Talking Passions: DB Doodles

This week, Talking Passions features a fantastically passionate soul by the name of Daniel Bowler. Known as DB Doodles, and with a variety of workshops ranging from calligraphy to Kahouli rice drawing held through Co:Lab in Broadmead, the talented local artist invited me round for a cup of tea and a chat recently about his passion for Mandala art, and we even made my first Mandala in the process.

Adam Chisman (TP): “As a young boy, what did you want to be when you grew up and how did you get to where you are now?”

Daniel Bowler (DB): “I think when I was younger I was really keen on the idea of being an astronaut, but very quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be feasible to do the amount of exploration that I actually wanted to do. The technology isn’t advanced to that point yet. Then it quickly turned into wanting to be a video game developer, a designer of video games. Not just any ordinary kind of game – I wanted to have almost like a mini universe within a game. So you would have the ability to do space exploration and actually travel to mini worlds, and play mini games within one over-arching game. So I would spend a lot of time designing these games, designing the characters, the scenes, the worlds, the plots, and just fill up books with all these little sketches and doodles. A lot of them were probably abstract squiggles if I look back on them now. But they led me to where I am now just constantly drawing. And at a certain point I think I found out that, similar to the astronaut side of things, how it couldn’t quite get to where I wanted it to be. With video games it seemed like there was gonna be a lot more coding and a lot more sitting at a computer typing in code and text. It didn’t really seem like a game, didn’t seem that much fun and so drawing was a familiar language and I just persevered with it and it got me to where I am now. And now the drawings are the games, those are the ones that I play. I studied in my home town of Stafford. I did A-Levels, and then following on from that I moved to Falmouth, which is this tiny little town in Cornwall right by the sea. I did a foundation degree there, which was one year. And then that led into three years of a drawing degree. And then straight after the degree, and realizing that the universe is a beautiful place. I could have quite easily gotten wrapped up in Falmouth, in the little bubble that it is. but I decided to take myself to Bristol and see what creative opportunities there were up here.” 

TP: “Amazing. Well we’re going to talk about Mandalas today, a passion close to your heart. I did a little bit of research and Mandalas are a Buddhist practice and are meant to symbolize the universe in it’s ideal form. For those like myself who are relatively new to the concept could you please give me a little more of the history behind them and where they come from?”

DB: “So the tradition in Buddhism is held true. They practice Mandalas, and practice teaching Mandalas specifically. So they’ve got very unique, specific aspects of Tibetan doctrine that they’ll incorporate into the Mandalas. So certain symbols, certain deities, certain mantras that they meditate on whilst they’re creating it – that’s one key aspect of Mandalas, and that’s what they do. But I believe that Mandalas, and Carl Jung. There’s a quote on this – he would call them ‘archetypal symbols of happiness’. And by that I think he means the archetype is something that pre-dates even our ability to describe what it is. It’s a very universal symbol. And that’s something that extends into all of nature. So fruits and flowers, they revolve, they grow from one singular point, and that is very similar to what a Mandala is. You pick a centre point, and you just let it unfold and grow out radially. So beyond fruits and flowers on this Earth, this Earth which is a Mandala itself. Everything that we perceive through our eyes, our eyes are the first Mandalas that we have. And they respond to everything that we see, and they’re a device through which we see the universe. Mandalas, dots, circles and spheres. That extends to stars and planets and the movement of celestial spheres, right down to atoms and particles. It’s a very similar language. The physicist knows parallel to what the astrophysicist knows. Micro and macro, as above so below, all of that stuff. Then sandwiched right in the middle is us, right here right now, trying to draw little Mandalas.”

TP: “Wow. And I understand that they are linked to Buddhist meditation practices. Can you tell me about some of the benefits of meditation and how Mandalas can help?”

DB: “So Mandalas are a tool to aid meditation. There’s no specific right way of meditating, there’s many different ways, but each are trying to allude to the same thing. You’re trying to get this state of inner peace or calm, whatever you want to call it, just that feeling of being present. And with Mandala making you have something that anchors you to that feeling. So you’ve got a visual cue which aligns to everything that you’re doing; every mark that you make is a process of being in the immediate. It’s a feeling which dates all the way back to the caveman shooting ink against his hand over the wall just to mark his presence. Just to feel immediate, just to feel contact with something else. And it probably goes right the way into the future, but we can’t really see that right now. But right now, that’s what Mandalas do for us. They bring us into the present. And with a lot of forms of meditation, it’s kind of like you’re intentionally choosing to waste time, and to feel comfortable with that. And in doing that, you just want to see how you can feel in that moment. So sometimes you will make a Mandala when you’re already feeling peaceful. You’ll surf that wave and carry that through the whole journey, and then at the end of it you’ll see that when you look at it through that eye Mandala that you have, you’ll witness it. But there’re times as well when you perhaps aren’t feeling any inner peace, and you can use the Mandala as a way of trying to rediscover that feeling.”

TP: “Amazing. How do you feel when you are creating Mandala art?”

DB: “So I’m a few years in now. It goes fairly deep and I have a few different mini philosophies about it. Ultimately though, when I’m making a Mandala I do just want to enjoy being present, and to just be there in that moment. But around that become these secondary feelings, after you’ve been practising them for a while, where Mandalas can be seen as, almost like a compass. A compass of the mind. One which provides this sense of balance, and sense of direction. Mandalas as a shield is another one, where you just feel resilient to the ever changing world around us. All these distractions, all these things going on, and it’s almost like a shield for yourself. Then also, Mandalas as a flag for the world. A  symbol which is celebrated across all different cultures, throughout the history of time. There’s people making Mandalas, or not necessarily even using the word Mandala to describe what they are, but just a symbol of celebration and of spirituality. It’s like the in between bits, between all the points of religions, there comes this feeling of inter-faith, inter-spirituality. And the Mandala kind of encompasses all of them.”

