Be Tangle © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
I’ve decided to take a break from this blog. I’m not sure how long I will be away.
Never fear, I am not giving up my doodle love. It is part of my be-ing. I will continue to post my doodle art on Flickr and on my Facebook profile.
For now I really need to stay focused on projects that need my attention as I continue to work on taking my digital mandala art, Sacred Circle Mandalas, to its next level of development.
See you soon!
SueDoodles
Janus © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
The name, given to the month of ‘January’, is derived from the ancient Roman name ‘Janus’ who presided over the gate to the new year. He was revered as the ‘God of Gateways’, ‘of Doorways’ and ‘of the Journey’, later known as ‘St. Januarius’. Janus protected the ‘Gate of Heaven’, known as the ‘Lord of Beginnings’, is associated with the ‘Goddess Juno-Janus’, and often symbolised by an image of a face that looks forwards and backwards at the same time. This symbolism can easily be associated with the month known as for many the start of a new year bodes opportunity, casting out the old and in with the new. It is the time when many reflect on events of the previous year and often resolve to redress or improve some aspect of daily life or personal philosophy. ~mystical world wide web
I have a doodle ritual. Every night before I go to bed, I take sharpie to paper for an hour or so. I unwind. I don’t eat after 8 pm. I sleep like a baby. I have great dreams.
Having just begun a new health regimen of more nutritious eating and exercising on a daily basis, I am happy to realize doodling helps me maintain my goals of no late night munching and eight hours of sleep per night.
Dr. Oz would be so proud!
What personal benefits do you derive from your doodle love?
SueDoodles
Love Drops and Bubbles © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
Last week someone left a comment about how to begin doodling. The simplest answer I can offer is to just begin. Go to an art supply store and find a sketch pad. Do you like how the paper feels? Get some pens. I’ve experimented with microns and sharpies and stay with sharpies because I like the line it produces. Find some markers. Crayola has some good ones that aren’t expensive. My art splurge is prismacolor pencils. I’ve had a set for a long time and 48 colors just weren’t enough. Yesterday I bought more colors. A girl cannot have enough colors.
Put your pen to paper and see where your hand takes you. There are no rules except for the ones you make for yourself.
Find inspiration. You will find tons of inspiration on my blog roll. Flickr and YouTube are other great sources. Google *doodle*. The internet is your playground.
Be willing to explore. Two years ago I believed I could not draw, and what I have learned in the past two years is that I love to create abstract patterns. Doodling feeds that love.
***
I am quite methodical and a little obsessive when it comes to learning a new skill. It is my way of gaining confidence. And so for the past couple of months this is how I have been learning the zentangle patterns that Zentangles offers in their monthly newsletter. I’ve been drawing the patterns over and over. I’ve been doing this because I was a little bored with what I was doing and wanted to learn a different approach to line drawing. Eventually I want to incorporate these patterns into my own doodle style.
~SueDoodles
We had a 6.5 earthquake up here on the North Coast of California. It’s probably been 10 years since I’ve experienced a quake of that magnitude, and I have experienced larger ones. They are a scary and fascinating at the same time. Other areas of the county had more damage than where I live, but I was without electricity for about four hours. God bless those folks who work for the power company, and thank goodness it wasn’t raining last night. I’m sure it made life easier for them as they made repairs.
As soon as I realized I was in no danger, I got out my sharpie and sketchpad and started doodling. What else is there to do? What people say about doodling being a calmative is true. I worked on my drawing until it got too dark to see, and then I decided (since I have electric cooking) to see if anywhere with food was open. I took my sketchpad with me. The restaurant was hoppin’ and I doodled away while waiting for my food. I had a very nice chat with another woman sitting at the counter next to me who was worried about her nesting finches, and shared a good laugh with her imagining what they might have thought.
I came home after eating a pretty good chicken salad, lit a couple of candles, and finished my drawing. I’d never drawn to candlelight before. It was an interesting, almost eerie experience, as the light flickered against the page. My hand knew almost instinctively where to go.
About the time I decided to go to sleep, the power was restored. I finished my drawing, only adding the shading.
After an Earthquake © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
What I learned from this is that doodling really IS an excellent way to stay in the present, when really there is nothing left to do.
