Mandala Monday; The power of Black and White

On one of my days in NYC my friend and I visited Strawberry Fields in Central Park. It is an area located outside the Dakota Apartments where the late Beatle, John Lennon, singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist and his wife Yoko Ono lived. People were leaving flowers and there was a guy playing Beatle songs on his folk guitar . 
This iconic black and white "Imagine" Mandala, was designed by a team of mosaic artists from Naples Italy. It lies in the center of Strawberry Fields. "Imagine" evokes a vision and hope for a world without strife, war and conflict. Just beautiful!

I usually create with lots of bright busy colors, but there is a power to black and white. I've been experimenting with toned backgrounds for my own Mandalas (to come). My friend Sandy Bartholomew posted a great example of black and white on tone. Read her blog post today about how she was inspired to create this piece and a step by step journey to this finished piece. 

I've had several Manadala students who prefer creating in black and white. Black line with prismacolor white and black pencil...stunning.

Sandy is also having an awesome sale of lots of art supplies because she is moving. Check out her site for some bargains!