doodling

doodle from last night while watching t.v.

Do you remember doodling in the corners of your notebook when you were in school? Bored and daydreaming, your hand found places in the margin of the page, along the edges, in the white space at the top. You weren’t really thinking about what you were drawing, you were maybe off in some far off place of adventure, play or romance.

Do you still doodle? I do. I love to doodle. I doodle when I’m on the phone, waiting in doctor’s offices, on restaurant napkins waiting for the check, while I’m watching t.v. I recently bought a cheap notebook with blank white pages in it just for doodling. There’s something about doodling that is calming, and also very freeing. I don’t think you can worry and doodle at the same time.

I have always loved writing and doodling. When I was very little I doodled on paper with markers and crayons, on the sidewalk with chalk, and with my fingers in finger paint. When I was in junior high school doodles would cover my class notes, often in the form of hearts, sometimes with joanne + {fill in the blank} = love drawn in the middle, the {fill in the blank} being the fantasy of the latest unrequited love interest for that school year. The girl who sat in front of me was a master doodler. She would draw unicorns and goddesses and fantasies of imaginary places and people. Though she was a master artist already at the age of 13 or so, and she took doodling to levels no doodle has ever gone before, doodling is not reserved only for those who can draw. Doodling doesn’t require any skill or special tools. It just requires you, some sort of marking tool (why limit yourself?), and something to mark on. I suppose people have always been doodling, from the time of hieroglyphs on stone walls to graffiti on buildings, walls, and freeways. People just love to doodle. There’s something about doodling and letting yourself flow without the pressure of evaluating whether or not it is any good that gives you the freedom to just play without inhibition.

Do you doodle? If not, why not start? It’s fun, relaxing, and lets your inner child have some time out of the cage. You can just rip up whatever you create if your adult critical mind requires it of you, but I’d like it better if you would share it here with me