I’ve been thinking about all the drawing I’ve been doing since May 1 for The Doodle Off [goal: 150 doodles by July 1] and I’m surprised by how much I’ve learned in such little time. Something about being involved in a contest has encouraged me to be so much more creative. It became obvious pretty early on that 150 is not a lot of doodles if you’re not interested in the quality of your work. So that begs the question: what’s going to make 150 drawings important to me? I’ve tried out a bunch of media: colored pencils, fountain pens, pencils, crayons, markers and pens. Even though I’ve used a lot of them before, I’ve used the Doodle Off as an opportunity to be more experimental.

The most poignant realization I’ve had is that I’m probably drawing more now than I have in years. Considering I think about drawing all the time, how could I have fallen so short? Now I remember! Silly me, I had a baby. And when she was an infant there wasn’t  any time to draw… and now that she’s 2 there’s more time for drawing, even if I’m just sketching cars when I’m stuck in traffic.

I’m hoping my enthusiasm for drawing can stick with me past July 1 because I’ve found my rediscovery of drawing to be so rewarding. Drawing can be meditative and thereputic when I’m absendmindedly doodling with markers and crayons. I could be drawing my design ideas for new products before I commit to making samples with fabric and a sewing machine. The act of capturing my ideas on paper ignites some sort of magic and I want to make that happen over and over again.