THE REDEMPTION MANDALA
DOMESTIKA COURSE – THE ART OF MANDALA DRAWING – COMPLETING THE PROJECT
The final stage of drawing the project for this course was to add the shading. It always amazes me what a transformation shading makes. It turns a flat line drawing into something that springs into life and seems to leap off the paper. Adding drop shadows can create 3-D layers. The shading enhances the detail and produces the desired finish.
Here is the inked drawing as I left it at the end of my previous post.
Here it is with the shading.
As you can see, the shading makes a huge difference. Most of the shading is in the form of stippling. This is a method I love using; you can get subtle gradations of shading with it and it’s very easy to control. I also added some hatching lines, and filled in other areas with solid black. This gives depth and contrast. I tweaked the design here and there until I was satisfied with it, and considered it a finished drawing.
The Christian symbolism in this drawing
There is a great deal of symbolism in this mandala. It is probable that more will emerge with time. After I had decided on everything, my hubby gave me some further input and saw things I had not considered! These have been incorporated into the list.
Chart showing the symbolism
I made this chart using my desktop publishing software. I cropped the image to just over half, and reduced the opacity so that the pointers would show up more clearly.
Obviously there was not enough space to give full details, so I will list them below.
Symbolism in detail
The Vesica Piscis – the basis of the whole design
The Vesica Piscis (literally “bladder of the fish”) is a sacred geometry figure of two interlocking circles forming the fish-like centre. The fish is an early Christian symbol, a secret sign used by believers to identify others of the faith. The Vesica Piscis is also known as “the seed of life” in sacred geometry, and has many symbolic meanings. Primarily it symbolises the union of physical and spiritual, secular and sacred. In this picture, it is symbolic of Jesus being totally God and totally Man. The upper circle represents heaven (spiritual) and the lower circle represents earth (physical) with Jesus at the centre, being both.
Heaven consists of three realms: the sky (atmosphere), the cosmos (space – sun, moon and stars) and the heavenly realm where God and the angels dwell. For the First Heaven, I have drawn feathers to represent the birds of the air. The sky in the drawing depicts the sun, clouds and rain. God promises the seasons will continue as long as the earth remains – the “climate crisis” is a myth! In Gen. 8:22, God speaks to Noah after the Flood: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” God is in control and we have nothing to fear. The Second Heaven (the cosmos) is represented by the ring of stars. The Third Heaven (the spiritual realm) is represented by the overshadowing of God’s protective feathers.
The earth is the physical realm. Even in its fallen state since the sin of Adam and Eve, it is a place of abundant life and beauty. In the spiritual sense it is a mixture of light and darkness, of good and evil, of joy and suffering. I have tried to depict this with contrasting black and white, and beautiful mandala-style floral motifs.
The shape of the whole drawing resembles a figure 8. In Scripture, 8 is the number which represents resurrection, new life and new beginnings.
Other symbols
Some close-up shots of the drawing
This is a project I have really enjoyed doing. I know the brief was to do a basic single circle mandala but I couldn’t resist this challenge! I intend drawing some mandalas in a more simple way which probably won’t take me so long. Following Zak Korvin on YouTube has given me plenty of ideas for combinding mandalas with sacred geometry.
I’ve got a couple more lessons to do on this mandala drawing course and I hope to complete those tomorrow – how to photograph your art and digitise it, and stuff like that. I’m not sure I shall make much use of that aspect of things but we shall see. I am keen to finish the course before the end of the month, and start a new one in February.
