Latest Mandala Painting - now SOLD!
A few months ago whilst I was visiting my grandparents I was asked what had drawn me to start painting mandalas and at the time I answered that I was unsure, it was just something that happened. As I have had a bit of time to reflect on why I started making them it has become clear to me that there has been quite a journey of inspiration!
In 2015 I quit my office job & ran off to travel India. In the months leading up to leaving, I had rediscovered my love for painting and I quickly lost interest in my job, wishing and praying for more time to create art and wondering why I was spending my days doing formulas in excel! One weekend I bought a huge canvas and some oil paints and just started painting a giant mandala I'm not sure why I painted one, I didn't even really know what they were. I finished the painting & then left for my travels.
(design of the first mandala painting - doodled on post-it notes whilst I was meant to be working...oooops!)
(work in progress piccy)
(and the finished piece! now hangs in the living room at my mothers home)
mandala
ˈmandələ,ˈmʌndələ/
noun
- a circular figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism.
- (in Jungian psychology) a mandala as a symbol in a dream, representing the dreamer's search for completeness and self-unity.
^^^google definition^^^
I spent 3 months traveling the north of India. I visited sacred Hindu & Buddhist temples, read books and spoke to people to learn more about the teachings and culture of Hinduism & Buddhism from which the mandala is part of their symbolism. However, it wasn't until almost a year later when I was traveling New Zealand that I began to paint mandalas again.
I was on a journey from Auckland (on the north island) to Christchurch (south), living out of a second-hand car we bought. ('We' being my partner Glenn & I.)
On our drive down we were running low on funds and fuel and on a whim we decided to take a detour to Takaka. A beautiful little hippy village with only one road in and out. We parked up at a freedom camp by the river and only planned to stay for 1 night which then turned into 1 week! Walking barefoot in the mud & the grass, washing in the river, drinking in the sun and eating freshly caught fish cooked on the fire. Ahhh it was bliss! I spent most of my time down by the river where I began to paint mandalas again.
As we left Takaka we picked up a hitchhiker who then bought these three mandalas from me! She also invited us to her brothers where they let us stay the night and have HOT showers! After a week of roughing it in the car and washing in the river....we must have looked(and smelt....) like we needed it hahaha!
When we finally made it to Christchurch with barely any money or fuel left we rented a room and desperately searched for work! My partner is a bricklayer so he got work pretty much the second phone call and it turned out that his boss's girlfriend(now wife) was an art blogger!
One night they invited us over to try crayfish that they had caught & we were introduced to a lady who then commissioned me to paint her a huge mandala on a 1m circular wood panel. When I created this piece I had been really inspired by the autumn colours.
A few months later after having left Christchurch and traveling back up north, I sold another mandala painting online on my Etsy shop. Which came at such a great time because I had been going through a creative block! I was close to giving up but this gave me the motivation to keep going!
So there you have it! A little magical history of the mandalas I have created and their stories!
I think I will always create them. There is something so beautiful in the repetition of the process, building up patterns and colours. It's quite a meditative process!
~
If you want to be part of this story & would like your own custom mandala painting...please email me! sophiehannahart@gmail.com
Alternatively, please click here & visit my online shop to see what mandalas are ready and available to be shipped to you right now!
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