Illustrator Judith Moffat leads us in a Mandala Sketch
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On Tuesday evening, illustrator and author Judith Moffat discussed her long career in children's book illustration and writing.
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| A recent selection from Moffat's journal/sketchbook. |
Moffat began journalling/sketching in high school, and that process inspired her career, first in advertising and later (for much longer) in children's book illustration. The journal page above reflects her wonderful style--integration of word, cut image, and color pencil work.
With her recent loss of sight and designation as being legally blind, Moffat has had to rethink her relationship with visual imagery and the written word. This career and life-alterning experience moved her into working with audio journalling and, more recently, returning to visual imagery as her eyesight has slowly improved. Her long career has stretched from cut paper work to color pencil, tissue paper, and mandalas.
Moffat reflected that she does not know how long she will have her sight and so she has wanted to create different kinds of images. This has led her to her work in mandalas, a medium that many cultures and people have used as a form of meditation through imagery.
Here is Moffat's challenge for you today:
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| Create a circle and divide into equal sections, like cutting a pie. One way to do this is to fold the paper page in half, multiple times, leaving the creases which will indicate the "pie-shape" pieces to work with. |
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| Alter your circle in ways that are aesthetically interesting to you. Moffat creates a central circle, erasing some of the internal lines. |
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| Generate shapes and lines which radiate from the central part of the mandala. Work with shapes or images that are meaningful to you, |
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| Build the mandala as elaborately as you wish. |
Participants brought their sketchbooks and started creating their mandalas.
Please share your observations on Moffat's journalling techniques. And your thoughts on the mandala process.
There are many thoughts to ponder after Judith Moffat's presentation, including, and perhaps most importantly, her observations on the imagery we wish to send into the world and how important that becomes when sight is not a "given." But another I wish to have us think about is the relationship between word and image. I encourage you to develop your commentary within your journals. Your self-relfective thought on what you created on the page.
Keep the images coming.
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| Morgan and Gary work on their mandalas. |
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| Lauren starts constructing her mandala. |
Please share your observations on Moffat's journalling techniques. And your thoughts on the mandala process.
There are many thoughts to ponder after Judith Moffat's presentation, including, and perhaps most importantly, her observations on the imagery we wish to send into the world and how important that becomes when sight is not a "given." But another I wish to have us think about is the relationship between word and image. I encourage you to develop your commentary within your journals. Your self-relfective thought on what you created on the page.
Keep the images coming.
The presentation by Judith Moffatt was very interesting. It was fun to see how she developed her art and used different mediums in her work because she is very talented. I thought her mandalas were very detailed and looked great! The mandalas that we sketched tonight were less detailed but it was still a relaxing activity.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was interesting to see how she has progressed through different mediums. I also really enjoyed her different mandala's and seeing where she gets her inspiration. Overall, it was a great presentation!
ReplyDeleteThe mandala that I made during the speaker was the best one that I have made so far this year. I liked to see how she approached the process.
ReplyDeleteI found her preferred medium (Cut paper) to look beautiful and deep, but I couldn't help think of the tedium that revolves around such a precise mode of creation. I thought the paints or the shading with pencils was a slow process, but she truly took the cake. I wish she had taken more time with the mandalas, but I enjoyed the presentation nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI liked seeing how a professional artist made use of her sketchbook and enjoyed her color pencil mandalas
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to hear the artist's story and how that impacted and changed her art. I tried to focus on how I could make my mandala more personal to me and more organic
ReplyDeleteI really liked the Judith's story and her sketchbook drawings. I used to read highlights when I was little so it was cool to see that she was an illustrator for that magazine. She was an inspiration to me because of her perseverance in art even though she was legally blind.
