Quirky Doodle Abstract Painting

 When I get overwhelmed or stuck I tend to fall back on my quirky doodles. I didn't take a photo of the beginning pencil marks on the page, but these are the images that appeared to me amongst the marks, which I colored in with acrylic paints and a black Zig marker. I couldn't decide where to go next, so I left it for a few days and came back to it with my box of markers and pens and doodled on it until I was doodled out (second photo). 

Some of the lines are a little messy, but I was holding my sketchbook up in one hand while trying to add lines with the other. Not easy!

I accidentally cut about half an inch off the bottom by getting the book too close to the scanner plate edge, so there is actually a strip of the background across the bottom that isn't showing. I was too lazy to re-scan it...

This painting kind of makes me think of hubby and my road trip out west in 2019, especially the southwest, which I loved. 

Anyway, it was fun to do and helped wake up my muse some! Good therapy! No plan. No rules. Just intuitive fun!

Quirky Zen Doodle Sketch Painting

This started out a few weeks ago as a quirky doodle sketch with egg shapes in a kind of landscape. Just line shapes pulled out of chaotic water-soluble pencil lines. Then a couple of weeks ago, as a break from de-cluttering, I took a notion to do a little watercoloring, so I picked up my Kuretake watercolor set and a brush pen and colored in the different shapes, letting the Stabilo pencil and watercolors mingle some, and left it to dry. I was working in my mixed media journal, which tends to buckle when too much water is used. When it was dry, I closed the book for a few days to flatten the page.

One evening, while resting, I picked up my black gel pen and started zen doodling patterns on the egg shapes, and also the background. The lavendar egg in front wasn't on the original sketch at this point. I overdid the black doodling on the ground planes and sky and went back over it with watercolor, mixing the ink and wc together. Again, I left it to dry and flatten the page.

Last week, I finally got to go to Hobby Lobby, a rarity since we live in a rural area about seventy miles from the nearest one and we are old, and picked up some white gel pens, among other things (see other post). The next day, I used one of the white gel pens to do some more zen doodling, and I added the lavender egg in front to keep the yellow egg from looking too much like it was floating. I also did some more tweaking with the Stabilo water soluble pencil and the water brush and a paper towel.

Just playing around in the 5.5" x 8.5" mixed media sketchbook, because most of my art supplies are still in boxes where I can't get to them while I'm de-cluttering, waiting to be organized. This was very relaxing and fun too, because I didn't worry about the lines and shapes being perfect. I just let them be!

The best art fun is the art you do for yourself, where you can just play and be yourself, without worrying about the "rules". If someone else likes it, great! Even if you don't like the finished piece yourself, you've created something that wasn't in the world before, and every piece is a kind of self portrait. Maybe you don't like it now, but somewhere down the road you will look at it with fresh eyes and know what you were going through at the time, and you will see it in a whole new way and cherish it. At least, I find that true for myself!

Original Art Jewelry-Professor Crow Keychain

Some of you may remember the large version of "Professor Crow", one of my quirky doodle painted sketches. Well, I miniaturized him (one inch square) and put him on a keychain of copper metal. I think he looks quite dashing in his stripes!

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry. I don't have the best eyesight or hand control right now. Thankful for what I do have though!

The finished keychain with a quarter for size comparison! I like it! I do, however, detest working with glue, but it's a necessary evil in some cases. 😇

It's good to try new things!

Quirky Sketch and Painting-Calla Lily Pink

This quirky doodle sketch was fun to paint! It started out as a bunch of Lyra water-soluble crayon marks randomly made on mixed media paper in my journal. I used a water brush pen, which I love, on the lines to pull the calla lily and background flowers out.

Just to experiment I applied pink pan pastel to the calla lily with my finger, but it's too bright for my liking...

I applied several layers of acrylic paint in different shapes in the background, some colored pencils, black and white stablio marks all pencils, glazes, and some other things I'm sure I forgot about, until it got to this point, at which point I thought I better stop. I had no references, so it is all from memory and imagination, or intuitive, as they call it these days.  Anyway, it is what it is, and I like it! 😊

Quirky Doodle Painting-Bird Girl

Another fun painting in my quirky doodle series! It's painted in my mixed media paper sketchbook, using inktense and colored pencils, stabilo black marks all pencil, black gel pen, gold gel pen, acrylic fluid paint, stenciling (background and dots). Pic of the sketch was already saved to flash drive, and, again, I didn't think to re-photograph it.

