New Month, New Word-Art Drawings ✒️

I have a penchant for doodling everyday things. Things people kind of hurry past. Things that are utilitarian but that are integral and, well, handy.

I bought these scissors before Christmas a few years ago at a discount store; they were around $3. I stood before the display for way too long, comparing and contrasting the red-and-white chevron pairs to the green-and-white chevron pairs. In the end, green won out by a slim margin. Like my ‘90s film cameras, they have a nice heft to them and are neither too clunky nor too crowded in my grip. I most often use them for cutting the little shipping label before sending away my film to be developed. Now and again, I pull them from the drawer and find a little something that just has to be trimmed for the satisfaction of using them.

I picked this daisy dress online during the first months of Covid, during quarantine. I noticed it because I wanted the happiest possible design I could find. It’s a Kelly green with white daisies with yellow centers. The last time I had a dress with daisies on it, I was 22 and getting ready to walk across a graduation platform. That dress was black-and-white checked and mostly covered with my graduation gown. This dress I put on during days when it’s gray as a crayon and raining. Or days when I want a spring in my step. Or just days where the green pops out at me as I stand before my closet. Green has always felt a color of calm strength, renewal, and hope to me. There needs to be very little reason for a daisy pattern. This is the first time I’ve drawn a hanger or the drape of this dress. I got the proportions of the sleeves a little too long, but the daisy chain on my joy’s -y was a spark of last-minute inspiration and great fun.

For more versions of these drawings, check out my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/writepath99/ .

Words and Doodles: A Multimedia Experiment 🌞

A little something I’m giving a whirl recently. I’ve long wanted to scan some of my sketches and make new ones that incorporated word art and simple doodles. It’s good to shake it up and try new ways of approaching ideas in art, and the process of putting pen to paper to color in is very meditative and relaxing. Here’s a recent one I made and scanned this week.

To me, next means: not perfect, but moving forward nonetheless. Next is a place of hope and discovery. Next is a no-pressure zone; it’s taking what you have and seeing what good you can make of it.

I made the first letter lowercase to show how shaky and tentative some first efforts can be, and then as we gain our strength and clarify our vision, the rest of the letters (and steps) get easier and surer. I also left the slightly askew bottom bar on the X and the slightly shorter bar across the right of the T as I’d first penciled them before tracing with my felt pen. Plus, it’s drawn by a human hand, so there’s a kind of nice authenticity to these quirks.

Next also means a contentment in each moment, because bigger things are on the horizon. The cherry blossoms matched nicely with that thought and were super relaxing to draw—I could feel myself get into a writer-like zone where time felt slowed with each blossom, petal, and branch.

Truthfully, I know I’m not at all the best or even a good sketcher. I have a long way to grow. I have a horrible time drawing figures of animals and people who look like themselves (I’m not great at drawing anything to scale), although I like drawing a caricature of myself waving on cards and in signed copies of my books sometimes. Flowers, I can sometimes do, and I’m going to give people a whirl again, maybe as silhouettes or stick outlines or in my own way, because why not? These are for the joy of making them and, perhaps, sharing some, too.

After scanning and uploading this word art, I headed off to my software to begin the computerized portion of the project. So many hues, filters, and options to be had! I’ll include a few of the transformed file options below, too.

Exciting Update: Interview😀🎊

Recently, I had the great joy to share my thoughts with multitalented author and editor Roz Morris about writing, publishing, books, persistence, a fulfilling artistic life, and so much more: clicky here to dive into the fun.

Be sure to check out Roz’s excellent books, from her riveting, prize-winning novel, Ever Rest, and the many stellar reviews it has gleaned to her wonderful craft books sure to encourage novelists on this writing path.

Also, Roz has a meaningful newsletter, insightful interviews with fellow creatives, and more at her site to motivate and to bring out the very best in your writing.