Art Journal

Awhile back I started a little journal using the rubber stamps I carved.  Then i set it aside and forgot about it.     Later I decided to play around with little zen doodles and looked for a suitable journal and grabbed this one.     LOL   I accidentally started the zen journal from the reverse side of the journal, so the front is one thing, and the back is something else entirely.     Oh well. 

Here are a few of the zen doodles with some color added with colored pencils and caligraphy pens.      

 It didn't take me too many days to figure out that I really prefer strong central images with less clutter.   

Here are some of the next ones more stylized and simple.   At first I thought I'd zen doodle around the images and fill in the entire background.    I liked the starkness of the cleaner pages, so left them to stand alone.     

 Next pages I sort of tried to combine the strong central  image with backgrounds filled.

These small journals are fun to use to explore different ideas and inspirations.   Also to try out new art supplies.   Such as the new set of colored pencils I bought recently.   And the colored calligraphy pens.    


Now that I look back over my doodles, I don't think they even resemble the zen doodles that are so popular with many artists today.

Did I ever mention my father's nicknames for me as a young child?   Pumpkin Doodle or Doodle Bug.      I guess my doodles are pumking doodles.    LOL