Udaysree with Gold-Leafing on her Mandala

For a long time I wanted to learn how to paint mandalas. Finally my wish came true and just last week I finished my first mandala workshop thanks to Dawn, the instructor. To my surprise I learned that Dawn had studied with her friend who had studied directly with Paul Heussenstamm. Paul is the mandala painter in the Western US. For a long time I have admired his art work – and one day I will take a class directly with him.

How to Work with Metal Leafing

At this mandala workshop I learned among other things metal leafing which is really cool. Actually it is very precious to handle but gives mandalas a lot of added beauty. First the adhesive is painted in the design outline of the mandala canvas. Next the sheet of metal leafing applied to it. Any access metal leafing can easily be brushed off with a paint brush once it has dried. If something goes wrong simply apply adhesive and add a small piece of metal leafing to fix it. When done seal the metal leafing with a coat of the same adhesive you used for fixing it. Once the adhesive is dry it looses its stickiness. Voila, all done.

Metal leafing for mandalas is available in silver, gold and other metal variations. You can also get a variegated form of leafing that has a multi-color shining effect. It’s great to ornament your mandalas or use it as a border around your artwork.

The mandala workshop was a great opportunity for me to expand my artistic portfolio from digital art to now include acrylics. It’s simply a more hands-on approach than digital art. I have many new and old mandala ideas that I will now be better able to express on the canvas.

In the photograph you can see me with my mandala ‘masterpiece’ as Dawn so lovingly called it. I will make it available as a print at my zazzle art store.

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