Creative Practice Wk1 - You Paint Me Round, Round

Recently, I came across some images of painted stones.  The painter created a mandala pattern using white acrylic ink and a quill pen. Just looking at the painted stones made me happy. It created a desire to own something like them. With the knowledge that there has been research on how therapeutic drawing mandalas could be, I thought I would try creating my own painted stone. The initial reaction was fear –fear of creating something ugly, fear of not knowing how to create a perfect circle.

Once the ink touched the stone, it was commitment time; it was time to let go of control. I found myself calmer, more focused on trying to get the ink onto the rock. My brain ended up telling my hand to create certain patterns before I completed the previous pattern. It felt good watching the patterns gradually form.

Though this was my first mandala, I can see that my hand-eye coordination will increase and the patterns will become more creative with practice.

Materials Needed:

• Round Stone
• Acrylic Ink - Any Color
• Quill Pen or paint brush

Create your pattern on the stone, starting from center working your way out.

Final product.

I decided to do some art vandalism with  my painted stone by placing it in a planter with other rocks.

This rock is in a planter at a hospital. Hopefully someone who needs a blessing for the day will find it. They will only see the blessings if they flip the rock over.