gouache: mandala

Here's how far I got on my mandala yesterday. The primary black and yellow are so stark around the mandala, and so I may just do blues and grays and black and white in the central medallion. Yesterday I was loving the sap green and yellow green or leaf green and yellow and deep yellow in the floral motif. I went with the deep yellow and sap green on the geometric half spheres and negative spaces in between. Black and white on the triangular symbols for earth, air, water, fire. And then back to yellow green on the triangles next to that black void punctuated by yellow stars. I painted the border to the left and right with cyan mixed with white to create the same tint as the sky above the flowers, but umm, yeah too much water that I'm gonna have to paint another layer though I do like the splotchy look of it. And I painted a tint of Prussian blue above and below the orb.                 

 

And I had thought I had submitted all my thumbnail sketches over the break although they're not due until tomorrow, but no. And so I just did. OOoof, I kinda hate the stars inside the black space. I wish I had just painted tiny crosses. It would be easy enough to paint over the yellow with black. I wonder...what if...let's try to quote Sesame Street.

Before my swim, I cooked an Italian sausage, vodka marinara sauce with pecorino and romano cheeses and taken out ravioli for the boys' (Patrick and Charlie) dinner. However, Charlie's mom, Kate stopped by and told me to it'll taste better tomorrow and to refrigerate the sauce and come over instead for pizza. 

We did. And so I want to make a penne and mozzarella casserole with that sauce to share with them. And I forgot that this Sunday is Easter, but have heard nary a word from mine or Patrick's family. I also forgot that I accepted an invitation for me and Meral for Sunday lunch at Kat's in Tracy. And no ceramics today. The plan is to cook fixings for mushroom crostini to bring as an appetizer, and maybe I'll bake a Meyer lemon blueberry loaf in addition to the chocolate cake I'm picking up from Copenhagen. I've swimming in an hour or so and need to change my swim appointment for tomorrow to 8 in the morning in order to make it to Kat's for lunch in time. I really ought to quilt this weekend in addition to the painting. And oh shit, I just remembered that I have to chaperone prom tonight too. Am I even gonna have the energy to swim tomorrow morning?