Eye Candy and doodling to refine your artist's statement

Some out-of-town friends stopped by with a goodie box the other day and we had a great visit. These pretty candies were one of the items in the box. Instead of tucking in right away, I wanted to admire their spring colors. Technically it's spring- but a yellow, pink , and green reminder was needed while those fat, wet snowflakes fell to the ground. Jace found the stash, pronounced it tasty and I figured if I wanted to keep admiring my eye candy, I'd better photograph it. Sometimes I'll get fresh flowers for the house to boost my creative energy. These worked too.

I've never liked my doodles. I enjoyed doing them, but the geometric shapes or bubbles just looked like naughty messing up of my study books. I love the look of illustrative doodles, still when I start something along that line it felt more like unwanted homework. Conclusion? I figured doodling just wasn't much of a help for me and my art. Needless to say, I felt my doodles weren't blog worthy, so it's rare that I'd post them.

Things changed when I stumbled on this post: Doodle Analysis. It's a balanced article. I like that she mentioned that motives can affect our doodles. For example, you may decide to draw a tree house because you like drawing for children or you want to push the boundaries of fantasy. A psychologist would be off base to proclaim you as "immature" based simply on that doodle. So sometimes the interpretation will fit, and other times it will be off.

The theme of the universe kept coming back for geometric shapes, including the circle. In fact she said that the square "represents the formal, mathematical, scientific order of the universe." What's so exciting about that? It's what the three squares in my work mean to me.

Science and natural laws are often exquisite and dependable. I think it works not only in the natural world, but also in people. Sometimes I see a beautiful quality in someone that is so right. To me, it's a glimpse of a perfect world. Kind of like some loves can be just as right as gravity. What? Well, nobody that I know has ever successfully argued with gravity. It's not a philosophical question of right and wrong. It's a dependable order. That being said, the purpose of my art is not to dictate my version of right and wrong. It’s to encourage people to savour what they feel is wonderful and of value in the world.

Before my artist's statement was four paragraphs long. I'm thinking of editing it to something along the lines of "To me the symbols are the desire for Utopia and the celebration when I see glimpses of it in reality." They say shorter is better. People may actually read it!

Do your doodles coincide with your artist's statement? They helped me edit and refine what I was trying to say. After all, if we usually tap into our subconscious when making art it stand to reason that doodling could improve our writing skills. Perhaps that's why the art journal has taken off in such a beautiful way!

Oh, yes. I guess it's time to show you one of those un-blog- worthy doodles (and no, I wasn't craving strawberries...).