The Year of the Doodle Finale

This book by Dawn deVries Sokul may just be the best $12.00 I've ever spent.    I met my goal - do something for every day - doodle,  collage, lettering .   Is every one a masterpiece?   Hardly.   Some were so bad I had to totally cover the mess and start over, others rated only a "meh", and a few that turned out better than expected.  I stretched my doodling skills, and realized I need lots more work on lettering.

The binding on this book is nothing short of amazing:

My Year of the Doodle is on the right and started out the same size as Art Doodle Love.  I have collaged, painted, added button edges and generally stressed the binding which is still holding together despite unspeakable odds.

This  over-stuffed book makes me happy whenever I look at its wavy pages, tabs, threads and buttons.

A few last pages to share:

This is an amazing mandala stamp.  The stamp has straight edges, so I continued the design to soften the edges.

I was surprised how many ruler tapes and stickers I found in my stash ! The bird and most of the background on the right is a napkin.

I love using old envelopes.

I've been decluttering my stamp stash and found this cute house stamp I'd forgotten I had.

This was fun - I used a little green tomato to stamp these apples.

December was easy  - used up lots of Christmas bits and pieces from my stash.   I drew the tree with different color Distress Stickles.

The festive birds were salvaged from a card stamped by my friend, Shiela.

Background is from Doodle in French by Anna Corbin - drew on the dress form and added fabric stickers and some rub-ons.  Audrey is the crowning touch!

I'll miss my daily challenge , but luckily I have a brandie-new, pristine Art Doodle Love to start.

Year of the Doodle Update

It's been a while since I've shared  pages from this great book by Dawn de Vries Sokul.    I'm about 2/3 of the way through and amazed at how well the binding is holding up to all the paint, ink, and bits of ephemera.   I probably shouldn't mention it - maybe it will  boingggg apart while I'm sleeping !

Here is how fat it's become -on the left is a new copy of Ms Sokul's Art Doodle Love and on the right my overstuffed Year of the Doodle that started life as the same size as the one on the left.

We've had a busy summer and I haven't been doing much art work, but it's been fun to work in my book - a small canvas for each day that doesn't take much time to finish.

Doodling is what the book is about - most pages have a prompt and some subtle background color or design, so there's no dreaded white page.   I've been stretching myself to put pen to paper on most days-either as a doodle or lettering,

Some days the prompt just doesn't speak to me, so I go off on my own  as on the 25th,

The Birkenstocks are a big deal.   I've been reading Danny Gregory's book and he keeps saying to draw what you see, not what you think you see.   I had to really study the shoes and force myself to draw what I saw.  Amazingly, the sandals look recognizable!

I also use lots of stamps.  I love the "before my dock rots" one and rarely get to use it.

I love this doll by Traci Stillwell that I cut out of Cloth Paper Scissors  - doesn't she seem perfect for this quote from A Reunion of Ghosts?  (It's a fantastic book, BTW).

Honestly, I can't rave enough about this book - if I'm not working on a day, I'm adding shading or otherwise fiddling with pages I've already done.  So much joy in such a little package!

More Year of the Doodle Art Play

I'm still loving my Year of the Doodle planner/art journal.    I love the small size for each day, the beginning backgrounds, and the prompts.  Well, most of the prompts- sometimes I ignore them and do my own thing.

I turned the splotches of color into  little  birds, adding a few more with watercolor pencils so I'd have a whole flock.

I continue playing with doodling.   I'm reading Danny Gregory's The Creative License and appeciating his reminder to draw what you see, not what you think you see.    It is interesting that when you really look at something, it is often not quite the way you see it in your mind .

It's no secret that I love Vivian Swift's art and blog.  In a recent post she explained how she paints teacups, making the tea in the cup lighter at the far rim  as that's the way it is when you look at it.  Sure enough - again, what you think it is isn't always how it really it.   I'm trying to really look at things as I try to draw and , who knew, it makes my drawing more realistic.

The picture on the right started out as the watercolored squares - so fun to turn them into faces!

As if this book isn't fun enough, our Montana grand  loves working in hers.  I love anything that helps me stay connected to this far-away sweetie.

Year of the Doodle Update

I'm still loving this book.   Each day has a prompt or some starting artwork.  I usually follow the prompts, but sometimes go off on my own.  I added in some receipts to the day's trip to Boston to my whimsical flowers.

I cheated here - these faces were in a recent Somerset magazine.  I added some color and details  and this quote that worked with borrowed art.

I'm also following the DLP 2016 Unplanner group, but using this book as my planner.  Feb 1st DLP challenge was to let someone make a mark in your planner.   Since I am not really good at following directions, I used this page from an old French language text, so technically someone else did make these marks.  Don't you just love that handwriting?  A swipe of Gelato added some color.  I like using Gellatos in my journals because they don't add much moisture, so no buckling.  I just swipe on the color and spread it with a baby wipe.

The idea of the book is to practice doodling.   I've expanded that to include  lettering practice.  I do try to do some doodling, too.

Sometimes I use stamps, like this Tim Holtz coffee mug.

I spend lots of time in this book - I often go back in and add some doodling or color, and to be honest, sometimes have to cover up a disaster and start all over.   This is easily the best art book I've bought in a long time!