Evolution of a Mandala

I've just discovered Simon Hurley's create. dye inks from Ranger and I'm fairly smitten. I've used five of my favorite bold shades (prom queen, guppy, shooting star, overzealous and remember me) to watercolor this week's mandala; by "smooshing" some of each color onto my craft mat, then picking it up with a waterbrush. And yes, I love to throw some spatters of each color on, as well! When I was done painting, I had something which looked a bit like this:

Once all the basic shapes were in place and the inks had dried completely, I went in with Letter It Fineliners and outlined everything. Then I started adding details: shapes within shapes, double outlines, scallops and faux stitching. Finally, I grabbed a few markers and a white paint pen to add the finishing touches.  

Usually, that would be the end of the story, but since June first is just two days away, I went the extra mile and trimmed my finished sketchbook page into two 5.5 x 3.5" panels to fashion the front and back covers of my 2022 Index Card a Day* journal!

I think this might be my favorite ICAD book ever and I can't wait to start working on some of Tammy Garcia's inspiring (optional!) prompts; which can be found on the Daisy Yellow Art website, as well as Tammy's Instagram account, which is Gypsy999, and worth a look-see at any time of year, but especially fun in June and July.

Stay tuned for lots more about ICAD* and starting on Wednesday, I'll be posting my daily index card art on my own IG account (llaurenb) with weekly round-ups right here!

*If you're wondering, "what on Earth is ICAD?" you could check out this Daisy Yellow post, which is coincidentally titled, "What on Earth is ICAD?"!