Happy Fathers Day...

To Daddy....Missing you so much!

Kaja's World 2009

Kaja wanted you to know that she is out here...watching. She can be your best friend and your worst enemy, so it's best to stay on her good side. The universe is full of guardians, not only floating across the galaxies, but walking on this ying and yang earth among us.

Kaja, it so happens, can do both.

She belongs to an elite group of strawberry haired angels, always on guard, and many times protecting us from ourselves. Those clear emerald green eyes miss nothing. If you pay close attention you might catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of your eye sometime.

Another Journal Page doodle drawing in watercolor with a little bit of ink and digital words added in my Handbook sketchbook. Hope she made you smile. :)

Sheba Taught Me A Thing Or Two...

Journal page--Something else I overcame while doing my doodles and free painting was the fear of painting over things. For instance, I intentionally painted Sheba's hair blue, but I got her face way too dark all over. Before, I would have kept tinkering with it with lighter flesh colors (in this case I would have had to use pastels or acrylics over the watercolor--the Handbook page won't tolerate any scrubbing out) until I could live with it.

Sheba allowed me to paint over her face with gessoe. My intention was to paint over the gessoe, but when it dried it reminded me of theatrical makeup or a Geisha's face and I liked it, so I left it. I still like it and Sheba likes the feeling of a mask as well, so there you go.

The point is, doodling/painting without worrying about all the rules helps overcome many fears, not the least of which is experimenting and letting go of the perfection bug. This page is watercolor in my Handbook sketchbook (I'm trying to get it filled so I can go back to Moleskine) with stamped letters. I'm thought about adding silver glitter to her eyelids, but that would make her look more Vegas showgirl, and I like her like she is, so I guess I'll nix that idea. Maybe on the next one.

Hope she makes you smile. :)

My China Cabinet Doesn't Just Hold China...

These are a handful of the hundreds of drawings that are works in progress in my dining room/studio. They are the last couple of weeks quirky doodle drawings that are propped up in my china cabinet drawer and against it where I can look at them...and they can look back. :)

I thought this morning that it looks like I'm working on illustrations for a children's book. Maybe that's what they'll turn into. Who knows? ;)

I've been doing these since April 2008, at least one a day, sometimes two or three. I have several sketchbooks filled and lots of loose ones. Some are still only pencil line drawings. The rest are in various stages of painting, mostly watercolor for now. Some need fine tuning. A few may be finished. We'll see.

Each one has a story that I look forward to telling in the next phase. As much as I've loved the challenge of pulling images out of doodle marks, I feel the pull to change directions and do something else for a while. I will never stop doing these, because I've learned so much from them and they are so relaxing to do.

I've gained confidence in drawing and watercolor, and most of all I've learned to relax and have fun with art. I've stopped trying to be perfect. I'm just trying to be "me."

These little doodles serve many purposes aside from paintings. I look forward to turning them into illustrations/stories, but some will become patterns for oil paintings, some will be turned into stamps or linoleum block print patterns, some will become greeting cards, a few will become part of a collage, I would love to make some prints if I can find out how, and I'm sure I'll think of other projects to include them in. Every time I look back through the sketchbooks I am inspired by endless possibilities. It has definitely not been time wasted.

Their journey won't stop here. They have given me tremendous pleasure and challenges over the past year or so, and I look forward to sharing whatever direction my art journey takes me on, whether it includes doodling or not.

Thanks so much for your visits and comments. You help and inspire me so much. Hope my art attempts continue to make you smile. :)

Melinda Undercover @ Theme Thursday

Melinda wants to be a private investigator. She started with the hat. :)

She is going undercover on Theme Thursday for her first assignment. She doesn't know if she's really qualified or not, since it's a paper arts challenge. She's going disguised as watercolor pencils/water on paper about the size of a greeting card. She thinks that qualifies. The theme is people with hats. We'll see...