In Praise of the Doodle

I’m a doodler. I admit it. If you talk to me on the phone, I will almost certainly reach for one of the several fountain pens within my field of view and start making marks on paper. Often they start out abstract, but usually resolve into something figurative. A flourish turns into a letter, which gets followed by another letter.

I make, and swap, Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). There are only two rules with these things: a) they must be 3.5” x 2.5” and b) they can’t be sold. A tiny canvas, a place to try a new medium or technique. I’ve been trading with calligraphers for a while, but recently have joined Swapbot to do one or two trades at a time with a much wider range of options.

It was on Swapbot that I found the call for the Doodle ATC. Go back through your pages and find doodles you’ve made and cut them out, it said. Don’t consciously try to doodle something. Send something you’d like to receive yourself.

Wow. I guess I must really have been on a fish kick over the summer.