3-D MANDALA – METAL WITH PINK GEMSTONES, A NEW DRAWING TOOL, AND A HEALTH UPDATE
3-D Mandala
Background
First of all, I am not involved in any way with the spiritual aspects of mandalas. I just enjoy drawing them as an art concept. The way one builds up concentric circles with different patterns is very satisfying and enjoyable, and no two are ever the same. There are plenty of standard patterns one can use for the layers, or make up your own.
I have drawn a fair few on the iPad with Procreate, and a few by hand. It is easy enough to divide the circle into four or six, and multiples of these, but other numbers require a bit more work, such as five or seven. Using these different numbers produces a more unusal effect. It is possible, simply by dividing the total number of degrees in the circle (360) by the number of sections you want, and using a protractor to mark off the angles.
A couple of nights ago I was looking at Pinterest (very dangerous pastime – you can waste hours doing this!!) and came across something I’d not seen before – 3 dimensional mandalas. The technique for drawing them is no different from rendering any flat drawing into the appearance of three dimensions, simply with the addition of correctly placed shading and highlights. I saw some absolutely amazing ones, some quite complex. Many of the pictures showed the project half done, with the plain outline drawing on one side, and the completed colouring and shading on the other. The change was dramatic.
I thought I must try my hand at this! During the same Pinterest session I came across various rotatable drawing aids for drawing circles and angles and various shapes. One that popped up frequently was the Helix Angle and Circle Maker. I thought this might be rather a fun tool to add to my arsenal and put it on the back burner to deal with another time.
We went out yesterday (more on this later) and after my appointment we did a bit of shopping, and enjoyed browsing around Smith’s. They have a small art department, and lots of stationery and office equipment, and in the course of my wanderings, what should I stumble across but the Helix Angle and Circle Maker! I bought it on the spot.
Drawing the outline
Using one of the Pinterest drawings as a basis for my own design, I began by using the Circle Maker to create a 6-inch circle with concentric rings, divided into 10 sections. From this starting point I was able to map out the basis of my design. You can see at the top left of the picture my section calculations – to divide the circle into 5, I would need each section to be 72 degrees. Rather than moving the tool each time to set the zero on each line drawn, I wrote down all the degrees I would need, simply rotating the tool to the next degree mark. I then repeated the process, beginning with half a section, to create 10 sections.
This initial outline was worked with a Pigma Micron pen in grey over my initial HB pencil drawing. Once I was satisfied I’d covered everything with the pen, I erased the pencil markings.
I worked in my large Rhodia notebook with its squared paper pages, which I use for various doodles, lettering practice and Zentangle ideas. As the project developed, I realised that this wasn’t the most suitable, as the paper is only 80 gsm and while good quality, not very robust when it comes to adding water-based media. It survived the ordeal but another time I think I should use something thicker, or possibly watercolour paper; a coat of Golden Satin Glazing Liquid would have solved the problem as well. There was quite a bit of bleed-through by the end, but this doesn’t matter – I don’t need to draw on the reverse.
The first step to make a design like this 3-d, is to decide on the direction of the light source (in this case, I chose it to come from above), and then thicken the lines on the opposite side from the light source. This is helpful to build the design so one doesn’t get lost. It can get a bit confusing at times and it’s easy to make a mistake, so the best way is to take it slowly and think about the light source constantly. From now on, before beginning the shading, I used black Staedtler Fine Liner pens. Like the Microns, these are waterproof.
Thickening these lines further, one begins to see the 3-d structure emerging.
Adding the shading
This is where the fun really begins, as the design simply leaps off the page into glorious 3-D!
I used a combination of grey shades of Tombow Dual Brush Markers (water-based) beginning with the lightest and gradually adding darker values until I was pleased with the result.
Adding colour
I chose pinks and greens from the Tombow range to colour the leaf shapes and the gemstones. If I had had a more suitable surface, the blending of these markers would have been considerably easier. I was unable to add water – I tried a small amount on a very fine brush but I failed to move the ink on this absorbent surface and had to begin light and work darker, and then finally to resume the light one to blend the colours.
In addition to the colour, I also fined up the detail a bit more, and added some further shading, using a combination of the black Staedtler pens and the grey Microns, and a little more of the darker grey Tombow.
On balance, I am very pleased with how my first attempt at a 3-d mandala turned out! I wanted to produce the effect of a metal medallion with gemstones and some enamelling and I think I have more or less achieved this!
According to the colours you select, and how you render the shading, you can produce the effect of metal, wood or any other substance you choose.
The Helix Angle and Circle Maker
Such a nifty little tool! From necessity, to enable the central part to rotate smoothly, there has to be a little play between it and the outer ring, which you hold securely down onto the paper with one hand. This means that it isn’t always exactly true and accurate. I had some difficulty drawing small concentric circles using the circle templates on the tool, for the settings of the gemstones in my design; it seemed almost impossible to line them up absolutely accurately to get them truly concentric, despite the templates having arrows in all four quadrants for lining up purposes. However, for most purposes I think the slight degree of inaccuracy is acceptable for art purposes and one can fiddle with any slight discrepancies afterwards by hand.
There are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating how to use this, and other similar tools. They are quite cheap to buy.
