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1. The colours you're NOT working with have NO place on your table. Put them away, or you may grab a wrong colour.
2. Always test your colours on a little piece of paper before using them on your board.
3. With complicated colour schemes, do yourself a big favour and write down your numbers (or colour names) on a little piece of scrap paper.
4. Never start a complicated movement or colouring job when you can't finish it (like just before going to bed or leaving for work).
5. Try to make your movements over the board , or paper, in one sitting. If you stop and come back the next day, either you will hold your pen in a different manner, or your movements will not have the necessary fluent strokes.
6. Do NOT make any big decisions about which way your drawing will go, just before going to bed. Sleep on it, and make those decisions with a fresh head, and teh actual time to apply what you're seeing.
7. Don't make a trial movement on your original work. Use scrap paper. Test it, the movement, or your colour scheme, before applying it for real.
8. Once your put your pen, or marker, on paper and make an actual stroke, you're engaged. You will have to finish what you started.
9. Do not EVER eat chocolat or licorice over your work. Or candy. Or anything. You may drool. Plus your hands get dirty.
10. NO coffee or other drinks even remotely close to your work.
11. After doing the dishes, make sure your sleeves are DRY before heading back to work. You WILL smudge your work.
12. After eating, go wash your hands. Anything coloured, or sticky, WILL smudge your work.
13. If you have a dog that likes jumping up to you, always check if you're alone. If not, lift your pen slightly OFF the board, so you can't
accidentally put a mark where it doesn't belong.
14. If you're heavily relying on one particular colour in your work, make sure you have an extra marker. You do NOT want to run out with not a way in days to obtain a replacement.
15. If you're not sure your marker will last, and you have for instance 24 circles that need colouring, do not start at nr 1, then 2, then 3. Instead, try to divide your work. Skip one. Or do three, then skip three. Or do four, then skip four. That way, your work will always end up even, and you could use another colour in what you skipped. Your work will still be balanced out, no matter what colour you use.
16. A mistake is annoying, but it is NOT the end of the world, NOR the end of your artwork. A mistake is often less noticeable than you think. Try to work with your mistakes. Make one, see if it is possible to put the same mistake, on purpose, in all your other shapes over the board. That way, they will all still look the same. Sometimes, it may shape your artwork in a unplanned manner, and make it actually better, or different, than you may have intended, but is often actually a positive change. One that would have never been able to sprout from your brain, so you may surprise yourself. Also, always remember two things. First, your working traditional. It's not supposed to be prefect like a computerized mandala may be. That's the charm of traditional work. The second is the Amish. They will often put in one mistake or imperfection in their work. Because they consider only God is perfect.
17. When you prep your board with your compass and ruler, do not forget that being slightly off in the centre, may actually cause a quite wide gap at the outside. A hair length in the middle may cause a half an inch difference at the outside of your circle, so always take your time and measure carefully.
18. Don't skip over prepping (like get somebody else to lay down the pencil version of your circle) for it's really important you learn how your prep work influences the success of your mandala. Be responsible for the whole thing from start to finish, and you'll feel even more proud of your accomplishment. Also, you will learn how, with your prep work, you influence the shape of the whole circle. Wide spaces, or tiny spaces between circles? Think about it.
19. In the end, you're ever only as good as your last circle. While at the same time..
20. Don't worry too much about the outcome of your work. What matters most is the actual making of it. The time you spend, and your intention. It's nice to finish a mandala, and have it look good. And get comments or thumbs ups or compliments about your work. But in the end, it matters not. Ever seen the monks make sand mandalas? They spend days, if not weeks, meticulously putting down sand in the most beautiful intricate shapes. After they finish, they look at it, stand around it, and with ceremony, swipe their hands through their just finished work. Scooping up all the coloured sand, mixing it together until it loses their shapes, their colour and their shine. And.. the result is gone, for it no longer matters. That is a mandala.
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