ReplyDeleteI found her cut paper to be unbelievable, the detail was incredible and I can't even imagine the time she put into it. What really caught my eye was her going legally blind and being able to recover from that and keep on moving with her life as an artist.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was amazing and personal. I loved not only learning about her pieces but how she does not use her art only as a job but also as a way of living. She explained how her journals are there for her to look back on events with visual drawings making her experience more realistic when she looks back on her journals as she gets older to remind her and allow her to reflect on her life.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Judith's presentation. She has some awesome pieces. I wish I had one of the glow in the dark books when I was a kid! I thought that was a great idea. Some of her mandalas on display gave me great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI thought some of her paper pieces were amazing and gave me a new appreciation for that medium. Her story was inspiring to create while you can!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the presentation, I found it so interesting how she would draw in her journal her every day life, including what she would pack in her suitcase when she was going on a trip. I found her pieces incredible and what was even more amazing was how she over came her set back of becoming legally blind. On top of that I use to love the Highlight books as a kid!
ReplyDeleteThis presentation was great. The way she writes/draws in her journal everyday and the pieces she creates with paper are both so interesting. I am glad that she took us through her person journals and walked us through her journey of overcoming her challenge of becoming legally blind. It was inspiring.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the professional artist demonstrate how easy and fun it is to sketch whatever you want everyday to help you remind yourself what you did that day was fantastic. Loved how she perused drawing and do what she loves. When she was going through her sketches I looked through mine and saw a progression of growth from my first mandala to the one we did today.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation tonight was so interesting and it was great to see Judith's life as an artist. It was great to see her creativity and it made me want to try her cutting paper method. As for the mandala, I really like doing mandalas and this was my favorite challenge thus far.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to hear Judith talk about creativity and using different mediums to express creativity. I really enjoyed how personal her presentation was, and she really inspired be to create as much as I can.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the presentation this evening. It was great to see her sketchbook and doodles. I liked working on the Mandala again as well. She was a true inspiration and gave a lot of great ideas that I am going to try to incorporate in my sketches thru the rest of the sketchbook challenge!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated this activity. I loved the way she did her journals. and it was fascinating the way she can make a mandala so fast and so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this presentation! I liked seeing how she used her journal every day , it was really inspiring. Seeing what she could do with cut and pasting was also amazing. Overall great presentation!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad I got to hear her presentation. I loved looking at her journals; they were beautiful. I love the fact that she journals as much as she does. I also found her life story inspiring; I cannot imagine losing my eye sight and having to figure out the next stage of her career.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation by Judith Moffatt was really interesting. I loved how she talked about her pieces and how she goes about making them. It was interesting how she told us about how she was legally blind and how this sparked her to try different ways of expressing her creativity through colored pencils, tissue paper, and through drawing mandalas.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the presentation. She is down to earth, funny and soft spoken. Her art was cool to look at. Esp the paper art with the shadows. I was wondering how she did that before she actually explained that it was how she used the glue.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Judith Moffat's presentation. I was deeply inspired by the fact that her becoming legally blind did not change her desire to continue illustrating. Her mandalas were absolutely stunning!
ReplyDeleteThe presentation today was unique. I really liked how she used her sketchbook as a way to record and remember events. It would be nice to revisit my own sketchbook in a few years and remember my college life and self. Things that time sometimes allows us to forget, I could remember with new clarity. I also liked her idea of mixing journalism with sketching. Also, I really liked her tissue paper art. Such an interesting and pretty medium.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Judith Moffat's presentation today. I liked the way it was structured , showcasing what she used to back in the day and how her becoming legally blind did not stop her from continuing to do what she loved by with a different approach leading up to her what she is doing now. Her way of journalizing was very interesting. It would be something nice to look at when you are old and want to relive past memories.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Judith Moffat's presentation today. It put sketchbooks in a new perspective and that they truly can capture one's thoughts, ideas, and art. I liked how she created her art with the construction paper and it was very interesting to hear how she overcame the problem of having to photograph her pages so that the beauty in the folds of the paper weren't ruined- really cool. Even her mandala creation was simple and super pretty. Her mandala's inspired me in that they showed me I could incorporate objects in them, just like she did with the baby and the mermaids.
