Miriam Badyrka is The Doodler

Doodle of the Week

This is possibly the prettiest doodle I have ever made. I like this one. Don't the large medallions make you think of sunflowers? There is something really summery looking about this little doodle. It is a fairly small doodle for me, it is only about 7x21 inches long.

That it is a smaller size is amusing, since I recently had an email conversation with Joseph Blanchette about making these doodles large. Really, really large.

I have been thinking along those lines for awhile now. I have been trying to find a place that would let me paper the entire place with them.

I like the idea of using the doodles as the basis for something on a much larger scale than I normally use while idly doodling. It is something to consider

Doodle of the Week

An imaginary alphabet! I haven't posted one of these in a long time. I don't think they are as visually interesting as a carpet doodle.

I always look at these and wonder what they mean. I think to myself that because they look like writing, they must mean something. I think I read so much that I am conditioned to try and read them.

They are easily the most mysterious of all the doodles that I make.

Writing is a kind of magic anyway. We can look at a bunch of symbols and find a story, or a message, or information we need. It is fascinating if you sit and think about it.

Nick sent me a link to Ancient Lives , a project where they are using regular people to help decipher ancient text. I love trying to do it, and I can see how scholars can spend their entire career working on one document.

This week's doodle appears to be a hybrid of last week's and the week before 's doodles. The half circles are new though.

I wonder what I was thinking when I made frames around the quadrants and repeated them vertically.  My design eye thinks that it should make a 1-2-1-2 pattern rather than the 1-1-2-2 pattern. That's doodling for you: No thought, no planning.

Another thing that I find interesting about this one is in the upper left, each of the circles contain a motif continued from the straight part of the pattern. Over on the right, there are a couple of random bullseyes.

Looking At

It’s time for another edition of Things I am Looking At, the bookmark list is getting long.

I have been to two shows this season at Pulliam Gallery in Portland, that I have found inspiring.

 Linda Hitchins. She is a favorite of mine anyhow, but I can’t say enough how much I like these drawings and how beautiful I find them.

The linework is so fine that I thought they were made of thread, but they are drawings. Everything that goes to down to the right was drawn right handed, and the lines that go down to the left were drawn left handed. It is a meditative practice made visible and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Left Hand Screw, india ink on watercolor paper, Linda Hitchens