Quandary Orchid

And yes….. ANOTHER mandala/medallion. This is the year for those types of projects, I cannot help myself. This one is actually inspired in the Flower of Life pattern, AKA Quandary in Zentangle lingo. After the Da Vinci Zendala class, I was stuck making Flower of Life patterns OVER AND OVER again. (Read more about my “less-loved” experiments below).

I created SEVEN different pieces before this one came about. It's built over an Isometric Grid, which is fascinating in itself, and look at that tiny ORCHID right in the center there, love it, came about completely unexpectedly.

Before this one happened, I had several good and less-than-good experiences. These are the ones I like best of all:

I’m pretty OK with the two next ones as well. These were actually the two first ones to be completed, in black and white.

When I tried to adapt the black and white to color, I had several less-than-loved results:

Technically speaking the lines are ok and all that, but I simply didn't like the results. My inner critic was screaming so loudly I couldn’t even bring myself to finish them! Just to show that not everything happens magically, many times (most times) there is a lot of work involved, trial and error. Just because you can make lines well it doesn’t mean that you'll enjoy the process or the results.

The last one is really quite beautiful in my opinion, and it was a joy to create. Finally the muse was soothed and happy! Here is a close-up for you to inspect:

Feel free to share or pin these images: