Flower Power

I wanted to post this project. It took me 8.5 hours to complete. It is on 11×14 sketchbook paper. The first and hardest thing to do is determine what shape your Mandala will take. I find it easier to do this part in pencil so that I can get my basic shape using my compass. After I determined that this would have a floral pattern, I decided to build off the flower to make it not too flowery. I wanted to bring spring back.

Picking out the colors was a lot of fun. I just got a set of 48 Staedtler Color Pencils at Hobby Lobby for $20 USD. This was pricey as far as color pencils go, but it was more affordable than the much sought after Faber-Castell ones. A set of 24 Faber-Castell color pencils runs around $40 USD. The thing I loved most about these color pencils were that they are triangular. At first, I was a little weary about how they would sharpen, but everything worked out great with them. The colors are very vibrant, which surprised me, but shouldn’t have because I already love the Staedtler brand so much.

Choosing colors to work with was fun. The blue, pink and purple seemed like a no-brainer as far as spring colors were concerned. But I needed two more that would bring this piece home. The green came next. Seemed natural to have green leaves to compliment the floral pattern. Lastly, I had a choice between yellow and orange. I really didn’t want orange in there because I felt like it would clash too much with the pink, so yellow it is. I couldn’t be more happy with how it all turned out. And being my first floral patterned mandala, I thought it was a pretty solid start.

I would love to know your thoughts on the project. Let me know in the comments below!