Doodle your life

When do we learn that we can't draw? That we shouldn't draw, even. I've spoken to several people about this, some of them professional artists, and for a lot of people, it's around age 12 that we pick up that message. Many of us have so little confidence in our own drawing that we will pay for applique patterns for folksy, hand-drawn hearts or stars. What We value our own drawing so poorly that we will pay hard-earned cash for someone else's wonky, irregular hand-drawn shapes - because ours are what, too wonky and hand-drawn looking?

When the doodling trend first hit scrap-booking, the same thing happened. We lost confidence and started taking doodling classes and buying 'hand-drawn' stamps and embellishments. And yet doodling is something that we can all do. There is no wrong way to doodle - it is meant to be personal and simple and idiosyncratic.

I love doodling - it's art with no pressure. It makes to-do lists more fun and more memorable. It makes notes, cards and envelopes more personal. In a travel journal, even a simple doodle of a cup of coffee holds all the sights, sounds and smells of the coffee shop where I sat drawing.

A drawn record of a couple of days in my Christmas holidays.

Your challenge this week is to make friends with your pen! Choose any pen that you like to write with and find some non-precious paper. Graph paper looks cool, or you can reuse some junk mail or a magazine page. Then choose your challenge and remember to share it here! Either:

1) Draw your name in outline letters and add colour or pattern or both.

2) Sit in a coffee shop and draw your drink, or your pastry

3) make a birthday card using hand-drawn elements - outline words, or pressies or the cake or something (I cheat and do these on separate paper - it looks more finished and is less scary!)

EDITED: Now I have the cable I need, we have pictures! Thank you for waiting...

Kel x

Comments

[bonnierose]

ohhhh this will definitely be a challenge for me, I will see what I can come up with... scary I say! hugs bonnierose

[michelle]

Brilliant challenge! and how spooky with my project for tomorrow .... my two penneth is EVERYONE can draw!!!! Feel the fear and go for it!!!

[Carla Sonheim]

Yay!