The last one I did before my father-in-law passed away, and I haven't gotten back to them yet, or my classes. I'm just feeling drained and totally overwhelmed right now. Hopefully, soon my creative energy will return! :)

Quirky Doodle Painted Still Life

"Who ate my still life?!!!"

 The quirky doodle sketch had already been saved to back up disk and deleted off my laptop, and I didn't think to re-photograph it before I  added color.

These are strictly for fun and relaxation, so I tend to paint kind of like a child and don't worry about "rules". I couldn't stay within the lines in my coloring books even when I was a child! :D

This fruit still life sketch is in my 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" mixed media sketchbook on mixed media paper, and was sketched with a black stablio marks all pencil. I used inktense pencils and a water brush to color it in.

I used colored pencils and a black gel pen to finish it. Notice that some of the grapes are missing, thus the title! :D

These are so much fun to do!

Quirky Doodle Crow Painted- "Professor Byrd"

Another one of the quirky doodle sketches that I shared in a previous post at the beginning of January, which I have just finished coloring in! At least, I think he's finished. Seems like he might  need just a little something else, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway, for now he's finished, and I love him, so I want you to meet "Professor Byrd"! He reminds me of a college teacher that I had, but he's named after a doctor I had in Nashville, TN when I was little, named Dr. Joe Byrd.

The original sketch in my mixed media journal.

The first layer of inktense color pencils

The addition of some colored pencils, a black stabilo pencil, a little more inktense, a black Posca paint pen, and a little gold acrylic paint brought him to life.

Series 52 is about completing one work a week, just for me, just for fun, so that I have a series of completed work at the end of the year. I hadn't thought I would use a theme, but I'm loving coloring in my quirky doodles, so I just might continue doing them as a series. We'll see!

Also shared in Creative Every Day, my FB art page, and Series 52.

"Crow Dandy"-Painted Quirky Doodle Sketch

Remember those quirky doodles I share the other day? The ones I said I would go back and color some day? Well, I decided to color in this quirky crow now, just for fun, and I l know he could be made better, but I love him!

He reminded me of a "dandy", thus the name "Crow Dandy"! :)

Mixed Media journal page; I used inktense blocks, a water brush, Posca paint markers, black stabilo pencil, colored pencils, gold gel pen, and washi tape, in my mixed media paper sketch book to bring him to life.

This image emerged from among a bunch of random marks and lines, done with my eyes closed, with no idea of what they would become when I actually looked at them, and the dressed crow spoke to me.

The base colors were lain in with Inktense blocks and a water brush, adding stripes to the background.

Polka dots were added with Posca paint markers, lines darkened with Stabilo black pencil, and more inktense block added in places. Sorry about the blurred photo!

The finished piece, after a layer of colored pencils to tone down the inks some, and a little body re-structuring. I circled all the dots and colored the buttons with a gold gel pen, which doesn't show up here, and added Washi tape over the stitched lines between the stripes. The gold stars don't show up here either. :/ The colors are more true in this photo than the one below.

The colors in this photo aren't as true as the one above it, but I took this one to show the shiny gold stuff. I tried several times to get a good photo that showed both, but couldn't. I had to hold this one up in one hand to photograph it with the other. I don't have the best lighting where I paint. :/

Anyway, I'm thankful to have had time to study and paint, uninterrupted, for several mornings in a row. I'm working on the second class in Paint Your Heart and Soul 2018, plus I'm watching and taking notes on the Twelve Days of free classes that Ivy Newport gave us for Christmas, so I can try all the stuff in them when I can. I've already learned a lot from the four classes I've watched. Plus, I'm painting stuff just for fun, such as Crow Dandy, to share in Series 52, which I was invited to join by Jeanne Oliver. So my creative plate is full, and I'm happy about it! I just hope I can keep up with it all! Its much better for my nerves than drugs and/or alcohol! :)

Sleet and snow in Rabbit Hop today, turning into ice! I know it's much worse for some of you. Stay safe and warm!

Find time to do something that makes you happy every day, even if it's only ten minutes. Your soul will thank you for it! :)

Also shared in Creative Every Day, Series 52, and my FB page (The MOXIE Rabbit Art Studio)!