TP: “Wow, and it makes everyone feel good. And as well as the Mandalas I know you are quite the artist anyway. Can you tell me a bit about some of your inspirations in art?”

DB: “Inspiration-wise, there’s obviously many great classical masters who pioneered works. I’m a big fan of Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Da Vinci, Mucha and Dali and Klimt. I think that’s the kind of classical side of things, and it’s important to know those roots because they’re what have led us up to right now. But you need to know those roots to see how far the branches can extend as well. So it’s in relevance to what they’ve already done, and practised, and tried and tested. That’s where we are now, and we’ve got to follow on from certain themes, drawing inspiration from the works that they’ve done. But also from contemporaries, you know. There’s so many people creating work and it’s fantastic, because there’s a life force which exists between everyone. There’s all these ideas floating around, and they just need to find a vessel to actualize themselves, to realize themselves. So celebrating the works of anyone who’s making anything. That’s something which I fully endorse. Someone choosing to do something. That gets a thumbs up.”

TP: “Within Mandala art are there certain leaders?”

DB: “I wouldn’t say there are any specific leaders, it’s more a feeling that everyone plays a part in one big Mandala. There’s many groups on Facebook, and all around the web and I’ve chatted with a few other practising Mandala artists and it seems to be a celebration  that other people are making the Mandalas. There’s no competition. You’re all working towards that same goal. Trying to identify that one centre point and making one really big Mandala that essentially could be spherical and be like an Earth.”

TP: “Well you do actually do your own Mandala workshops through Paper Arts and Co:Lab in Broadmead. Can you tell me a bit about some of the workshops that you run and what they can offer people?”

DB: “So I originally started doing workshops around the idea of Mandala, and that’s something that I keep doing, with weekly workshops at the moment, every Saturday. To start off we do a couple of hours just introducing people to the idea of a Mandala for people who are beginning. And then people who have been practising for a while, perhaps challenge them with some new materials. There’s no one material either. It’s not only drawing, or only painting. There are many many different ways that you can practice them, and create them. So trying out different materials, creating individual works and collaborative projects as well – that’s the morning sessions that we’ll do, and then optionally people can take that on into the afternoon where we’ll do something a bit more ambitious, carrying on with the theme of Mandalas. We actually managed to get hold of some Tibetan Chak-purs, which are the traditional tools that Tibetan monks used to create these beautiful sand paintings. So we use those, and there’s a special kind of ceremony of making these Mandalas grain by grain. And they get really colourful really quickly. Also, in addition to that, there are chalk murals that we’re doing at the moment, and Earth Works, where we go to a nice park or nice bit of greenery and just forage for natural materials and make a Mandala out of those.”

TP: “Perfect for the coming summer.”

DB: “Exactly. Prime time. That’s all the Mandala workshops that I do, but like what I was saying with the shield-like feeling of Mandalas, I’ve developed this confidence with running workshops, and facilitating the encouragement of creative aspects and endeavours for all people, so that’s kind of moved into calligraphy. Being really mindful of every mark that I make in Mandala making has very quickly turned into calligraphy. So I’ve been running these workshops where we look at different scripts from around the world. It’s not just people dipping quills to classical music. There’s Japanese shodo zen calligraphy, which is one that I’m particularly fond of, where it celebrates the individuality of mark making. While you’ll copy certain scripts and certain symbols, you want to add a bit of flair, a bit of your individuality into it. I’ve been doing origami workshops, and I’m about to be doing a sacred geometry workshop, which again kind of ties back to Mandala making. But making it specifically about geometry, looking at the platonic solids.”

TP: “The ones that can never be together. They’re so platonic. They love each other but there love can never be.”

DB: “Exactly, that’s the feeling that you want with geometry and all forms of creativity.”

TP: “Amazing. Well finally Dan, what do you have in store for us over the next few months?”

DB: “The next workshop is this Saturday. Going to be doing Mandalas again. Going to be doing calligraphy on Tuesdays. Mindful mark making on Wednesdays; that’s kind of like Mandala, but also looking at traditions that were adopted by other cultures as well. So Rangoli, or Kolam in Hinduism. That’s like a form of making these geometric circular patterns through flour. And also Kahouli in Jainism, which is a practice where they create these rice drawings which again, are really beautiful. So looking at other aspects of what is essentially still a Mandala, but through a different definition.”

Here’s a feature on Bristol24/7 called Talking Passions. It’s a Bristol-based interview series that hopes to inspire your creative side by interviewing passionate individuals in Bristol’s arts and music scenes. The driving force behind the series is a belief that within each of us is a creative soul with untold capabilities. It’s not always easy to follow your dreams and try to make it work, and it should be celebrated!

Started by local journalist Adam Chisman, and with links to various Collectives in the city including Liquifyah, The Coconut Collective, as well as Irish online magazine Ceol Caint, Talking Passions comes in two weekly parts, with brand new written interviews on talkingpassions.com and Bristol24/7 and audio interviews on BCFM’s The Bristol Music Show and Soundcloud. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about Mandala art or signing up to some of Daniels workshops you can find him on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.

Words: Adam Chisman (Talking Passions)

Pictures: Adam Chisman & Daniel Bowler

Be sure to check out Talking Passions on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest interviews, and email talkingpassions@hotmail.com or use the hashtag #talkingpassions if you’d like to know more or recommend someone for a future interview. You can also become a patron and sponsor Talking Passions at www.patreon.com/talkingpassions.

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