Anatomy of a Doodle
With all the holiday bru-ha-ha around here, art (or the making of it) just didn’t happen. After the kids left I went down to the studio, scratched my head and wondered what I was supposed to do. Because I really didn’t know. Oh, I have plenty of files full of inspiration but starting up cold after vacay time just seemed like too much work.
So I decided to play instead. I discovered a free workshop on line, Doodles Unleashed by Traci Bautista. You can check it out here. It’s probably even better if you’re not an artist because then you might enjoy the exercise in its purest form…simply making marks on paper. But being someone who makes marks on things for a living, I found myself second guessing what I was doing. No paisley patterns for me…I wanted results.
Once I discovered how difficult it was to let go of my expectations, doodling ceased being fun and became a challenge. At least two paintings suffered a grueling end when I grew impatient. Warning: Cranky artist + paintbrush= BAD IDEA.
But I kept at it. Because really, I was not going to be taken down by a doodle. How bad would that be? So I didn’t give up…and I didn’t give up my standards either. Eventually I arrived at a compromise that technically isn’t a doodle in it’s purest form (who wants a doodle virgin anyway?) but it’s different enough from what I normally do to make me feel like I learned something.
I started by marking the paper with various stencils. Two papers actually. This is about the one on the left. The one on the right, RIP.
The shapes reminded me of building. Of houses. The squiggle could be a river.
I did some quick and dirty scribbling with acrylics. Houses. A river. And holy crap, throw some pine trees in there and it’s my town!!!
Because there are houses in my town. And a river nearby. A creek runs through downtown. And we’re surrounded by the Tahoe National Forest. But…but…this is supposed to be a doodle!
To shut up my inner doodle critic I did some loosey-goosey stuff. Paint. Oil pastel. Markers. White-out pen. It’s all about compromise.
And I’m liking it just fine.
