I was unsure about the entries i would see in this contest.. you've just flipped my expectations. Fantastic image.. wow

Very nice Author. Wow is correct

Fantastic job ! Very moody

Very nice work Author

Thanks for the feedback guys!

beatiful design and great choice of colors

I'll have to join the rest of them and say how much I like this one, this contest is turning out to be full of good entries.

Very interesting choice for a source/background image, this is quite nice! Beautiful shapes and lighting in this.

Beautifful, reminds me of ancient Thracian ceramics

great composition author...reminds me on the floor in some palace...well done

Congrats for your first place!

Very well done, congrats on first place!

congrats on first place

Congrats, nice work

Congrats!!

Thanks everyone!

Congrats...well deserved...

Fantastically created! Excellently thought out!

Good concept. If you make this symmetrical it will be a mandala.

True mandalas (of the Buddhist type) are not symmetrical, per se, although they are balanced...
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/mandala.htm

This is a very thoughtful and creative effort. It shows true consideration of the topic, and is quite lovely.

Looks like you put a lot of thought in to your mandala, well done.

Great job ! Very well done

Nice image, my only nit pick or hmm.... so to speak is why have the white tiger which is known for being in an arctic climate on the fall piece of the pie, and the turtle for winter? Also why not spring for the bird and summer for the dragon? I was just wondering the logic behind the animal placement, on what seems to be a very well thought out piece.

Thanks a lot for all your nice comments

@Bob: Like MossyB wrote, a lot of the old mandalas are not symmetrical, but balanced and that's what I tried to achieve with the ivy, stones, the ropes, the animals and the spaces between the animals, the trees and the skies between the trees. I tried my best to make it look balanced, because I didn't want the completely symmetrical look.

@VitalExpressions: The placement of the animals wasn't my choice If you read the link to the Wiki page I provided, you can see, that each animal (which are actually mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations) stands for one season.
-Azure Dragon of the East: Spring
-Vermilion Bird of the South: Summer
-White Tiger of the West: Autumn/Fall
-Black Tortoise of the North: Winter

Very nice work.

wow! Amazing! THis has so much to look at.

Extra points for the dragon and frame hardware, nice one

This one really drew me in!! I had to look at it over and over....Fantastic job and Best of Luck

This is quite beautiful, you did some good research. You achieved 'different' quite well, author. Good find on that compass, too!

very very cool work author...nice to see u participate in the contest's again...best of luck

Thanks again for all the lovely comments

Congrats on second place!

Congrats lelaina!

congrats

Congrats

Congrats!!

Congrats!! Lovely, just lovely!

congrats Elke!!!!

Congrats Lelaina on great work these week,please keep going...

Congrats for second place !

Congrats Elke, I missed this contest. You did such a wonderful job, rich in details, and you should get more points for the thought you put in and the research on mandala .

very nice -- like the stitched effect

great work. it is very creative how you used the hand to come up with this cool image, I love it

Very pretty!

I like how this one pops, there is a real perception of depth in this work , nice high res.

Very clever use of the hands as a texture, and agree with Lchappell regarding the depth. Looks also like a tapestry.

Beautiful, like a Persian carpet

good thing author...gl

Congrats for your third place, Lolu!

Congrats on third place!

congrats , great entry

Congrats!!

Congrats Lolu...

I could have added color here, and made this mandala much brighter, but I wanted to preserve all the colors and shapes and just combine them, and work with what nature has to offer.

Beautiful pattern. Very successful creation.

It is a beautiful pattern, but its squareness seems to be at odds with the contest's explanation that "[t]he meaning of mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning 'circle.'" The center form does have a circular feel, but ultimately it's not round. Nevertheless, there is a strong four-gate aspect that Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala ) identifies as integral to the basic form. So bottom line, I think this could be the cool center of a true mandala.

Looks like a mandala to me...nice organic looking one, too...GL author!

I'm not sure about if the Mandala has to be a circle, I've seen many examples in this form. But maybe I'm wrong, I'll leave it the moderators. Good observation Dan.
Thank you ponti55 and CMYK46, glad you like it.

realy work

very very nice work author...good luck

like the fractal look of this

Yup. It's something like a simple fractal

It looks like octopus tentacles. With the title, I thought it was sushi themed...

Very creative and lovely!

Really like the Paisley effect.. good luck!!!

Octopus tentacles...sushi...Paisley effect... hehe...
I like your assosiations are very different... It means my Roll caught someting different in your mind
It could be The Wheel of Fortune for someone or esoteric symbol or even decorative plate
No problem.
Enjoy it!

Love how it's moving... well looks like it's moving. :"

I like it! Good luck

Very nice

Thanks to everybody

Wonderful job and great imagination. It is amazing how you crated the whole thing using a simple curved line

Nicely done optical illusion here

very very nice work author...best of luck author

Nice details!!! GL!