Flower Mandalas

These mandalas were created in Pattern Pie using photos of roses,

flowers and plants from my garden.

This image is one of my favourites, it reminds me of a celtic cross.

More Mandalas

These mandalas were created with Pattern Pie using the following photos of our car damage /repair.

Mandala Play

I've been a member of the yahoo group The Art of the Mandala for quite a while, I read all the emails that I get, and admire the photos that are in the group files, but I have yet to post my introduction. Someone posted that they had used the Pattern Pie Program, so I went and downloaded the demo had a play and I was hooked, so I had to buy the program. Here are some of my experiments from today.

A mandala for Steph

65 Roses

Michelle Ward has asked visitors to her blog today to leave good wishes for her sister Shannon who is in hospital having treatment for Cystic Fibrosis. (To send your thoughts to Shannon check out Michelle's blog) I have been having so much fun with the mandalas that I decided to create one for Michelle and Shannon.

The mandala was created in photoshop using a photo of a rose from Mum's rose garden. Here's the original photo.

New Mandalas

I have been having playing with Photoshop and manipulating some personal images to create these mandalas. I hope you enjoy loooking at them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Carving Capers!

In my enthusiasm to make a start on this crusade, I turned the studio upside down looking for my lino cutting tools - we've still got boxes that we're unpacking (nearly 5 months after moving in - you can't rush these things!)I didn't find the tools but I found some scraps of lino and decided to make a shadow stamp for my anatomy stamp - a la Michelle - I stamped the image onto the lino and cut it out using a scalpel. I inked it up, it looked ok, so I stamped it. Then I inked the head and stamped over the 'shadow', something just didn't look right. I sat and looked at the stamps and the stamped image. It took a little while for me to figure it out the 'shadow' is a mirror image of the stamp, so it has created a reverse image rather than a shadow. So while I'm back to square one, I do have a silhoutte of a head stamp!

I went into town this morning to try and buy a carving block, with no joy - This is the bit that I am finding difficult living in a small country town, 8 hours from the city - I guess I'm just going to have to order what I need online. Stay tuned for future progress.

It's crusade time again - you know how much I love Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team Crusades - This month's crusade is Cut It Out - Make a tool of your own. Michelle is challenging us to create our own tools either carving our own rubber stamps or creating a custom stencil. Now I haven't created a stencil before, so I'm looking forward to Michelle's hints and tips

I have tried creating my own stamps and lino prints before, here are some pics:

Raven

Triskele or Celtic Spiral

Phoenix rising from the flames.

Thanks to Michelle for the great ideas, I'm inspired to hunt out my tools and carve some stamps.