For many years, I forgot about doodling. But then, just recently, I remembered. I remembered how wonderful it was to sit there with a scrap of notebook paper and a pen and let my mind do its dance. I remembered how cool it was to zone out for a moment or two and then look down and see them – names, pictures, questions. How amazing it was to let go, to forget about time and the world, to scribble-scrabble as my girls would call it, to glimpse myself through words and images that were more than words and images somehow, words and images that were, in many ways, on some level, everyday art.
Words. Images. Art. Isn’t that what I love these days? Isn’t that what I have always loved? How did I forget? And what prompted me to remember?
♦
Have you ever been a Doodler? Why do we doodle less once we become adults or parents? Is there simply less time, or do we lose that precious idle time where we can mindlessly drag pen across paper? Oooh – or has the digital age spelled the death of doodling because so many of us go through our days without papers and pens?
I used to doodle all the time. In school, at home while on the phone. Remember when we all talked on the phone? I would doodle patterns – checkerboards, flowers, stars – and sometimes I would even doodle the names of the boys I liked. Yes, with my name! Fun to think about that time.
People who work in offices and are forced to go to meetings still doodle. They do it to stay awake as the meetings drone on!
I’ve never been one to doodle, scribble or scrabble — but it amazes me to see so many of my coworkers jotting things in the margins during staff meetings! It’s not that they’re not paying attention; I know they are. It’s just that, with a pen and paper before them, they can’t keep their hands still. I secretly looking over at their creations afterward!
I pretty much am always doodling during meetings…but it is something definitely done more at work. Not sure if there is a connection there or not? Just yesterday I created a beautiful masterpiece of stars and hearts
Yes I was a big doodler in classes. (Until I discovered Sudoku in college, which surprisingly never affected my grades.) I always loved signing my name! I have awful handwriting, but a beautiful signature
I still like to doodle during phone meetings.