Here a Doodle, There a Doodle....

I am a doodler, there is no other word for it. I cover paper in tiny, wee sketches. I dabble in calligraphy, and miniature pictures, which I occasionally fill in with watercolour or inks. I can draw passable Celtic knots. I do my best work - if you will pardon so lofty a term - when I am passing an idle hour, putting down whatever odd thing strikes my fancy, until I get a page of totally unrelated thumbnail sketches. Like this one here:

Once a doodling mood has seized me, I will turn out a whole lot of extremely small sketches, mostly done in pencil, because I am more comfortable thinking in light and shadow than in colour. I use quite ordinary pencil, generally a mechanical pencil, because the lead stays sharper. I enjoy it, but the results of my efforts are decidedly are mixed.

This picture is the oldest of the lot, and I really cannot tell you what the deal is with that face she is making. I hadn't drawn faces straight on like that in a while, and I was really paying more attention to her cloak. I suspect that is the look I give people who suggest that I need more of a social life... and the expression is even more enigmatic in the original.

Sometimes, I sketch my mood. I was ready for my weekend when I did this one. It is extremely small, maybe 3 inches square, but I got my pipes strapped to my back, my sword, my cape, and the Hobbit scarf which my best friend knitted me for Christmas a while back, without which no adventure would be complete:

I draw soldiers a lot, usually obstinately boy-faced Scottish soldiers, in kilts, doing everything from lounging about with cigarettes on their lips (mostly they're WWII, so I am merely being accurate) to running along with packs on their backs, and rifles in their hands. However, I have long had a soft spot for Roman Soldiers. Back in high school, before I had made the acquaintance of the Irish and the Scots, the Romans were my favourite. I put the next sketch down to the combined effects of seeing The Eagle a couple weeks ago, and watching tons Doctor Who before that. No, it is not Rory, the Last Centurion, nor Marcus Aquila on his way to find the Eagle of the Ninth, but merely a Roman Centurion:

And then, very occasionally, a brilliant idea for a Proper Design strikes me, and I become wildly obsessed with it, until I can get it down. Sometimes it works, and I am satisfied. Sometimes it is a bit of a failure, and the idea sinks like a seed to the back of my mind, where it germinates for a time, before spring to life again. In this case, I got what I was after the first time round, with this watercolour holy card. It is about the size of a business card, so the lettering does not show up so clearly in the picture. It says, "I have lifted my eyes to the mountains, from whence cometh my hope."