ReplyDeleteI loved Judith Moffat's presentation. It was really inspiring to hear her story and how she has remained so positive throughout her challenges. it also put journaling into a whole different perspective for me - I've never before considered adding images to journals I keep. Also, making the mandala for today's assignment was really calming. I enjoyed relaxing and letting the mandala form in front of me while my mind could wander.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Judith Moffat's presentation today. I couldn't believe some of the beautiful detailed work she created. She opened my eyes to a whole new way of journaling and sketchbooking. I also enjoyed her mandala creations and her advice on how to create one. The mandala I made tonight was definitely the best one I've ever made due to her advice.
ReplyDeleteI was not able to attend as I was ill.
ReplyDeleteI was very impressed with her ability to create those cut out pieces. I liked the way she journaled and how she used it to remember certain days and places. I liked most how she said when was an old lady she could relive her life through her journals.
ReplyDeleteMoffat's artwork was absolutely stunning; her work with paper and colored pencils was very admirable. I loved her journals, and I'm definitely thinking about taking up a practice like that. The mandala practice was very helpful, and I ended up really enjoying the activity!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't able to attend the event, but from what I am reading it sounds like her presentation was interesting. Going back and doing the mandala was really relaxing for me because I made it more personal.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this presentation. It was interesting to see into an artist's personal journal and definitely inspired me to try out some different ways to journal. I also really liked her approach to having us start a mandala. I really would like to play around with that some more.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way she incorporated words into her journal. I really enjoyed the way she showed us all of the different pages, and then talked about the different mediums shes explored. I think that it really helped me to understand why sketching is important. At the end, I liked this mandala better than my original.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the presentation tonight. She is a wonderful artist. I really liked the ways she interpreted color with multiple mediums. I had to leave early for night class; however, based on the pictures that have been posted, she seems to have a very efficient process for creating a mandala. It made it much easier. I liked this mandala better than my first one!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this exercise because it was a completely new way of looking at something that we have done before. The interesting technique of dividing up the circle even further and then focusing of shapes really brought out new creativity. This showed that even if you have done something before there is a completely new way to do it that you have not tried yet.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing her story and how she overcame her loss of vision unpredictably. It was really cool how many mediums she experimented with and how she was hired by highlights and scholastic to do their work. I was curious to know how she got her name out in the start of her artistic career and I also would like to know what influences her to continue journaling everyday and when/why that habit started in her life. However, I had a 6:30 class so I couldn't ask.
ReplyDeleteMoffat's artwork was really impressive, giving cut out paper a 3-D looks must be difficult but comes out so well. It was also very inspiring that she was on the cusp of becoming legally blind but stayed faithful and is now getting back on the horse to create her art again. The mandala technique that she taught us was very efficient and made it a lot more fun.
ReplyDeleteI thought her work was inspiring and made me want to try new things. i truly thought she did a good job of letting us know how her personal experiences play into her work.
ReplyDeleteI thought Judith presented very well, showing her sketches of the events is really interesting and makes you memorize the event more than you would if just a picture were taken. I thought she showed a few too many images of her events but I did enjoy the presentation and her story of being legally blind to somewhat normal eyesight. It was also fun to sketch a mandala along with her!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Judith's presentation, especially the cut paper art that she does. It was so interesting to see how much detail she really could put into her art with cut paper. Also when she was showing us how to create our mandalas I found my hand just flowing and creating with almost no effort. It just came to me and I really enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteMoffat's presentation was very interesting, I found interesting how she used different mediums. Creating a mandala with her was a different activity that I enjoyed, I really liked how my mandala came out.
ReplyDeleteI loved Moffat's presentation! It was son interesting to see how she incorporated her sketches into her journal. It was very fun learning how to do a mandala while she was doing one too.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the seminar yesterday to view the presentation. To be honest, I was pretty intimidated after quickly looking at the challenge and noticing that the activity involved Mandalas because they are usually extremely detailed. But after using Moffat's easy instructions, I was able to make a really cool one in no time at all. These things truly are addicting to make and I could see myself making hundreds of different ones if I had the time.
ReplyDeleteGreat presentation! I enjoyed listening to her story and learning about how she started out as an artist. She is very creative and I admire the books she illustrated for children.
