidewalk

As I was finishing up, a friend came by and offered to take my photo in front of the window.

Me