SueDoodles
Light in Color © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
Black and white makes a powerful statement.
I needed color.
Life would be so blah without prismacolor pencils.
SueDoodles
Bliss Tangle © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
Light Tangle © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
Now Tangle © Sue O’Kieffe 2010
Im having fun playing with different tangle patterns. Some of them I’ve learned pretty quickly and others take practice. When I practice something I enjoy, it’s not a chore. I like engraving new neural pathways into my brain. I like learning. A year ago learning these patterns seemed like too much work to me. Something shifted!
Margaret Storer-Roche is doing a ZenJournal on her blog Water Blossoms. Her drawings are awesome. Be sure to go take a look. And over at Daisy Yellow, Tammy is offering creativity prompts for the month of January. Art=Happy indeed!
SueDoodles
Stretch © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
It came to me last night while I playing with my latest zentangle , what my word for 2010 would be. Do you follow Christine Kane? Isn’t she inspiring? I like her exercise of choosing a word of intent for the upcoming year, instead of setting yourself up for failure with resolutions that are impossible to keep. Last year I chose Balance.
I like the feel of the word Stretch. It is active rather than passive. It encourages me to face fears and stretch past them. One way I am looking forward to stretching is by opening a shop with my doodles on Etsy and other places by June.
I’m stretching in other ways as well. I took a huge leap by deciding I was worth it to participate in the smARTist Telesummit. I had it on my radar for 2011, but my little voices kept saying “why wait?” With a money back guarantee I decided I really didn’t have anything to lose.
The smARTist Telesummit is a professional art-career conference that you attend from your own phone, or listen to from a webcast on your computer. You never have to leave home or travel to hear all 7 days of keynote presentations from experts and successful artists. And the best part is that you get a chance to ask questions. I also like that the Telesummit is all content driven with zero time for the presenters to add any self promotion of their own during the time that they are presenting.
If you are an artist who wants to learn more about marketing and you know that you are worth it too, you might want to check out this program. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you that I am part of an affiliate program that is available to anyone who signs up. If you join under this link, I will be compensated. If you join, you can become an affiliate and be compensated as well. We all win. That’s how I see it.
So, have you decided on a word for 2010 yet? I’d love for you to share with me, if you feel inclined.
SueDoodles
I am officially declaring myself obsessed with learning about Zentangles. I think it is supposed to be a soothing exercise, but right now I think my brain is more tangled up than it is relaxed. But you know how brains can be. Who do they think they are anyway, and why do we let them be the boss of us?
I think I did these over the past week. I’ve kind of lost track of time with the holidays and all
.
I guess this is a very elaborate paisley or totally wild tear drop.
There is a definite seaside influence here. I like how pattern making offers me yet another new way of seeing things.
~SueDoodles
Grow in Love ~ © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
Trees are one of my favorite symbols. When I was drawing it, it asked to have hearts for leaves. Love is one of my favorite themes. In fact I would say that my art — my digital mandalas and my line drawings –are all about love. I create with Love, I share with Love. My creative impulses are heart- centered.
I decided to play with neocolors in this mandala. It’s a medium Im not as comfortable using as I am my crayons or colored pencils. I think I’d like to take a watercolor class just for a little more confidence, learn the right brushes, and when to stop. But overall I like how the basic image looks and the feeling it conveys.
SueDoodles
Design4 © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
The latest study in line and color resulted in experimental excursions into the digital realm as well. Many of you know that I began doodling as a way to overcome my beliefs of not being able to draw. After two years, I’ve let go of that belief and now I’m just wanting to know how to do what it is that I want to do. But the digital realm is my first love, and I love being able to incorporate the two worlds.
Design 4b © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
I added digital paint, blurred that with gaussian blur , and created some texture with pattern overlay…
Design 4c © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
Removed pattern overlay, added outer glow …
Design 4d © Sue O’Kieffe 2009
Used overlay blending mode on main image layer. The light on all layers matches now.
I’m still restless though.
SueDoodles
 | sueokieffe on Time for a Break |
 | leah on Time for a Break |
 | Tammy on Time for a Break |
 | Vicki on Time for a Break |
 | Eden on Time for a Break |
