The Artful Mandala by Cher Kaufmann

26/10/2015

Number of Pages: 208
Size: 20 x 20cm
Paper colour: White
Paper surface: Smooth
Paper thickness: Average
Linework: Fine
Perforated: Yes
One sided: Yes
Binding: Glue
Drawings go into the spine: No
Waterbased pen bleed: None

Cher Kaufmann is an artist and teacher from Texas, who has combined her passion for photography and art with her training in Reiki and healing to create a book full of pen-and-ink mandalas that are a little different to the norm. These mandalas are not all perfectly round, nor are they necessarily symmetrical. The one-per-page illustrations are flowing and fluid, not constrained to the typcical circle you might envisage with mandalas. It's more fun than serious, which is what makes this book one of my favourites of all the mandala ones I've reviewed.

The book has handy hints at the front for the use of colour and what they mean, eg. purple for royalty and magic. There are of course no rules, but it is interesting at least to read about the meaning of colours and try to apply that in your choices.

There are a huge range of images in this thick, square format, making it a good one to take with you on holiday as you know you won't run out of illustrations for a long while! The pages are crisp and white with loads of different styles included, making it a bit of an all-rounder in my opinion.

Here's my finished picture, which I completed with Promarkers :)