As Christmas approaches, it’s time for this elf to get to work.
I’ve been designing mandalas by hand for the past two weeks as examples for a women’s retreat craft activity. Mandalas are such a relaxing image to create. The repetition of design elements are very calming to make. And, simple motifs will multiply into complex intricate designs.
After making quite a few by hand, I decided to pull out my Adobe Illustrator skills and try making some digitally. Illustrator is such an amazing program even if it is not always intuitive to handle.
My first digital mandala is for the priest at my new church. He’s a very hard working man as well as someone who, with the help of a great congregation, created a church environment that is very welcoming to anyone who enters it’s always open doors. When he does take a break, Disneyland is one of his happy places to relax. It’s hard to see in the image, but there are two verses that relate to building a house and seeing the bounty in God’s creation. So fitting for for this gracious man.
This one I just finished last night. I’m think of using it as my Christmas card. Resizing the image is no problem with Illustrator. The vector images keep their quality no matter the size…Well, maybe not the stroke size. All the lines on the snowflakes needed resizing as I shrunk the image down for printing.
The last mandala looks like a jewel. It’s still a work in progress. The transparency and creating glow effects were something new for me to try in Illustrator. I don’t know how I’ll finish it off, but that’s the best part of the creative process, being open to the spirit that guides you.
Debra A. Collins 