Design Stack: A Blog about Art, Design and Architecture: Shapes in Mandala Drawings and Paintings

5 Jun 2025

Shapes in Mandala Drawings and Paintings

See More Drawings - Sketchbook, Paintings

00-Mandala-Art-Mafida-www-designstack-co

Drawings and paintings of mandalas. Appreciating a beautiful, ancient form of art.

Indonesian Artist Mafida drew and painted all of the art you see on this page.

Apart from the first two pieces, the rest seem to be associations and coming together of two or more figures. Color pencils, ink and watercolor paint team up to collaborate in these fantastic geometric expressions.

In the first two drawings, I really like and appreciate the contrast between the precise, clean lines of the ink part of the piece and the free, unbound advance of the paints. The latter seems to be spreading at will, with no predetermined path.

Next, I see myself gravitating towards the fifth drawing down. That division of what looks like it could be Earth in all of its splendour, on one side and what looks like a view of the cosmos with all of the stars, nebulae and invisible, to our view, distant planets. Space, as we are yet to explore it in all of its vastness.

When it comes to drawing six, I may have misinterpreted it. I am going to leave the title stand but explain where I see my error. I initially thought it looked like a slice had been cut out of this mandala. On reflection and a second look, it would appear that the clock hand is turning. It's cancelling the pattern below to substitute it with the one above. One question then arises... Which direction is the hand turning in? Clockwise or anti-clockwise? This matters, as it will determine which pattern survives. What would be your choice of path and pattern?