The Mandala Lady
| Contact: Maureen Frank |
| Corvallis, Oregon 97330 |
| Website: www.TheMandalaLady.com |
| Contact The Mandala Lady via e-mail |
I began creating my own symmetry mandalas in early 1999 after a trip to Egypt. Through much of that area of the world, due to Islamic influences, patterns and symmetry were everywhere (hotel lobby floors, sides of buildings, church/mosque and museum walls, and ancient ruins to name a view). My analytical mind loved the geometry of the art and hieroglyphics of the region. When I returned, I began seeing patterns and symmetry in everything around me and proceeded to translate the ideas that intrigued me into mandala art.
I began creating my own asymmetry mandalas on a whim in September 2007. I had a stack of matte cut outs from my framed/matted mandalas. I pulled one out, grabbed a pencil, and without lifting it, doodled (for lack of a better word) a free-from mandala design on the back of the matte cut out. I colored at random, free of any preconceived notions as to how I wanted it to look when I was done. I was exploring a whole new world for me. When I completed my first one, I was so hooked with this new idea of asymmetry that I completed one a day for the next 13 days.
During the summer of 2006, I was blessed to befriend a wonderful collage artist who had been exploring the art she calls “happenings” and was willing to share it with me. She invited me to her house and like two little kids we played in her backyard garden and studio. While the pieces were drying we’d either eat lunch or chat the afternoon away. Since then I began playing with objects other then vegetation to see what would happen with them. Oh, the possibilities!
For my mandala art, I use mostly colored pencils and have also used acrylics, watercolor pencils, and markers.
For the “happenings” art, I use a variety of media including ink, vegetation, watercolors, colored pencils, markers, watercolor crayons, and gouache.
