She Who Doodles

So I'm an artist, social distancing?  Easy peasy.  Not!   I'm home most of the time working on my art normally, but this is different. I thought I'd have no problem with the distancing but after 3 weeks I realize I need more social contact then I thought.   But not just the social contact but the outside visual stimulation.  I'm feeling a little like being in a fish bowl.   My house and neighborhood walk are limiting. It's kinda like my doodling, I was happy for several years with doodling in journals, then bigger journals.   Then I needed to doodle on something else, so searched out items at the thrift store I could refinish and doodle, jewel boxes, occasional tables, picture frames. But the child in me needed something bigger,  maybe a wall.  So my house, I can do what I want to it.  No limits.   My mothers voice is no longer in my head. I can draw on a wall,  a closet door, even the patio, ther...

Some recent work  and one really different piece.  I'm feeling a little like the  kid that was sent to her room for time out and found some old toy to play with she hadn't seen in years.  Well you know all those supplies we artisans accumulate over the years, well I found some and started playing with them.   I got my grandson to cut the wood pieces, used the scraps for the tree, found a twig from a tree in my yard for the trunk, a doodle for the background and the frame from a friend.  95% recycled. At first with this "Social Distancing" in effect I figured this will give me time to get stocked up for the summer art fairs and festivals.  But now I'm looking at what if more events are cancelled, maybe I don't need this much.   I'm loving doing my pen and ink doodles.  I want to try incorporating some written words/verses into the designs.   These are so different then my old style doodles.  But I am...

Like most of the world right now we are home trying to stay busy, keeping our minds active and our bodies.  It's also a time for reflection.  I started doodling in early 2011,  because of an inner need to create.  I had been doing collage but with work, the commute and a partner that filled my weekends with going and doing I had no time for my art. So the idea came to me to start a drawing journal.  But my drawings turned to doodles and quickly escalated.  Here's where the obsessive part comes in.  I found very quickly I could doodle any time any where.  Lunch break, sitting in stopped commuter traffic, while watching TV, even at the beach with family.  So I carried several journals, by my chair, in the car and I always had one with me. I realized I got lost in doodling.  For me it was very intuitive, no plan, no direction.  But I also realized I was doing something that came easy for me, without much thought.  I began to f...

Well spring is showing her face already here in SW Washington.   Starting to get some snaps of early blooms.  Daffodil, crocus,  even an early Rhododendron.   But it' also my time to experiment with new art.  Since January started with classes for kids I started playing with some new doodle designs that I thought they would have fun with.  Doodle dangles got their interest and mine.  We had fun with squiggles and stars and what ever we felt like adding.  I continued doodling, but added other embellishments and now I can't stop. I haven't stopped doing my doodled photos but this time of year between the rain and lack of blooming flowers I'm not out taking many photos.   I tend to rely on friends for photos during the winter months, but not as motivated. The motivation comes with experimenting.  Last winter I was doodling flowers over a painted canvas. I glad to see the sunny days,  I've been inside...