Back to Square One
It's rare that I sit down to doodle with pen or paint; when I do, something specific usually now prompts it. I painted this so I could finally print out a thank-you card for Dude and Dude-Mom, who overwhelm us with their kind and loving gifts. (I don't usually like one part of a doodle to the exclusion of others, but Annika's thighs in this one are my favorite. I love that robust, little girl!)
From grade school through college, I always had to doodle in order to listen well, although I wasn't always listening well as I doodled. Two weeks ago, I tried to dig up my high school valedictorian address to give Debbie an idea of how long I spoke. I couldn't find it, remembering too late that I had tossed it in embarrassment last year, but the folder in which I expected to find it was filled with piles of pictures, scratched out as I listened (or daydreamed) during classes.
They're mostly clumsy, cartoonish figures or rubber-faced pixies, grinning, or people with hooked noses and long chins-- some were of hollow-eyed people or fallen angels that I'd later turn into letters, and some are unrecognizable and poorly executed sketches of professors. It made me realize how different doodles are when I begin with a purpose instead of being surprised by the end result, and it made me miss those times when I'd make scratchy doodles all day long, trying to focus on my teacher's/professor's words by keeping my hands busy.
What's funny about this next picture is that I drew it while listening my way through a class taught by a wonderfully intelligent and witty professor, and as I wet my finger with spit to smudge the pen ink, I looked up to see his bemused stare. I was impudent and deserved it, so I blushed while hunkering down in my seat.
If anyone has suggestions for lectures (available for online download, that you'd be willing to let me borrow, or that I could find for a song) that might edify, educate, or illuminate me, please leave a comment. I miss chicken-scratching, and I probably won't make the time for it unless I justify it through double-tasking (and perhaps not even then!).
8 comments :
I saw the word drama on that one sketch... could it be that modern drama class we all took where that hooked nosed man was drawn? for shame!
your 'doodles' just plain make me happy.
Any chance for a letter sometime soon? ;-)
I love that first drawing! It is so bright and cheery. :)
I used to do the same thing while sitting in class, although mine weren't as "professional" looking as yours. They were more cartoonish and usually of people that my friends and I knew. I would pass them under the desk to my friends as we tried to stifle giggles. Talk about "for shame"!! haha
Sharon,
I'm not sure where I drew that doodle, and it's funny that you commented on that particular one, because that's the doodle I turned into a letter for you two or so years ago. I don't know if it ever reached you, but if it did, this is the second time you've seen that hooked nose! The word "drama" was in a sentence in which I thanked you for one of my favorite memories from college-- the look on Wardwell's face as you CRAWLED from his class, gasping with laughter and rosy in the face, before walking in only to leave again in seconds. I admire Wardwell so much, and his bewildered chuckles to giggle-fits of students only cemented my admiration.
Rebecca,
You've been on my to-do list for months, literally! Someday, a postman will arrive and surprise you with a letter.
Michelle,
I should post my cartoonish ones. Honestly, I should just toss them all, but the sentimental packrat in me want to hold on to a few.
Hold on to them, they're beautiful!
And I want that letter!!!!!
And I had a dream about Wardwell last night!!!!
And I loved that class!!!!!!
(Only in the dream he didn't remember me. That stank.)
Man, I wish you had that letter. I think I must have mailed it when you were teaching on the reservation, but I don't remember if I mailed it there or to your home address. Rats!
Wardwell would never forget you. I envied the rapport you two had (I TOLD you I admired him!).
That long-nosed man reminds me of a thank you note doodle that I received many years ago...and still have in my "special cards" stash...along with your wedding invitation doodle, that could never be out-doodled. And, by the way, isn't being a pack-rat. It's cherishing history, right? :)
I miss doodling long-nosed people. I really do. Why draw an ordinary nose when hooked ones are so much fun?
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