DOMESTIKA COURSE – THE ART OF MANDALA DRAWING – MAKING THE GRID FOR THE FINAL PROJECT
We are now on to the two final units of the course on mandala drawing. Having done a lot of preparation, we are now ready to start the drawing that has been the ultimate destination of the course.
The grid
Lizzie, our teacher, is a mandala artist who likes to work from a grid. She has provided a print-out for anyone to use if they want, or we can draw our own. The grid is basically a set of concentric circles with lines radiating out from the centre. This determines the basic shape of the mandala – how many points or sections it will have, and how many rings.
To grid or not to grid?
I have also been following Zak Korvin on YouTube. He does a lot of sacred geometry drawing, and mandalas as a spin-off from this. In a recent video of his that I have been watching, he speaks out really forcefully against mandala grids! He hates them! Having watched him working, I am inclined to agree to a certain extent, although I think they can be very helpful for beginners. The trouble with grids is that they make your work too regimented. They set everything up in advance, which inhibits the drawing from growing organically as you go.
When Zak starts a new ring of work on a mandala, he will draw one pattern, for example a lotus petal. He then places his compass on the top of this single unit and draws a circle. This means that when he repeats the petal all around the circle, they all end up the same height. If you’ve got a lot of circles already drawn, this tends to prevent one from going with the flow and perhaps making larger or smaller patterns for that particular part of the drawing. That makes good sense to me.
Sacred geometry
One of the things I love about Zak’s drawings is that they are based on sacred geometry. This is the concept that certain geometric shapes being present in the natural world indicate a divine Creator of all things. As a Christian, I firmly believe this. The design of the Creation is mind-blowingly intricate and beautiful, and it’s all based in mathematics, from the vastness of the galaxies down to microscopic living cells.
Problems for Christians with sacred geometry and mandalas
Sacred geometry has been adopted by the world’s religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, and it is evident in Christian art and architecture as well. I think it is sad that in many Christian circles, if one starts talking about stuff like this, one tends to get shut down and accused of being “New Age” and not a proper Christian! Real Christians would never dabble in such things, etc. etc. I have experienced the same attitude when talking about how God put the sun, moon and stars in the sky for signs and for seasons (Genesis 1:14), and that the whole message of redemption is spelt out in the Zodiac. I get accused of dabbling in astrology which is a big no-no for Christians. E.W. Bullinger wrote an amazing book entitled “Witness of the Stars” which lays out the truth of the matter. Unfortunately these concepts have been hijacked by New Age and other spiritual movements and since these are not condusive to Christianity, Christians have thrown out the baby with the bathwater and a lot of amazing truth has been lost – things that should be acknowledged in order to glorify our Creator God who made them.
The same problem occurs with mandalas which are very much part of Hindu and Buddhist spirituality. Many Christian artists won’t touch them with a barge-pole because of this. However, I think they are beautiful, and enjoy drawing them for that reason alone, and because I like intricate pen drawings which take time and patience, building up complex patterns with small pen strokes, as in Zentangle. I am not involved in any way with non-Christian spiritualities, and I do not consider that indulging in this form of art compromises my Christian faith in any way. Quite the reverse.
There has been much talk in the independent news recently that “knives do not kill people; people kill people with knives.” Amazon has been slated for selling a knife to a murderer. Everybody has kitchen knives at home, and any weapon could have been used for this heinous crime. It is not knives that are evil; it is evil people.
In the same way, the Internet can be used for pornography and communication between terrorists. It can also be used to spread the Gospel (Good News) of salvation through Jesus Christ, and for sharing beautiful art.
These things are tools. It is how we as human beings use them which is important, not the actual things themselves. Obviously there are some ancient symbols which we would think twice about using today, even if they had a benign origin; the swastika is an example of this.
The Vesica Piscis
There is a very interesting figure in sacred geometry known as the Vesica Piscis. This is created by drawing a circle, and then placing the compass point on the circumference of that circle, and drawing another circle. You end up with two overlapping circles with the shape of the Vesica Piscis in the centre. This lozenge-shaped design is symbolic of the union between the material and the spiritual; being seed-shaped it is also symbolic of new life, and of the womb.
Some interesting maths in the Vesica Piscis
I discovered a fascinating YouTube video showing how the golden ratio is present in the Vesica Piscis. I drew along with the presenter. I have shaded the Vesica Piscis with hatching lines. The list at top right is the order of drawing.
Sacred geometry as a basis for mandalas
Zak likes to start his mandala drawings with some sacred geometry. I think this is a brilliant idea. Because the geometry is the basis for so much beauty in nature, it gives the mandalas an organic look which is very pleasing to the eye. He is also a champion of not striving for absolute perfection in the drawing. A leaf in nature is never perfectly symmetrical, and in our drawings, these should have that lovely organic randomness found in nature. This gives our drawings the human touch, which you do not get if you tell your computer to draw a mandala for you!
I think that sacred geometry, which also includes fractals, the Fibonacci series and the golden ratio, are going to become the foundation for my drawings in the future, rather than a regimented grid made of a series of predetermined concentric circles and radiating lines.
After all that preamble…
My grid and the design for my drawing
One of our art forum members recently sent me a link to a Christian art video which spoke about the Vesica Piscis. It showed an icon depicting the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the Vesica Piscis. Jesus is totally God and totally Man – the joining of the physical and the spiritual. I know that many Renaissance paintings depict the Virgin Mary and/or Jesus in the Vesica Piscis. The shape was also used for Christian seals. The name “Vesica Piscis” literally means “bladder of a fish,” the swim-bladder. The fish was a symbol of early Christianity. The ichthys (Greek for fish) was often drawn as a secret symbol to identify fellow believers in times of persecution, and the Greek letters are an acronym for “Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour.”
This has given me the idea of making a mandala around the Vesica Piscis and entitling it “The Redemption Mandala.” Here are some rough sketches in my sketchbook, outlining some ideas. Some may come to fruition and others may not!
Development of my grid
I began to draw my grid with a lot of concentric circles, 1/4 inch apart. Here is my first rendering of it, in my sketchbook. The final version would have 16 radiating lines creating divisions of 22.5 degrees each.
After I’d watched Zak’s video, I erased most of the concentric circles and just left a few for rough guidance. As per usual, Shoshi the rebel is departing from the brief and doing her own thing!! The instructions are for a single circle made of concentric rings with radiating lines. I have at least drawn a grid and determined how many sections it should have (16) but that’s about as far as my sticking to the brief goes.
Having set up my grid…
The next step – drawing the mandala
The points of the Vesica Piscis either side will incorporate some Celtic knot weaving. I am also intending to add some art work around the mandalas with symbolism relating to Christianity.
Watch this space to see how it develops. I have no idea whether this will come off according to my original plan, or whether the thing will develop a life of its own and veer off into another direction entirely!
