Hi Fellow Colorists and Artists,
I am sending out an extra newsletter because of our world virus situation. My personal experience with creativity relieving anxiety is again showing its value. It has always worked in the past and it is working for me now. It seems to be in my genes to get very bothered physically by extraneous circumstances that I feel I have no control over, so I have developed my own coping skills. When that feeling of the big ugly head of fear rises in my chest, I get creative. Getting creative stifles all my fears….at least temporarily. My saving grace is to make something, clean out and organize something, and my favorite, draw something.
I love to go to a website called Mandalagaba.com to draw Mandalas. The site is easy to use and can provide you with hours of relaxing fun. You can save your work, print it out, color it, and get your mind off your troubles. I have no connection with the website at all, I just enjoy it. It is free.
The Mandala
Mandala is a word that has been becoming more and more popular. It comes from the Sanskrit (classical Indian) language and means circle. Mandalas appear all around us in nature. Think of snowflakes, fruit slices, flowers, pinecones, spider webs, starfish, the moon, the sun, and all kinds of other natural circular shapes. Today there are numerous mandala coloring books, mandala designs online to color, or apps to draw or color on your own. Some people even draw mandalas the old fashioned way, by hand. I have done them by hand and on the computer. Both ways are totally engrossing, but I prefer drawing them on the computer for comfort.
Just like any work of art, what you create is a symbol that represents you in the moment of its creation. A mandala is a symbol of organization and wholeness. When focusing on a mandala your attention is drawn to the center of it. When creating a mandala, your focus is drawn inward. You become calm, your breath slows down, your focus remains on the work, and all the clutter of busy thoughts that run rampant in your mind disappear. For me, it is impossible to worry while I am drawing a mandala. Either I am worrying, or I am drawing. When I get nervous, I choose to draw.
Below you will see a video I taped on my computer screen (and sped up) while drawing a mandala on the Mandalagaba.com website. Watch it appear! I am also attaching a download of the mandala if you want it to color.
Treasure this time with your family, be creative, color, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Follow the rules to be safe. Until next time, God bless you!
Rosemary
Click on the video below to see my cursor drawing the Mandala.
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