Doodles: A Creative Exercise

I don't usually have time to spend traveling around the internet reading new (to me) blogs, so this past week I have been visiting places and blogs which I never knew existed. One place I visited was Susan Sorrell's blog CreativeChick. This blog has a shopping cart at the bottom and it's mostly classes and other things that are for sale. One of the classes involves six weeks of Doodle instruction. You'll have to scroll down a few days to find the Doodle classes but you'll enjoy the other stuff. I sat down with a pencil (#2 which smudges) and tried to doodle.

I know everyone draws things in margins and on notepads while on the phone. I don't. Doodling is hard work for me. The first doodle pictured was arduous. How will I begin, where to go next, is this too boring to continue etc. I can see why instruction might be necessary.

This is my second attempt with an art pencil this time and some paper collage. It isn't finished. I enjoyed the paper collage and still found the pencil work boring but loved pasting the paper to the paper. I used a strip out of the classifieds (cut it right out of the pages my husband was reading) and pieced it together, even using a template to cut shapes. I usually go freehand and make a mess. But I wanted the paper to fit inside the curves of the swirl.

Now the reason that number 2 isn't finished is that I have to do more pencil doodling and I don't really want to. More straight lines? More circles? More wavy lines? UGH! Patterns? I would have been a terrible psychedelic poster artist. And I see no future for me in "tagging" buildings with spray paint. And I don't think I will be developing a fabric line. I wonder what the problem is here. Too much of a control freak? Not enough imagination?

I can see this "lack of doodle" reaching into my inability to paint fabric, embroider or do interesting fabric collage. I work simply. Just a circle. A few lines. Some paper. At first I though Doodle Classes was a joke. But, now, well, I may just need to sign up. I need to loosen up my doodle mojo.

It rained all day yesterday. I got a lot of household stuff done. Worked on my doodle. Read a book. Had leftover pizza and a salad for lunch. Pie for dinner. Watched the Jesse Stone movie. Today the sun is back. I'm not sure how icy everything is outside but I will be finding out as soon as the dog decides he needs a walk.

All the snow was washed off the lawn and we have grass again. Frozen grass, but grass. And we missed the latest storm, again. I always wait to see what the winter storm pattern will be: in most years, we have heavy snow on a certain day (or days) each week for 6 to 8 weeks. I can see that most of the US has an awful winter going but it seems to stop in Boston and then go out to sea. If you watched yesterday's Patriots game you noticed the weather? 40 degrees. No snow. Spooky. Maine may actually BE the place to live in the next few years. Cool in summer and storm free in winter. How's that for a fantasy? And we have plenty of rain (water).

G goes into work early on Monday. So he'll be extra sleepy when he gets home. I have one more book to read. And I can go up into the attic storage room and start filling bags up. Imagine what I'll find up there in the cluttered mess! Art supplies. I think there is a large amount of wool (somewhere) up there for crewel embroidery. A crewel doodle? There are also a number of wooden squares that could have quilted pieces stretched over them. And bags of beads for that bead mosaic I have been wanting to get started on. The attic storage is a wonderland of possibilities. And it's VERY COLD up there. There are also about 8 boxes of fabric up there from my dearly departed friend's quilt room. I need to find it all a good home. Soon.

There is also my studio/workroom that needs a good trash hauling. And it's warmer down here. Dinner will be leftovers so I have the day to myself. Only a dog walk to deal with. My bowl today is open to possibilities. Very Zen.