10,000 Circles Meditation

"10,000 Circles Meditation" - mixed media on watercolor paper, 22" x 15".  Ready to frame.  Available here.

Let's meander into the realm of abstraction, and one kind of  process to get you started.  Today's inspiration is courtesy of artist extraordinaire Dianne Nance, who assigned this as homework and got my brain twirling. 

Take a photo you love....like this one, of my big buddha and one of my favorite paintings  (a VETHOMSON, of course) reflected in the mirror (below).

Reprint the photo in black and white and make a value sketch over top of the photo with some parchment paper.  The result with be a nicely abstracted version of your photo, which you can use as a blueprint for your painting.

You know me, dear reader, and so you understand that things tend to wander a bit during my process, right?

And so this one wandered into the land of zen doodling (or "jentanglement", as I like to call it) and within a few days about 10,000 tiny circles appeared.  I was lost in the circling, not really paying attention to anything else, which is what generally happens when I doodle. :)  So my abstraction project became a giant meditation instead.

​I am examining my photo collection now with new eyes.  Each has the potential to become abstracted.  Shapes and negative spaces

I may not have noticed before are suddenly jumping out.  When the details are blurred, the composition becomes clear.

But enough of all this seriousness!  Maybe you need a little doodle meditation to start your day?  What's cuter than 30 cute faces?