Health update
UTI, and a high fever
The UTI I developed on Sunday responded well to the antibiotics I started taking on Monday, in that the bladder pain diminished and I felt back to normal in that department by Monday afternoon. However, I had a very bad night on Monday, feeling very cold and unable to get warm, and woke up feeling very poorly. My hubby took my temperature and it was 106 deg. F!! (Sorry for those who work in Centigrade – I’m an Imperial girl!). My Tesco delivery arrived and I was quite unable to deal with it. My hubby stacked everything up in boxes and we just put the frozen stuff away. My fever diminished throughout the day and by bed-time my temperature seemed to be normal again, but I had a night sweat during the night and had to get up and change. I felt quite a bit better during the day but spent the day resting. Fortunately I didn’t have much cooking to do, and managed to get the groceries put away.
Cataract follow-up appointment
I was determined to be better by Thursday which was the day for the follow up after my second cataract operation which took place exactly six weeks previously – how quickly the time has gone! I did indeed feel well enough to go out, and all was well.
David, the optometrist, said that both my eyes have settled down very well and my distance vision is now very good indeed, apart from the slight astigmatism which will be corrected. I need new reading correction, of course.
Since getting the second cataract done, I have been unable to use my original glasses with the left lens removed (which I was using while awaiting the second operation). I could manage very well for distance, but reading was impossible, so I got my old reading glasses and put a cord on them so I could whip them on and off during the day if I needed to read anything. This proved to be a total pain – the cord kept getting tangled up with my hair, my infinity scarf, and my earbuds, and having to put the glasses on and off all the time got to be tedious in the extreme. The final straw came one evening when I was trying to put them on, and I caught the cord with my finger which pulled the arm of the glasses in a bit just as I was trying to put them on, and the end of the arm of the glasses poked me in the eye! I pulled the whole thing off in total disgust and vowed that that was IT. (Plus a few more choice words…)
I was thankful that it was only a week and a bit to go before I had my appointment and somehow I would manage. I decided I’d better dig out my various glasses and decide what I wanted them to do with them. In the course of this, I found an old spare pair from many years ago that I’d forgotten I’d got; they are not nearly as strong as more recent ones, but when I put them on, I was absolutely amazed how well I could see through them, now that my distance vision has been so well corrected by the lens implants. The reading part (varifocals) isn’t as strong as I’ve been used to, but it is perfectly adequate for odd snippets of reading one does throughout the day – recipes, instructions, mail, etc. etc., and this proved to be the answer to all my woes! I took the cord off the reading glasses straight away, and kept them for when I wanted to sit down and read a book.
At the opticians, I asked them to replace the lenses in these old ones (lovely frames) and my most recent pair (also very nice frames). She said they make a charge for “reglazing” (sounds like windows!) and sometimes it’s actually cheaper to get new frames, which sounded crazy to me. I think the theory is that they always want you to buy new frames because it’s profitable for them, and only the very cheapest frames would provide you with any discount. As predicted, I didn’t see anything I particularly liked in the el cheapo range, apart from a silver-framed pair which I selected, thinking they would be good for new reading glasses. She agreed that my latest frames were very good (they were pretty expensive) and they would see what they could do with both these, and the old frames. While she was using her hi-tech gadgetry to measure me up for the varifocals (new tech since I was last there – all very interesting!) I had another think about the reading glasses, and since I am able to manage very adequately with the old reading pair, I decided not to get any replacements for these, but just to go for two new pairs of varifocals (using my existing two frames), one of which would be plain and the other photo-reactive.
They did give me a discount for ordering two sets of lenses, but even so, this whole adventure is costing me a pretty penny! My lenses are always expensive because they are complex – varifocal and also with astigmatic correction.
I left my most recent pair of frames with them (one lens missing) and they will get these done, and also have the lenses for the second pair made up. I am continuing to wear the old spare pair in the meantime. They will contact me when the first pair is ready for collection, and when I go in, it will only take them an hour to fit the new lenses in the second pair. They said they would be ready in less than a fortnight, but what with Easter and two bank holidays intervening, I am not expecting them earlier than two weeks. I’m not concerned – now I’ve found this old spare pair which are working very adequately for the moment, I can manage until the new ones arrive.
So – only a matter of a couple of weeks now before the whole cataract adventure is complete, and I end up with 20-20 vision with my new glasses! I am very thrilled with the results so far. I’ve been waiting a long time to get this done, and it’s been pretty demoralising over the last few years, constantly being told that my cataracts were “not yet ready” when I was really struggling with them!
Update today – Friday
As a result of being so poorly earlier in the week, I have found I’ve been struggling with my ME a lot more than usual. My muscles are much more easily fatigued and painful, and even brushing my hair has been very fatiguing and painful for my arms – something I haven’t experienced for many years, when the condition was a lot worse than it is now. Last night I felt extremely out of sorts and poorly again and wondered if my temperature had gone up once more.
This morning I awoke very fatigued so I have been resting, and after a leisurely morning over a late breakfast and watching YouTube, I had a very light lunch (my appetite is still very poor) and then did my drawing this afternoon. My hubby took my temperature again but it is OK. He said all this might be a result of the antibiotics – they have certainly cleared up the UTI but I’ve been feeling so poorly since. I don’t think I’ve taken this particular brand before; I have certainly never had this kind of reaction to antibiotics in the past. He said that one of his friends had felt extremely ill on hers, so I’m hoping that as they gradually work their way out of my system I shall feel better again. Going out yesterday after having such a bad few days probably didn’t help and set me back again a bit today, but as I mentioned before, it is fortunately quite a quiet week as far as cooking etc. goes. Although I still haven’t done the ironing!!
