Botanical Mandalas by Daniel McPheeters
I have always been fascinated by patterns and symmetries, particularly the mandala. There is something about the mandala form that draws the eye to its inherit beauty while centering and focusing the mind. As an avid gardener, I love the natural forms of flowers and foliage. In them I see the beauty of patterns and symmetries as well.
As an artist, I have worked in different media, particularly digital collage. The ability to manipulate images on the computer has given me the tools to create lovely mandala art. I take hundreds of pictures of flowers and foliage from many gardens and pick out the ones that have the most interesting structure. From these I take a wedge shaped segment and repeat the pattern in a circle. I use calculations that are exact to the single pixel. This results in an intricate and seamless mandala. While all of these botanical mandalas are lovely, I select only a few of them that have designs that inspire me and suggest an artistic theme. I then use the botanical mandala as a canvas and weave in my own imagery. Unlike most other collage artists that incorporate other’s images, I have given myself the personal challenge of using only my own photographs, paintings, and drawings in my works.
I am fascinated by ancient glyphs and symbols and often include them in my mandala art, sometimes as part of the frame and sometimes within the piece as well. I also use symbols of the Zodiac and related designs to create my Zodiac Mandalas.
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