Artist: Claudia Gray

Location: New Hampshire, USA

Found on pages: 68 and 69

Title of Art: Calla Lilies

Medium: photography, digitally rendered

When I was looking for some photography to use in the color chapter, I thought of my dear friend and photo buddy Claudia. Over the years we have gone on many outings taking us to interesting gardens, hot air balloon events, and fun cities (our favorite is Portsmouth, NH). We’ve taken photography classes together and inspire each other to not only take photos but to play with them.

The Calla Lilly photo above is one example of what Claudia and I love to do. We take a photo and then work in other design elements using Adobe Photoshop. We both love texture and color.

Claudia also introduced me to a program where we can take our own photos and turn them into interesting mandalas. You’ll see here how I played with images like bowling shoes, seashells, and graffiti to make unusual mandalas.
When it came time for my wedding, my husband and I decided to keep it a small affair with each of us choosing one person to join us. Claudia was my person.

Be sure to check out pages 68 and 69 in my book to see more of Claudia’s photography and how I created a color palette to use in my mandala color study.

“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.