Dove Tree Mandala

‘Dove Tree Mandala’
copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore
Mixed Media on Canvas
14″x14″ square
I’ve had this piccie in mind for a long time.  In early July I made a scribble that had the beginnings of the idea:
I wanted to use the tree as a circle in a square like a mandala.  I’ve been looking at art by mixed media artists so I wanted to experiment and use different media and textures. 
In the foreground I made doves using the design I created for the doves in “Be Free” (Sunday Feb 12, 2012 on ByShi).  I made them from beautiful black and purple musical manuscript papers by ‘Alison Ellis Design – A Formal Affair’.
In the background, to make the circle in the centre, I glued down some out-of-copyright manuscript within the circle.  Then I scrunched some tissue paper and glued that down, before doing the wash with watercolours in greens.  Here is the paper with tissue: 
For the sky around the tree I glued down text from a book I bought cheaply from a thrift shop.  Then I covered this with scrunched tissue paper and then coloured it using watercolours.
I joined the two backgrounds together and outlined them in black:
Then I thickened the outline in pen and added design to the sun and the trunk of the tree.
I liked it as is, but as it’s such a large canvas I thought it still needed a foreground.  So I went ahead and added the cut out doves and outlined them in pen.  I put tiny doves in the corners and added the wavy lines to the corners to give it a finished look and so the corners didn’t look bare.
 ‘Dove Tree Mandala’
copyright 2012 by Shiloh Moore
To me this symbolises peace, freedom, beauty, earthiness, nature and love.  

2 thoughts on “Dove Tree Mandala

  1. Mary C. Nasser Reply

    I love this piece…the combination of colors and textures and text! Great seeing the process of its development, too! 🙂

    So nice to meet you through FB’s Magically Mixed Art Community.
    I am your newest blog follower! 🙂

    Wishing you all the best,
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

  2. Shi Reply

    Thanks so much, Mary! I looked at your site and what a treasure trove! Love all the dogs and cats and your card deck and the camera made from a map! Lots of fun. I'll follow you too! Lovely to meet you 🙂

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