A Meeting Doodle

Did this doodle during a staff meeting this week (I was paying attention I promise). No planning, just doodling. I'm always surprised at what appears as I doodle. I wonder what it means? I better take this to my next counseling session. :-)

Meeting Doodles

Had to sit in some important meetings this week. As usual I found myself doodling as a way of focusing my attention. And once again, I am surprised at what comes out of my pen. These sketches were unplanned. I started with the number 1 and then one thing lead to another...

Swiss Worship

Old Swiss Lady at worship service Basel Munster. 16 August 2009.

Sketches from a Conference

I recently attended a conference for leaders of Christian schools. Really good stuff - it definitely recharged my batteries. I was able to meet Jon Bauer (www.jon-bauer.com) at the conference. He is an award winning Christian musician from Canada. Good stuff.
This sketch and the one below were done during the conference. As I have noted recently, I find it just a bit easier to concentrate if I have something to sketch.

If you have ever stayed at a Doubletree hotel you will recognize this logo. Both of these sketches were done on notepaper supplied by the hotel. On the sketch below I found myself tracing and then filling in the logo. Truly a mindless doodle, but a concentration aid. Do you do this too?

What to do on an airplane? Sketch!

I enjoyed making this sketch yesterday. The ride from Frankfurt to Chicago was very smooth so the sketching was easy. I didn't have my sketchbook with me so I used a piece of graph paper that I had in among my things.

I've been wanting a chance to work on sketching faces - the airplane is a nice place to find people that are very still and patient! :-)

A random doodle

A little scrap of paper fell out of an old Bible of mine today. This old doodle was on it. I can't remember when and why I drew it. I'm pretty sure that I drew it during some meeting. I kinda like it.

A conference doodle

This sketch was done at a conference held at the Marriott in Prague. Readers of this blog will know that I like to doodle during meetings. It seriously helps me to concentrate on the speaker. I listen better.
I kinda liked this doodle on the hotel notepad. This is a sketch of the church towers in the Old City Square in Prague (from memory).

A Doodle

This little doodle was done during my Board meetings last week. I sketched a bunch of little things during the two days of meetings, but I liked this one best. It reminds me of those stained-glass windows that you find in an older house. Or is it like a warm quilt?

This sketch is very peaceful to me - ordered, and tranquil. Funny that it was drawn during intense meetings.

Some random doodles from a recent meeting

Not sure if these objects mean anything, they're just doodles.

Serious doodles

Here's some serious doodling. I did this during a conference session (yes, I was listening) while in Istanbul.

Very interesting to just use squiggly lines. There was no planning involved in this little sketch. I had no idea where my pen would go once I started. I think that little bald guy in the middle is Darwin.

recent doodles

From the pages of my moleskine notebook.

The left side of the page is interesting. I just started making boxes and that's what happened. Those shapes were made over a long period of time. The right side of the page is something I am working on right now. It's scene from a special place in Alsace region of France. I am going to be adding to it. Stay tuned...
Don't you love the creative part of life? Where do these things come from? They come from a creative God who loves to see His children exercising some of his DNA.

Hmmm. What's this?

This is a recent doodle. This is NOT my usual style at all. It all started with one curly line (the one at the 1:00 position). That curly line lead to another, that lead to another, that lead...you get the idea. When this was sketch was finally "done" I was very surprised at myself. My doodling is usually very square, blocky, and rigid - this one was nothing like that. Very interesting!!


I admit I started this little sketch during church on second advent Sunday. When I look at this little sketch I think maybe this is communicating something about "coming" - the coming of the promised Messiah, Jesus, exploding into our world bringing power, redemption, and salvation.

What happened here?

Not sure what happened here. This once started out as a sermon doodle, you can see it in the middle of the page. Later, this became a page where I doodled mindlessly. I simply drew whatever came into my head. I noticed there are a bunch of little books drawn on this page. There are also a lot of trees. I like to draw winter trees - no leaves. And, as usual there is a paper shopping bag in my doodling. I guess I like the shape and fold-lines of a paper sack.

I will admit that I was "inspired" to fill a page with random things after noticing something similar produced and on display by our students in their art classes.

I'm still using that 0.39 gel pen. I love the fine line for drawing.

This is a scan from my blank-page Moleskine. I LOVE the weight and smoothness of the paper. Highly recommended.

Various doodles

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I like to doodle. In fact, I am a bit of an advocate for the doodlers out there. Almost all of my doodling occurs while I am in some sort of meeting - leadership, church, etc - and I believe that doodling actually helps me to concentrate on what's going on and what's being said. It's interesting that I can look at the shapes drawn below and remember what the speaker was saying at the time. Not sure why that is, but it is.

Once again, this doodling of mine is a creative release - a way to "unstring the bow."
Last thing...what does doodling reveal about the doodler? (Have you seen that book about Presidential doodles?) Why are almost all of my doodles geometric? And what are those shopping bags doing showing up again?? Weird.

A sketch a day

I did this today - just doodling. I had no idea what this would be when I started. I was drawing a series of boxes on the page (not shown). Then I drew a paper shopping bag, then a jar, then a cereal box, then a milk carton, soon it called for a table-top, the table-top needed legs... There you go. Surprise.

Media: "Uni-ball signo RT gel 0.38" pen on plain paper.