Friday, July 7, 2023

Mandala Rock Painting Made Simple: Step-by-Step Instructions for Timeless Designs

 

Mandala Rock Painting Made Simple is a tutorial guide for painting meditative mandala type designs on decorative stones written by Carla Schauer. Released 1st Nov, 2022 by Callisto on their Rockridge imprint, it's 211 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a really well photographed book and the tutorials are clearly written and illustrated.  I am by no means an accomplished artist and the instructions were well within my confidence level as a beginning 'doodler'. The resulting projects are attractive and appealing (see cover).

There's an introduction with materials and how-to's as well as a short section on sourcing and choosing rocks for projects. The author does a good job also discussing the ethics of collecting and leaving stones, and how to be considerate of the natural environment. There's a good list of different paints, inks, and other media as well as tips for different shading, color, and surface effects.

The intro is followed by large tutorial chapters roughly grouped by theme: skill building (easier) mandalas, natural subjects, and animal inspired mandalas. Each tutorial includes approximate project times, tools, supplies, and paints needed. They all include a full color photo of the finished rock, and full step-by-step instructions.

The author/publisher have included an abbreviated resource/link list slanted toward North American readers. Readers from other areas will be able to easily source tools and materials with a simple online search (or local hobby retailer).

Five stars. This would make a lovely weekend family project or a really cool 'tie-in' hobby for gardeners, rockhounds, collectors, etc.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

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