Four Guardians

Time: 10 - 15 hours
Media: Watercolor mostly, sharpie, and watercolor markers as well

This was my FAVORITE project this trimester. It's a mandala, which was originally a Hindu design. My teacher basically said, it's a circle and you can do what you want.

These are the four guardians of the compass in Chinese/Japanese mythology. The red phoenix in the south, the white tiger in the west, the black warrior in the north (depicted as a snake and turtle usually), and the blue dragon in the east. In the center is a rose inspired by an inscence burner I have. It's... rather symbolic but at the same time, I like to stay away from symbolism.

Also: This was taken with my digicam on my livingroom floor, hence the brown in the corners. We have ugly carpeting.