Day 5 

Mandala

 

Day 5 Supplies:

Canvas:

Your 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:

T-shirt rags

Palette (round or square - whichever you prefer) or

Palette Paper (grey - not white)

Vegetable oil for cleaning brushes

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Mandala Shading (cont'd)

Shading: 3 Largest Crescents

This is probably the most satisfying part of the Mandala so far as it fills in the 3 largest areas and gives me a better idea of how the finished product will look.  First I laid down the mid-tone as follows:

Note that there are now 6 areas set aside for my darks and lights  Remember - the idea is to have a mid-tone to paint into so blending is easier.  I had to make special effort to cover my lines now that I have edges connecting and not just corners...

Laying down my white -  I had to go over this several times to get a nice blend to the fan shape.  Here you see it in the preliminary stage...

The upper edge was the trickiest part.  I wanted just a sliver of dark up there with it keeping true to the crescent shape.  I had to redo this part about 8 or 9 times - starting apprehensively along the edge and working my way into the wet mid-tone.

When getting into the corners I wanted to mirror the previous color as much as possible for symmetry.  Up close you can really see how rough my edges are (cringe).  To make matters worse, somewhere along the line I managed to lean on the wet part of another section of the Mandala and smeared paint in areas it didn't belong...  Oops. 

 Pardon me for a moment while I clean this up a bit...

There, that's better.  Though I wasn't able to completely remove the smudges, it's definitely a vast improvement.  Note to self:  Learn to paint without using the painting for a support.  Dina does this well and makes it look so easy.

On a different note...

I know I could work faster on the Mandala by doing more as homework.  But I am more concerned with learning the technique than I am in finishing the piece.  There are no due dates at Kline Academy.  Everyone is at a different stage in their work.  Some have just started their Mandala, like me...  others are working on their 3rd, 4th, or 5th assignment.

What I get out of taking my time is the one-on-one instruction I get from Dina.  If someone were to have given me the instructions for doing the painting and walked away, I would have a much different Mandala than I have now.  Too many times I needed help with this project to think I could do it on my own.

For beginning painters...  Don't try this at home!  Seek professional help or paint at your own risk. :)