Adult coloring books have become a growing trend over recent years, and these books include a wide variety of images and subject matters to fit every niche interest group, but by far the most popular are Mandala patterns.
The design of the mandala is supposed to be visually appealing so as to absorb the mind in such a way that irritating thoughts are unable to get through and a spiritual essence surrounds the individual observing the mandala, which in turn allows the individual a higher consciousness or awareness, almost as though being hypnotized. This allows the busy mind to take a break while the creative mind is allowed to run free. http://spiritualawakening.weebly.com/mandalas-what-are-they.html
Hindus were the first to use a mandala as a spiritual tool, but Buddhists use them too, and these circular shapes symbolize the notion that life is never ending. Which is kind of ironic, because my mum favors mandala coloring books, and her dementia means that each day is never ending for her. She loses herself in her colouring books, and although she had a tin full of pencils and felt-tip pens, she always searches and gravitates towards the green one. I wonder why?
A Mural for the Bedroom
Since buying our house in Turkey, we’ve been fascinated by Turkish tiles and the patterns inside of mosques, and we were planning on recreating a Turkish tile on our bedroom wall, but our Google search of circular patterns resulted in two mandala designs that we incorporated to create a cohesive design.
Red was creative director on the project and I helped with the outlining, filling in, and colour mixing. Our house is primarily white and overlooks the sea, so we incorporated varying shades of blue as homage to the water and sky, but somehow four small sections of green crept into the design when I was out of the room.
At the time I wasn’t keen on this divergence from our blue theme, but now these elements remind me of my Mum coloring her mandalas, and I’m glad they’re there. I think how fun it would have been to have my Mum here to help us paint this mandala in, but if she’d had anything to do with it the entire design would have been green.
Here’s the video montage I made of our mandala mural creation.
We have one more bedroom to decorate and at the moment we’re favoring an evil eye design, but haven’t settled on one yet—watch this space.
That’s epic. Lots of work went into that I can tell. You must have had such fun planning and painting it.
Thanks Adam … yes it was a labour of love. We combined multiple designs into one, so the planning was a bit of a challenge.
Jay Artale recently posted..Our Workaway at an 18th Century Flour Mill France
It’s beautiful! Did you paint it freehand or use a projector? I think it’s lovely that you incorporated green, it’s my absolute favourite colour and I love that it reminds you of your Mum. Even though she couldn’t be in Turkey to help you with it, you managed to include her anyway. I love that.
Love Mandalas and yours is spectacular! Glad that you incorporated a bit of your mother’s favorite green in the color scheme. I had the delightful experience of watching Buddhist monks create a complex mandala from colored sand over a four day period only to take it outside to let the wind blow it away. Cool that you’ve bought in Turkey! So want to sail there.
Lisa Dorenfest recently posted..Sunday Evening: A Sail Through The San Blas
Lisa the coastline off Turkey is amazing. Famous for it’s Blue Cruises. Good thing is that there’s so many Greek Islands within easy reach, you can kill to nautical birds with on stone. 🙂
Being a hindu, I know the importance of Mandala and we still make it on special days and festivals. Good to know you too had it as a huge mural in your room. And blue color in bedroom give total peace and relaxing feelings. I loved your blue colored bedroom with a Mandala on one wall.
Yes we live near the ocean so we wanted to bring the blue of the sky and water into our bedroom.