Tete-a tete with Doodles

Hello there! Enjoying your Sunday, I hope.... I am sure most of my regular readers would have noticed that the blog has been operating in snooze mode for a while. No post in over a month!!! 

While I started the year with a lot of aplomb, the only creative output so far seems to have been the Nature Journal. Every month I diligently post a picture of the completed page from my journal.... and return to snoozing. Okay, let us not be so harsh.... so most of the last 3 months have seen at least two blog posts in a month and hey, that is not so bad. But it isn't as good as I want!

What I am trying to say here is that despite all my goal setting at the start of the year, I haven't been able to achieve the creative output I was wanting. Part of the reason is my having picked up a full-time day job, and that too miles away from where I live. The commute and work pressure leave me feeling tired and listless, unable to focus on anything creative. And of course, where is the time? Weekends are packed with household to-do lists and even before I know, I am staring at Monday and a new work week.

But the other day, the clouds parted and I saw some sun. As I was surfing through some arty blogs, I came upon folks mentioning doodling. And I decided to doodle.... as often as I can, wherever, whenever, and on whatever I could lay my hands on!! Who knows, maybe this process will help me get back on my feet creatively. If nothing else, I'll have a bunch of doodles to play around with..... like this one below. Guess what it is?

Yes, it is me waiting for my Eureka! moment. :D Don't they say art and creativity is all about attitude? 

Expect to see more doodles on my April page when I post it along with the March page (I missed that one) soon. I'm also working on a couple of other paintings that I'll share in the coming weeks. 

In the meanwhile, happy doodling! Do leave a link in the comments so I can see some of your doodles.

Nature Journal: February

Can you believe that half of February was already past, and my nature journal page had still not started taking shape. Nah! in fact I started work on it on the last day of the month.... and I have no one to blame but myself. Not that there had been any dearth of experiences.

On a particularly warm morning, when a pleasant breeze caressed my cheeks as I enjoyed the sun during my walk in the park, I rediscovered a pair of spotted owls. Little balls of white fur, they were back after their hibernation, and enjoying the spring morning as much as I was.

Then another day in the park, the hubby found a pretty yellow-green parakeet feather. We brought it home, of course. And now it rests with other bird feathers in a painted glass holder. Then the day the kids picked up yellow, green and red leaves, all beautifully dappled, and all fallen from the same tree. The small miracles that make nature journaling such a pleasure.... and immensely satisfying!

Now some of these experiences are captured in my February page, frozen for posterity. Did I tell you I am loving it?!!

Elephant Trio

Another brush-less attempt at capturing figures.... this time an elephant family gently ambling through the grasslands.

Made this sometime last year and really enjoyed doing it because despite not using a brush, I could depict the form and movement that this piece demanded. Hope you like it too!

Nature Journal: Inside Cover

Here is a quick peek into another page from my Nature Journal (read more about it in my last post).

The inside cover of my nature journal is made of slightly thicker, glossy paper. Since it could take more than the usual quantities of paint, so I chose to let myself loose and go wild with it.

First I filled up the sheet in random colour blocks. Then I drew on it with a white paint pen. I filled in the outlines with a black sketch pen, finally blocking out the background with black paint. The result is for all to see…

Going with the charms of spring, couldn't resist the flowers, birds, butterflies and bees! :) Hope you enjoyed these glimpses of the inside cover.

Nature Journal: January

One of the new things I started this year is maintaining a nature journal. Last year when I was reading up on art journaling and searching for new ideas, I came across this amazing concept. Those of you who have been following my work would know what a freaked-out nature worshipper I am. Only need an excuse to incorporate flowers, leaves, floral patterns and everything Nature into my works. Perhaps that is why this idea appealed so much to me.

And what was the super idea? - Simple, to maintain a monthly nature journal. And what does that involve? - To go out and take a closer look at the world around you. To record, mentally and literally, every little change that you see happening.... The leaves changing colour, the new buds blooming, the birds that you encounter, the crawly fellows who visit your garden... everything and anything can find a mention in the nature journal.

 

I have just about finished putting together my page for January (though there is still some scope for doodling!) and decided to share it with you all. Do you like it? I had lot of fun putting it together, especially the dry leaf in the right corner. That I try to go on walks daily helped me in collecting interesting pieces for the journal. But this exercise definitely made me more aware of my surroundings, as I looked for interesting stuff to put in my journal.

Also, this journal is made out of an upcycled advertorial magazine. I glued multiple pages that were too thin to serve as a base and got a thicker material that could hold paint and gesso. At other places I laid on thick layers of paint to cover up the original printed matter, and voila, there was a new base to work on! Go on, try making one yourself. It will be an exercise you'll surely fall in love with.

Wholesome Breakfast

Another still life I created recently - a table setting for a wholesome breakfast. Care to join in?

This is a mixed media effort, with many details done using paper collaging. I especially like how the flowers, the juice glass and the table cover came out.

My Winter Of Discontent

First post of the new year and I am searching for words! Winters leave me feeling like that.... listless and unable to focus on my work.

But browsing through the first posts of other fellow artists has only brought home to me that I need to get more organized about my work. So while I am not exactly making any resolutions, these pointers I have gathered can help any budding artist/entrepreneur. In no particular order, here are some things I intend to focus on this year.

Unplug
While the internet forms the backbone of reaching out to the world and learning from other artists, sometimes too much of it actually serves to freeze my own creative juices.

Make time
This one is easier said than done; I mean allocating specific time slots to specific activities. I am bad at this, as unscheduled activities have a way of eating into my creative time.

Sketch
Any artist worth his or her salt will vouch for this. You really can never sketch enough! In my early days I used to make a point of doing this often but I have slipped horribly on this one lately.

Set goals
Think and figure out what you aim to achieve in the coming year, and get down to work accordingly. My mode of operation has been far too haphazard all this while and I can't wait to get cracking but then again, there are plenty of challenges to overcome.

So there.... at least I have it all pat down. And henceforth, the winter months (read December- January) shall be spent catching up on my reading. Rather than making half-hearted attempts at creating art that only leave me feeling more frustrated. I am not particularly fond of winters, and since that has been affecting my creative process around this time every year, consistently, year after year, hence this change in track.....

It is only thoughts like these that keep me going through the grey, foggy and sunless months. This is one time of the year when I want the calendar to turn faster! :) How about you, dear readers? How do you deal with the cold winter months, especially in terms of creative output.