Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined themed chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighth day of the month is "Art."
****************
One of the most delightful parts about the middle schoolers being back at school is that they frequently draw sidewalk chalk decorations all over the sidewalk. This greatly improves my afternoon walks.
When I doodle, I draw an amorphous blob and then repeat the original pattern a few times nesting inside the original blob and then color in every other "level." See below. This heart reminded me of my own doodling.
****************
What's your most common doodle?
One of the best things about early Covid lockdown (maybe the only good thing, idk) was when I went for walks, all the neighbourhood kids would draw with sidewalk chalk. It was so fun to see all the "don't step on the snakes" or hopscotches or other "obstacle courses." One day the girls down the street just made an entire portion of the sidewalk red, and it was "walk the red carpet." So fun!
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! The kids in your neighborhood sound like they were amazing. I would have died over the red carpet and made Hannah walk it repeatedly.
DeleteI make 3-D boxes. I wish I had better doodles. FOR REAL I have googled easy doodles before because I want to elevate my doodle game because, right now, it is weak.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE chalk. So fun and beautiful. My favourite hack is to use masking tape to create templates for "stained glass" that you colour in and then remove the tape. It's GORGEOUS. We did a ton of chalk during COVID. Like Nicole mentioned, my daughter and her friend would do chalk obstacle courses that went around our entire neighbourhood! It was so fun to look out the window and see kids and their parents doing the course - adults jumping and spinning to kid chalk instructions was pretty swell.
We also did a huge snakes and ladders game in our driveway (fun fact: our Snakes and Ladders experience in lockdown made it into Laura Vanderkam's Tranquility by Tuesday book; I'm unnamed in the mention, but it's my closest thing to a "claim to fame" - haha).
I can't draw in 3-D, so you're doing better than me!
DeleteOh, the stained glass hack is interesting. I'm going to try that the next time I get some sidewalk chalk out. (Although, at Labor Day, there was NO CHALK. Are my niblings too old for it? What will I do?!)
Hmm, great question! I don't doodle that much. I'm not much of an artist, so if I'm doodling I made really boring things like squares and stars. Or treble clefs. Sometimes I'll go all out and put a border around it, kind of like your amorphous blog doodle. I'm intrigued that Elisabeth actually googled "easy doodles" - now I want to see those suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI bet you do have a lot of music-themed doodles! I really struggle with realism in my doodles and get upset when they don't look like what I want them to look like, so that's why I default to mindless amoeba shapes.
DeleteI have a relative who doodles well, but they reveal a brain with problems. 😜
ReplyDeleteI doddle only.
I mean, I'm sure all our doodles reveal something about us! Don't let your psychiatrist see them!
DeleteI live in a neighborhood that has recently become full of kids again. I love seeing all the new chalk art and reading what they write on the sidewalks. It's hilarious.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd, but I don't remember the last time I had occasion to doodle! Back in college and grad school, I used to make cartoons, like The Far Side or B Kliban's stuff--really oddball. That was fun and a long time ago.
Oh, wow! I doodle relentlessly while I'm on hold on the phone and in meetings. My entire desk is just full of those blobs. I wonder if someday when I retire doodling will be a thing of the past.
DeleteI nest my doodles too! It's usually this kolam (South-Indian rice-powder floor-decoration) design and somehow, it makes me feel geometrically accomplished. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/710161435015482191/
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! Those look complicated to me! It would definitely make me feel accomplished, too.
DeleteI NEVER doodle or draw but I appreciate the work of others. We have a pro level sidewalk chalk artist in the neighborhood, and everyone else in the house likes to draw. I love finding their creations.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any pro-level artists here, but I love that the kids are out there doing it. It just makes me happy to see.
DeleteThere is someone who writes inspirational sayings with chalk on the trail where I often run/walk. The basketball court near us, too, is often filled with chalk drawings because the preschool classes hanging out there sometimes for outdoor time. It's super cute.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes will doodle at work when rehearsal is on the static side. When I doodle, I mostly draw eyes and lips. They always look a little like not-quite-faces because I can't draw noses, so there's nothing to link the two.
Ha. Why do I feel like noses are easier than lips? But for me, it's about the proportions. I can't ever figure out how to make it so that the eyes, nose, and lips are proportionate. They just always end up looking like strange aliens with big eyes!
DeleteI love when I encounter chalk art on my walks. So delightful. There was a lot more in our neighborhood during the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteMy go-to doodles are "stars" and "swirls".
I am going to start asking people to show me their doodles. It's such an interesting question of what people default to mindlessly drawing.
DeleteOh gosh, I used to doodle ALL the time. When I wrote in longhand. But now I really can't - hand and arm pain make it really difficult for me. So I type all of my notes - and I never doodle. And I did not realize that until now! I used to doodle this goofy looking guy named Marvin (no idea why) as well as Elisabeth's 3-D boxes. This takes me back - I love sidewalk art and I love your doodles!!
ReplyDeleteI doodle even if I'm on hold on the phone or something. There are an annoying number of those doodles in our house. Do you type notes even when you're on the phone?
DeleteOh, that's interesting! Other than my morning check-ins with my parents, I don't talk on the phone much. And when I'm on work calls/Zooms, I am usually taking notes and/or pulling up files that are relevant to the conversation. So it's rare that I am on the phone and not doing anything else. But... I think I lost doodling somewhere around college? I had to take so many notes, and so quickly, that I couldn't let my mind wander and doodle along with it.
Delete