Doodles

This is my most recent collection of doodles I completed in Pathways Art therapy class. Each one took around an hour to ninety minutes to complete. We’re talking a damn good 14 hour shift to produce the whole bunch. I’m quite proud I spent that long on an art project. I know they are not jaw-dropping or anything, but they are the only thing that stand between me being defunct and having a bash at something creative. They’re done with simple felt tip pens. I think I would have an interesting time on Photoshop Elements 6.0 with them. I think I would pull off a nice exciting book cover or two if I started enlarging them, reducing them, duplicating them, and all of the other fascinating things you can do on the program. I’ve said this before but I awfully miss that program. I have a few extra quid in the bank coffers this month; I’m thinking about buying a brand new shiny laptop to continue doing some graphic design. What do you think? Or should I vacate to a Scottish Lodge for a summer break? The last chapter of my most recent book, HEADSWAP, took place in a Scottish Lodge. I’d like to go and relive the scene in actual person. It was about a hate mobber (gang stalker: someone involved in a hate campaign), surrounded by a children’s party. The love in the room sent him off his head, because all he knew was hatred. My intention was to involve a bit of humour in the final scene of the book. I enjoyed it, it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever wrote. It was inspired by a detective story in a crime anthology. Basically, everything that can go wrong does.

I might upload HEADSWAP here for you to read yourself. It takes an hour and a half to read. My pretend agent Clint from PAUSE (my local mental health drop-in centre), has left a copy in America. He read it on the plane over there. So my work is getting read in The States. That’s a lovely feeling. Where are you? Are you close by? I’m in the northwest of England, in a large town called Warrington. It’s sandwiched between Liverpool and Manchester. You’ll probably know the football teams, won’t you? They’re both very successful, the most successful teams in the whole of England actually, with 39 league titles between them. I’m a Liverpool fan myself. Their famous anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, was used in John Cusack’s Cell (2016) movie. It’s a decent flick, based on a King novel (Bless Stephen Forever). In the book, he torched a pit full of zombies because they were playing a bad remake of a song. Lol. Have you got any funny excuses for misbehaving?

The haunting images of me on Christmas Day last year were taken on my Niece's portable instant-print-off camera. I've just seen her actually. My little darling Rosie x

 

The Latest Images I Have To Offer

 

Hello there. I hope you are viewing this artwork in a positive frame of mind today. I myself feel fresh and excited about posting it. Some of it I did just yesterday in a 2-hour class, deciding to try to be brave with the pens again. I was inspired in part by a schizophrenic artist by the name of Rosalie Schweiker who makes greetings cards. They are very pleasant and appealing but they didn’t knock my socks off in a jaw-dropping manner so I thought I would have a go myself. I’ve always postulated that I can’t draw for love nor money but I don’t let that fact stop me from having a stab at it. Nor should you, if you are artistically challenged like me. Just step into that courageous furnace and fashion out some fiery hot rods of original concept artwork. The rewards are great.

My goal on a few were to be as cheap, cheery and colourful as I could with the limited range of materials at my disposal. Others I wanted a bit more complex. Complexity is a big thing for me – I like my intricate doodles. None of this is anything like the grand scale work I would be capable of if I had my own studio, but again, I don’t let the lack of a studio prevent me from having a jolly old bash at producing something fun and entertaining.

I had a project including photography and canvasses which unfortunately didn’t come to pass because I lost all my canvasses when I cleared out all the possessions in my flat because I felt God telling me to do so. I don’t think he was the real God, just a spirit impersonating him, but his instruction worked. I emptied everything which wasn’t tied down and then had a disastrous flood from my washing machine just to make sure that whatever survived my initial clearance got ruined to boot. (I actually got sectioned for this flood, but that’s another story.) Anyway, the result was starting my materialistic life all over again. Not a bad thing if you’re part of a minimalistic religious sect, but not the best if you’re an original gangster who has a penchant for gold.

The project was basically a lot of abstract canvasses in acrylic paint with wordart in Scrabble letters stuck over the top. I was going to use these as backgrounds for toy models to pose in front of such as Ironman or whoever and take photographs. So essentially, instead of a Marvel hero poised in front of a sunset, they would be stood in front of one of my abstract wordart canvasses. The effect would have been awesome – please forgive me for not describing it too eloquently. Artwork tends to be like that (hard to describe). Just imagine putting a teddy bear in front of a painting and taking a picture of it and you are somewhere along the right track of where I was heading with the project. It was in the making for several years so very sad to see go, along with my university portfolios of course. I haven’t been to university but I was thinking about it.

The images here are in my rawest capability, without Photoshop. Without that program, I really am quite hapless as you can tell. I have got hopes of soon returning to Photoshop however, so these images will be a good start when I get going on it again. Any image can be vastly improved on Photoshop, I think it is a miraculous piece of technology. Messing around with the effects kit on some images or photographs is a rich and fruitful enterprise which ticks the time away in hurried enjoyable chunks.

With Art, I want to be reckless and heroic, like a child. No child is scared of drawing and nor should you be. Just accept that you aren’t the best but remember your passion for the subject and your determination to have your efforts visible and available for criticism. The only way to improve is to have a go.