Artist: Jane LaFazio

Location: California, USA

Found on page: 136

Title of Art: Recycled Circles

Materials: cotton, thread, beads, and buttons.

I love your fabric circles with their whimsical lines and shapes. What advice do you have for our readers who are getting caught up on making “perfect” mandalas?

Using the method I use to create my Recycled Circles artwork, it’s nearly impossible to create a perfect mandala or perfect circle. The ‘wonkiness’ of the shape, the variety of fabrics and the unmatched seams all add to the charm of the piece! And when I embellish, with beads and buttons, I don’t do those symmetrically either. I like the whole random quality, yet contained in a square.

Jane LaFazio, a full-time artist since 1998, truly believes she is living the life she was meant to live! In that time, she has cultivated a wide range of skills as a painter, mixed media, quilt artist, art teacher and blogger. She’s known for her fun-loving, creative teaching style, and providing a relaxed supportive environment in the classroom. She teaches workshops online and at art retreats internationally. Jane’s artwork has been featured in Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Quilting Arts magazines many times, and in Danny Gregory’s An Illustrated Life, and in numerous books.  She is featured in the instructional DVDs “From Art Journaling to Art,” “Layered & Fused Applique Quilts: From Fabric Scraps to Recycled Circles” and “The Small Art Quilt” available on Amazon.  Jane lives in San Diego, California.  Find Jane online at: JaneLaFazio.com  

“The Mandala Guidebook: How to Draw, Paint, and Color Expressive Mandala Art” by Kathryn Costa is available from North Light Books.

Meet the other contributors at the online Book Launch Party.