Day 2 (Part 2) 

Mandala:  Shading

Mandala Shading

Day 2 Supplies:

Canvas:

Your rub-out Mandala

Oil Paints:

Raw Umber (any brand)

Titanium White (Williamsburg preferably)
Your mixed value series

Brushes:

You will only be using brights during this part of the Mandala.  I only had 3 bright brushes to work with (1/4", 1/2" & 3/4" Wash/Shaders).  I recommend having a couple of smaller brights as it will help getting into the corners.

Misc:

Thin palette knife (best for mixing paint)

T-shirt rags

Palette (round or square - whichever you prefer) or

Palette Paper (grey - not white)

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Mandala Shading

Shading the Mandala

Starting with the inner 3 triangular shapes and my mid-tone, I painted nearly the whole area with my 3/4" brush - leaving only the corners.  This gives me something to paint into - a wet medium to blend my values.  

Next I took my 1/2" bright and painted the white corner with a slight arching motion to my stroke.  The whole corner is pure white, then I moved one brush width down and made a second stroke...  then a third.  By now my brush had run out of paint.  Dina says to just keep going until you use up the paint on the brush.  You can start to see the paint blending as the brush also picks up the mid-tone that I am painting into.  It's important that you don't go back without wiping your brush first or you will drag the darker value into the lighter and ruin the effect..

At this point I moved to my second value...  loading up my brush and starting with the place where I took my second stroke, I laid down my second value.  Then again, kept stroking into the mid-tone until my brush ran out of paint.  I was being careful to keep up the arching motion with my stroke, giving the values a radiating quality to their appearance.

Repeating a third time with my third lightest value, I started laying down the paint where I took my third stroke.  Once more, I kept stroking until my brush ran out of paint.  My strokes were a little bit rough and left me with a banded appearance to the paint.  Dina showed me how to lightly stroke my dry brush over the paint to blend into the mid-tone. When doing this - the brush barely touched the surface of the painting.

Using my 1/2" bright  (would have been better if I had a smaller brush) I repeated the process in the same way with the three darkest values. Starting with pure raw umber in the corners, I took my next two values and blended them out in the same way as my light values. 

I tried to imagine with each stroke that the corner was the center of a circle and I arched my motion around so that this corner would take on the partial shape of that circle.  Getting the strokes to match up into the same circle I have seen really enhances the finished product of the mandala.  It helps give the effect of vibration or radiating light.  If I am successful you will see this in my final work.

When finished, I blended the streaks out then moved on to start the next triangular shape.  Dina wasn't kidding when she said this was all about repetition.  I did find it easier the second time though - and even easier the third.  By the time I was done I felt accomplished and was much happier with the result than I was with the rub-out.

It was time to clean my brushes and pack up.   Dina showed me how to use plain oil to clean my brushes first and dry with a rag.  This makes it much easier to clean all the paint off when I go to the sink and use soap.  This also keeps large amounts of paint from going into the sink drain which is a no no.