This mindful semicircle pattern exercise will help you feel more calm and relaxed.
Did you know that our brain prefers circular shapes over angular ones? Circles and curves represent unity and security. These shapes make us feel calm and safe. So when we draw them, it makes us feel relaxed.
In this exercise, we’ll draw a lot of semicircles and create a fun relaxing pattern in the meantime.
We’ll also reuse aspects from previous exercises. We’ll draw stacked semicircles, just like we did in the Mindful fish pattern exercise. And we’ll create depth with a pencil and a tortillon, as we did in the Mindful pattern with depth exercise.
I thought, it was fun to combine these concepts. Don’t worry, if you haven’t done those exercises, there’s no special knowledge necessary for this exercise. But if you want to know more about it, you can have a look at the exercises mentioned above.
Have fun with this mindful semicircle pattern exercise! Please let me know if you’ve tried this one, I would love to see it.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Watercolor paper 300gr (Winsor & Newton), watercolor (Kuretake Gansai Tambi), water brush (Pentel), washi tape, fineliners no. 1.0, 0.3, 0.1 (Copic), 1B pencil (bruynzeel), tortillon, paper towel.
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use your kids’ watercolor paints or you can use colored pencils, crayons, or markers as well.
If you don’t have a tortillon, you can also use a cotton swab to blend your pencil marks.
If you only have regular paper, please be aware that your paper cannot hold that much water and will probably warp. Try taping it down to prevent it from warping too much.
Instructions:
Step 1
Before you start, breathe slowly in and out a few times to clear your head. Choose a color that makes you feel calm or speaks to you and use that to make the background of your drawing. Try to use different shades of the same color. It will make your pattern more interesting if the colors vary a bit. I used a light yellow at the top of my page and a slightly darker yellow at the bottom. I blended them in the middle. If you only have one color, dilute it with water to make it lighter at the top of your page.
Step 2
Wait until your paint is completely dry before continuing with this step. When it’s dry, it’s time to start drawing your pattern. Draw small semicircles next to each other. When you start the next row make sure it is shifted halfway in a horizontal direction. This means that the semicircle starts in the middle of the semicircle below. It is a bit like a brick pattern. Take your time and go slow. Enjoy the repetitive motion!
Step 3
Draw two smaller semicircles within the ones you’ve drawn in step 2 with a smaller-tipped pen.
Step 4
For this next step, we’ll add a small semicircle to the center of your large semicircle and color it. In the semicircles from the second line and onwards, it might look more like an oval.
Step 5
The next step we have to take is adding black dots and small circles to your largest semicircle. I started with the black dots and divided them equally over the space of the semicircle. Then, I added small circles in between my black dots.
Step 6
Now, we’ll add some lines to our smallest semicircle. Draw lines from the black dot in the center to the edge of your smallest semicircle. They are fanned out, just like rays of sunshine.
Step 7
Lastly, we will add some extra depth to our pattern. Grab a soft pencil (HB, 1B, 2B, etc.) and trace the outline of the second-largest semicircle. Then, grab a tortillon or cotton swab and blend your pencil lines. This will add some shade to your pattern and give it depth.
Now this mindful semicircle pattern exercise is done! Hope you had fun.
If you liked this exercise, you might like my mindful leopard spot pattern exercise as well.