Watercolors and Creatures

Last night, we had company, but before bed I had to squeeze in time to do another doodle. The obsession continues. This is very curious, as usually I get bored with new hobbies so quickly. I absolutely cannot stop doodling/painting/drawing.

CANNOT. STOP.

And it's horrible wonderful. It takes time, but it's relaxing. I've worked it right into my daily goals -- ride my bike, draw, and (try to sometimes, if I can) eat better. I'm doing pretty well with that too!

Why am I so happy/productive/mostly-healthy?? Is this hormonal? Probably. Next week, Mark will probably be scraping my tear-streaked, mascara-stained face off the floor while Ellie jumps on my lifeless body screaming her usual, "Everybody get on the cow!"

But why stress about that now? It's rainy and stormy outside, and I love it. All the more reason to hide inside with a good movie and sketchbook!

Elle saw my Smashbook this morning, which I've been using as a sketchbook. I love it. It has thick pages, pre-designed so that I can work in doodles and tangles, or paste in my strange creature illustrations.

She said, "Oh, Mommy! I want to do this!! Let me get my paints. I have stickers. Let's draw!" And, of course, it was too late in the morning to start that, as I had to usher her out the door to preschool. So sad, too, because she's not always that interested, and I've just been waiting so patiently, trying not to push, but wanting so badly for her to want to draw, paint, and doodle with me!

The last time we painted together, she was sooo content to just sit quietly by my side and paint with her watercolors in her Care Bear coloring book. I got to paint, too! There was a peace and calm energy about the entire experience, and to have that with my toddler was... beautiful. Amazing. Lovely.

So, I was hopeful, as she waved goodbye this morning, and as she said to me, "Oh. I need one more hug and kiss. Have a good day, sir!" that the afternoon would bring swishes of bright paint, swashes of pastels, and the cool, dry creak of a Sharpie marker (happy sigh).

Fabulous paradox tutorials (here)!

Anyway, last night I knocked out a quick doodle on some paper I had prepped with watercolor the night before. I learned that if the paint is too thick, the thinner Sharpie markers don't like it. They give up completely on applying ink to those areas, and I have to carefully touch it up with a thick Sharpie. It's like having man-hands while doing really delicate tangle work. So, I'm going to experiment some more over the next few nights.

I'm pretty happy with the final product, though. I like the fantasy theme. I can be less committed to the drawing as I work on it, and I loved spotting that deer-like creature and volcano in the drips of the watercolor and outlining him.

Here's how I did it! For Step 5, I pasted it in my watercolor-dripped sketchbook page and drew some "paradox" tangles above.