ReplyDeleteIt was really cool to hear about all the places she had worked, as well as the connections with other artists she had generated over her working years. I've always enjoyed compasses and I wear a watch every day so I decided to incorporate those two important symbols and connect them into one mandala. I unfortunately had to leave the presentation right at 6:30 because of work but I wish I could have stayed to work on my mandala and chat with Judith.
ReplyDeleteHer presentation was interesting, it was cool to see her artwork and how it was displayed in scholastics which I used to look through when I was younger. I enjoyed her story and how she progressed as an artist as she grew older.
ReplyDeleteHer presentation was a lot better than I thought it was going to be! I appreciated her progression as an artist, and also never knew she was legally blind. I was stunned when I saw her highlights drawings because I remember reading those when I was a child.
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was very interesting and I learnt quite a few techniques that facilitated the art of drawing a mandala. Earlier, I used to be so confused so as to where to stay the mandala. But I learn that dividing the circle into symmetrical halves and then picking an element and repeating it symmetrically really helps.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was not able to make the presentation, her instructions were super helpful and my final result came out way better than my first couple of mandalas! I really enjoy making them and I LOVE how detailed they can get. I am all about spending multiple days on one project
ReplyDeleteI loved this woman's presentation. Her story about losing her eyesight was very interesting to her. I love that she keeps such a positive outlook on life and on her artwork even though she could potentially lose her eyesight for good at anytime.
ReplyDeleteBecause I wasn't able to attend this presentation, I found this challenge difficult to start. But following the instructions that were uploaded to the blog I was able to create a really cool mandala! But I wish I was able to hear Judith's techniques and ideas before attempting the challenge
ReplyDeleteIt was the first time i actually heard an professional artist talk about her journey till now. It was really interesting to hear her perspective on art, I liked how she drew each holiday out for memories
ReplyDeleteI was not able to make the presentation because I was away on vacation so I did this assignment based on the description. I am not a big fan of making mandalas.
ReplyDeletethe presentation was really interesting and made me want to start a journal of my own. Her use of color and lettering in her journals was really cool and her mandalas were very detailed. Each mandala told a different story even though a mandala typically can be similar to others because of its specific template.
ReplyDeleteTo be quite honest I was truly inspired by her story. I definitely connected with her on the scary journey of loosing her eye sight and possibly never drawing again. I am very nervous about my vision as well and I sometimes do not want to draw things out because I feel not up to par with what I want to draw. After hearing her story she inspired me to continue to push through it and draw out those significant moments in life. Moments like those are ones you want to remember forever and having a record of them is the best way possible.
ReplyDeleteI loved the whole presentation. From the powerpoint, to the story of her obstacles, and the journals she kept. I found it amazing how most people keep pictures and a diary, but she keeps a journal of her whole life.
ReplyDeleteI liked the aspect of "sight not being a given". I created mine based off of that. I was unable to actually go to this presentation but based off the comments, it must have been worth it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this challenge. I enjoy doing mandala's and I liked that we circled back to it. I unfortunately could not attend the presentation.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed Moffats presentation. She had a very interesting and inspiring story. Unfortunately I had to leave early so I missed creating the mandala, but the mandala that I created following the directions still came out good.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting piece of work that also had a hypnotic effect.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Ms. Moffiats presentation. She was very open with her story and passion for her work. I found her dedication very admirable and inspiring
ReplyDeleteAfter Judith's presentation I really found Mandalas easy to create and I was able to create more room for designs. I also admired her love for art which she has managed to make a career out of. She really inspires me to find what I love and also take it further in life
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy creating mandalas, I think it is relaxing and fun at the same time.
ReplyDeletemandalas are really enjoyable! it was fun creating one
ReplyDeleteThe presentation was amazing and I found it very inspirational. I loved the part how she lost her vision, and somehow found it again and kept going with her inspirational art
ReplyDeleteI did not attend the presentation due to football practice, but while i was doing this challenge, i felt very calm and relaxed. It benefited me greatly as a stress reliver
ReplyDeleteAlthough I could not attend the presentation, I found this challenge to be very enjoyable and relaxing. I worked with pencil to convey the meaning of perfect balance along side perfect imbalance.
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