Remember as children when we would lie on our backs in the grass looking up at clouds and daydreaming about what they looked like?
As adults, we don’t look at enough clouds.
Our busy lives are structured to accomplish things, take care of things, and be good at things. And, as Type A personalities, many of us take this to a whole other level.
The Daily Artisan encourages us to be more creative in both small and big ways, and most importantly, to find opportunities to incorporate this creativity into our regular lives. It can fulfill us and inspire us, and being creative means being in the moment.
That “moment” can be anything you want it to be – just find things to do in new and creative ways that tap into a part of yourself that often gets ignored.
What do you see when you look at clouds?
It’s great to hone our creative skills whether they be in art, music, photography, or writing, to name a few. Practicing and learning are important aspects of the creative process, but not everything we do creatively needs to be about aspiration and accomplishment.
It’s taken me a long time to recognize that just because you won’t be painting the Mona Lisa doesn’t mean you should never pick up a paintbrush. Okay, that’s an exaggeration but you get what I mean!
Doodling is something I enjoyed as a (cloud watching) child, and I still enjoy it as an adult. (Doodling definitely is on the other end of the spectrum from the Mona Lisa!)
There’s something about mindlessly drawing things that have no intended purpose beyond the moment. Your doodles likely aren’t going to be framed or sold, and that’s a good thing. Health experts long have touted the value of doodling for stress relief; improved memory and concentration; processing emotions; and sparking creativity.
These are good things for us all!
Today we can doodle old school with pen, paint and paper – and we also can doodle electronically on our iPads and other tablets. My first Apple Pencil immediately went to drawing on my iPad, and I haven’t looked back!
Another way of doodling I enjoy is to select a couple of watercolor paint colors, and paint blobs on paper. Yes, blobs. We’re not talking precisely drawn or painted pictures, just blobs. Paint the blobs with nothing in mind about what they look like, or could look like. That comes next.
Let your blobs dry, which happens very quickly with watercolors. Have a good ink pen ready, preferably in black, and although it’s not critical since your paint will be dry, I still like to use a water-resistant pen.
And here is where the fun starts! Without overthinking it, use the pen to transform your blobs into something. It can be anything you’d like – and extra credit if it’s something fanciful (as in not recognizable). When I do this kind of doodling, for some reason most of mine are indistinguishable creatures of one sort or another!
Oh, yeah, and you are encouraged to draw outside the colors. Do we hear this instruction enough in our lives?
So, in the spirt of encouraging creative doodling – or whatever low-key creativity you may enjoy or want to try for all the reasons mentioned above – I’m sharing photos of some of my blob doodles. They aren’t intended to make a statement or do anything or mean anything, and that in itself is a (creative) success!
Do you enjoy doodling or some other form of mindless creativity? Please comment below!
