Doodle like you mean it!

On a recent trip to New Orleans, complete with that long layover in Atlanta, I decided to put a tiny Moleskine journal in my purse for doodling. I admire art journalers who carry a kit with colors, glue stick, etc. but I carry a small purse wanted something more practical. The journal is 3.5" by 5.5" and very thin with exquisite smooth creamy paper. I love Artline black markers in .1mm. The tip is tiny for great detail work and it never gets mushy. Doodles like the ones shown here can take up to an hour to complete. Start with a basic outline of your subject then fill it in with more and more pattern. This is a great way to develop your repertoire of personal symbols and let them unfold in an organic way. You will find you return to the same shapes over and over again in your work. I scan the doodles then put them thru art filters and use them in my collage work. Doodling like this is a great way to keep your hands and mind busy and save yourself from thumbing thru outdated magazines when life makes you wait.

Mr.Turkey Struts His Stuff!

Mr. Turkey thinks he's hot stuff- he has no idea how hot he'll be in the oven next week! This guy is pretty safe since he's just made of decorative papers. I like to doodle when I watch TV and then I scan them into Adobe to use as background papers in collages. I printed about 10 different patterns with different densities of marks to have a full range of values. Using a master turkey drawing, I cut all the parts from the different doodles. They were reassembled and colored with acrylic glazes. I used transparent colors like Payne's Gray and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide with a lot of medium and built up thin layers of glaze to get the desired colors. Certain areas got touches of gesso and gold leaf to accent. The turkey was layered to turquoise and gold paper with 3D glue dots to give a little dimension then mounted on the red background. An easel back was attached so Mr. Turkey can be used as a Thanksgiving decoration.