Do You Doodle?

I was sorting through my business bookkeeping files yesterday and came across my notebook that I used for a college business class that I took about about 2 years ago. 

Looking through it, I found it funny that I had more doodles drawn than I had notes from class. 

I realized when I saw page after page after page of doodles, that I really miss doodling.  I don’t do it now simply because my fingers are busying stitching or typing, or doing paperwork.

As long as I can remember, even in elementary school, I would draw on paper while in class.   In high school, I would fill entire pages full of the stippling designs that are done in quilting.  I didn’t know then that it was a quilting technique.

I would draw that stippling in the tiniest loops and curves just to challenge myself to see how much I could get on one notebook sheet of paper. 

And it’s not that I was so bored that I would resort to drawing.  Doodling helped me to listen better.  The college class that I took was very interesting.  I learned a lot about running a business, copyrights and wrongs, business laws, marketing, taxes and bookkeeping.  The doodling just kept my fingers busy while my brain was sucking in all the things that I needed to know about running the business.

I used to take my sketch pad to church meetings so that I would have really nice paper to sketch on while sitting through long and sometimes controversial issues.  The doodling helped me to keep my mouth shut and my temper under control.  I was once elected to be the secretary of the one church committee.  I really really tried to take the minutes during the meeting, but with a pen in my hand, the note-taking became doodles.  I had to give up that position. 

I have a thick sketchbook filled with pictures that I drew during a rough time at church when half the church wanted to get rid of the pastor and the other half loved him so much they fought to keep him. Bad times…..  but the doodles and sketches were really good!  

During one particularly long meeting, I drew an entire wedding party of comical hippopotamus.  The bride was as pretty as a hippo could possibly be. And I drew big fancy letters that spelled out “keep your mouth shut”. And those big fancy letters helped me keep my mouth shut.

I have sketches of both my daughters that I did from their school pictures.  I tried to sketch my husband, but the way I drew his moustache made him look too much like Burt Reynolds and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. He doesn’t really look like Burt Reynolds but after sketching him I can see the resemblance in the moustache.  :) 

I have a sketch of our sweet cat, Skittles, that I did when she was just a kitten.  I have a really nice doodle drawing of our neighbors house.  I did that long ago while sitting in the kitchen, talking on the phone about PTA business.  I used colored oil pencils for that and it turned out really nice. 

I’ve had a lifetime of doodles and sketching and even though I’d never consider myself an artist, I do have a love for drawing.

I’m going to get back to doodling.  I’m going to head off to Michael’s Craft Store today to buy myself a nice sketch book and some good pencils. 

Even the word doodles makes me want to doodle now instead of type!

 

Happy Day everyone!  

and… I love you ladies who read.   I gave away 5 patterns from my newsletter contest and the additional comments that I got from a lot of the entries just warmed my heart and made me so happy.   I do believe I made out better than the pattern winners.