Back in the days when I was a taxi mom, I longed for art fixes. Spectacular images that might feed my need for beauty. Often, I'd settle for great package design, a beautiful skein of yarn or a postcard from a museum visited long ago and far way.
Recently my friends, Miriam Haas and Jon Zeltsman, visited us. Miriam gave this art fix. Coffee coolness from Colectivo Coffee. Great design.Great coffee. Roasted in Milwaukee.
A drawing on on orange onion skin paper glued over what I think is a foreign edition of an Israeli newspaper. Done sometime in the late 1970's.
Camp Hochelaga, South Hero, Vermont. Junior Bowman archery award. The only archery award I ever earned in more than a decade of summers. Still proud after all these years.
A simple sketch. A painter's traveling bag. Done for my picture book, A Baker's Portrait.
A pad by your phone is an excellent place to start. If you happen to still have a land line. A lined legal pad provides a nice background for almost any kind of pencil or pen. The back of an envelope works well. A paper napkin, a store receipt, a recipe you clipped from the newspaper, but never made. Whatever is handy, will do. Doodling does not require a moleskin.
I've been told spare time is for tweeting. Thumb something clever out to a network of those you'd like to know. Who hold membership in a club that just might admit you, if you tweet.
Doodles are a kind of tweet from the your own private universe. Postcards from the nether regions of your very own being. Your hand and mind taking a stroll while you are occupied with the details of a shopping list or where to meet for coffee. Doodles can sometimes hold a key. Unlock a story or image. Finding a page of old doodles is a great tonic for remembering. Or not.
Sometimes a doodle is just a doodle. And that's enough. Find out for yourself. Let doodling into your life.
