D is for Doodling

I've said before that I find coloring relaxing and so is doodling. Doodling doesn't have to take place on paper despite what your parents told you when you were three and decided to decorate their walls.

Here are two letter D shapes, both both in craft stores. The black one came already painted, the other one was made, I believe, of particle board. 

I am photographically challenged. The larger D looks better in person than in this photo. It would probably help to have sunshine entering the house for photos but alas, no sunshine in this part of Michigan today. 

My original attempt at decorating the particle board D was to draw on it with a Sharpie oil based marker and then add stain over the drawing. There wasn't much contrast after drawing the first few lines with the marker. The particle board was more porous than I had anticipated. I based coated the entire letter with white acrylic paint and let it dry.

I used a blend of acrylic paints that I had on hand to create the background colors. There is turquoise, teal, a deep blue and even dark grey in the mix. I didn't want a perfectly smooth blend which is why you see streaks. The darker shades are at the bottom of the letter because that felt right to me. Dark = heavy, heavy = bottom. That isn't a figure analysis but I'm not posting my profile either. 

This color combo looked like my younger son's living room. I asked him if he was interested in it. He was. Would he like black or white doodling on it. Brown or gold. Huh? Those weren't options! Back to the craft store to look for extra fine tip, oil based markers in brown and gold. No luck with brown, at least not in a fine tip, so I bought a gold pen. 

I used black paint on the raw edges and on the back of the letter. I like how this turned out, and I think it will look nice in my son's house, but it isn't my favorite letter.

I like this one better, but I've always liked black and white. This one has more curved doodles in addition to those things that are rather flower-like. They remind me of a dandelion that has gone to seed. Do the designs on the other one look more masculine? I don't know. I try not to over think this. 

I have no idea where this black and white one will go yet. Can I justify redecorating a room based on this? Hmmmmmm.......

Zenish Doodling on Note Cards

It is my understanding that "Zentangle" is a copyrighted term and since I don't want to get into trouble, I am not using that term here.

I guess I should not say that I wiped my nose with a Kleenex, used Windex to clean the mirror or added Hershey's to my grandson's milk without verifying those are the brands I've actually used. I'm not being a smart aleck (maybe just a little?) but we all tend to use a brand name for a generic object or process without meaning any harm, don't we?

Is it ironic that after these comments, today I have added watermarks to the photos I am sharing? I normally don't do this because I don't think anyone is going to take a photo I've shared and earn a zillion dollars off of it. I don't think anyone is going to earn a quarter of a zillion off today's photos, but they aren't for me so I am protecting them, somewhat. I think. I hope.

Enough banter, here we go. These are samples for note cards that will be blank inside. Originally I was going to leave all text off of them but that changed with the last few.

I began with this one. The shape of the flowers and leaves is from a template I've had for years. Remember when many people stenciled a border on their walls? I liked this but felt I went too far with the leaves, that their bold design overpowered the flowers. That lead to me adding color between the petals and I just wasn't thrilled.

 I started over with the same image but kept the doodling simpler.

The original thought was that the design should be a blank canvas to the sentiment that would be written inside. Congratulations! Happy Birthday! or Deepest Sympathy don't really conjure the same images in my mind, plus is the recipient male or female? A young adult or old ? (Note: old is always 15 years older than my current age) I really needed to keep things simple. 

After being hunched over paper drawing wavy lines and squiggles, I decided to add a few words.

Still not sure of this next one. What I had in mind didn't come out on paper. Sometimes that is a happy accident. This isn't really an accident, just a weird detour that I've left as is.

I am tempted to color in all of the circles in the next one, but I am presenting these as a coordinated set so everything stayed black and white. 

And finally, the last one which was really fun to draw. 

The circles were done in pencil with templates and were no longer close to perfect after going over them with the a Copic multiliner pen. If the hand made image isn't what someone is interested in, a computer program would do a better job. 

I am going to do more of these doodles and add color, probably lots of color, for my own use. My husband is relieved that I don't work well on vertical surfaces, therefore I won't do this directly on a wall anywhere. Oh, to be younger and have him gone for 8 hours....

For the record, he appreciates my art, he just doesn't like when he has to paint over it. Have I mentioned the tree I painted in the bathroom in work that had 3D birdhouses hanging from it? It takes a lot of white paint to cover a brown trunk and green leaves....who knew?