Do you Doodle?

    A doodle is a type of sketch, an unfocused drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied elsewhere. Doodles are thought to engage in idle activity, but are really drawings that often have concrete representational meaning. Everyone has probably doodled in notebooks, while daydreaming or  produced a collection of doodles during a long telephone conversation. It is said by some that doodling can aid a person's memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain's processing power. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation.
     I’ve been a doodler for as long as I can remember.  My mom doodled, and  I’m guessing my grandmother and great grandmother could have been a doodler.  I come from a long line of doodling. Recently I have expanded my doodling skills to make some worth while art work. These are an advance doodling technique, if you will indulge the definition, known as zentangles.

     Zentangle is an organized doodle used to create images by drawing structured patterns. They normally do not have a preconceived idea of your final result, although I have varied this process to allow for a finished piece to have a recognizable image. In spite of the fact that I may start out to draw a cat the finished creation is not restricted by any expectations.
     Zentangles are reported by many to  increase focus and creativity, provide artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being.  I can't say that my drawings have given me personal well being, but I do delight in the activity. Doodles can certainly reveal something of a person’s mental state, would mine reveal something of my cerebral faculties? Maybe I just like cats, and colorful designs.

Loveland Sculpture Show

From Mary Beth Dodson: Last weekend, I went to the Loveland Sculpture Show with Mary Tanner and LynnDee Nielson, both sculptors in their own right. But first we registered at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver and spent the first day touring the new wing of the Denver Art Museum. If you haven’t seen it yet, make arrangements to go! The architecture itself is mind-blowing. Looking down from the fourth floor over-look made me so dizzy I had to hold on. The gift shop was fun. We toured the new wing, watched a couple of videos of how artists worked and arranged their studios. The most memorable art work we saw was was of the Clay Woman, a massive sculpture built on site. It was a Native American Story Teller with children.   It had been constructed of straw in netting, then

coated with clay. My friends standing beside her were dwarfed by her size. We toured the Native American section, with totem poles, Indian beading and dolls, pottery.

    The next day we spent the day touring the tents of the nationally famous Loveland Sculpture Show. Sculptors came from all over the U.S. and the average price of the works was $3,000. There were sculptures of bronze, glass, clay, wood, numerous other metals. After seeing every piece on display we  walked to an adjacent park for the Loveland Art in the Park....again, overwhelming.

    The next day we drove to Ft. Collins for West Fest, an annual art on the streets event. Two hundred bands played an hour each,on ten stages  over a period of two days. My grandson, Cory Call, has a band called Arliss Nancy, and won a gold medal. It is composed of blocks and blocks of booths set up in Old Town, with art, vendors, food booths, and of course, music. Any of these events could have been a trip in itself, but we did three long days in a row. Oh, and went to Jerry’s Artarama in Ft. Collins for our own art supplies as well.

    But what memories we made!

http://www.picturetrail.com/sribbonpress

summer olympics

Did you know that Art competitions were part of the events at the at the Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948?  they were discontinued due to concerns about amateurism and professionalism. Since 1952, a non-competitive art and cultural festival has been associated with each Olympic Games.  Do you get inspired by events like the Olympics? There are many events during the summer games that would be amazing to capture on canvas.  Think I'll go work on something: lets see my favorites, cycling, swimming, archery, equestrian, or gymnastics. I think I'll have to do something for all of those.

original aceo drawing Swimmer olympics