Viking and Celtic Wedding Mandala

I have not ordered a hat yet because I decided to spend the money on silk long underwear for my trip to Denmark!  Out of the blue, my "oldest" friend who I've known since we were seven (that's 38 years!!) and who is basically like a sister to me, fell in love this summer and is getting married just after Christmas in Copenhagen.  I've been busy getting air and hotel reservations as well as making a special wedding gift for her. I was honored when she asked me if I would create a mandala representing her and her betrothed.  As he is of Viking descent and she of Celtic descent, I drew from the knotted and triskele designs of those ancient cultures.  I played around sketching the initials of their last name and finally figured a way to weave the two letters into a mandala love knot.  Once she approved the preliminary pencil sketch, I elaborated on the idea and you can see the progress below.  Each step was created using tracing paper over the previous sketch, all with a drafting pencil.  I photographed each step with my iphone and turned them sepia on iphoto (for the blog).  The final sketch was scanned and cleaned up on Adobe Photoshop, zooming in close and using a white "brush" to clean the negative space and a black "brush" to fill in any holes in the line work and smooth everything out.  The original design is about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

My friend is going to use this mandala on their wedding invitation and thank you cards.  I can't wait to share the printed version with you.... it will be a surprise for all of us to see how she and the printer decide to use the mandala!

"Love conquers all; let us too yield to love."

~ Viking Runic Love Quote ~

Congratulations Shelley and Claus!!!!