Tag Archives: cartoon

Harvesting

October 6, 2014art, Brooklyn, doodle, drawing, napkinsart, Artwork, Autumn, Brooklyn, butterfly, cartoonMary

There’s nothing in a caterpillar

that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.

-R. Buckminster Fuller a.k.a. Bucky

Drawn at the General Greene over breakfast.

My weekend has been full of vineyards, corn mazes, farms, pumpkin patches, Harvest Festivals, and apple pie. Good weekend memories helped me get through a hectic Monday and has me wistfully longing for Columbus Day weekend. Granted, I still need to take allergy medication and load up on Vitamin C. However, the cool air sweater weather has me feel like I’m floating effortlessly down the streets of Brooklyn. I get hopeful whenever I see another tree begin to change color and have cravings for roasted corn.

How are you celebrating Autumn?

Flower for the Samurai Seven

June 15, 2014art, Brooklyn, doodle, drawing, illustration, napkinsAbstract Art, art, Brooklyn, Buddha, cartoon, Doodle, doodles, Doodling, drawing, fine art, illustration, Japanese, Kinjo, Lotus Flower, New York, New York City, NYC, Samurai, sketching, Sushi, The Samurai Seven, zentangleMary

Your work is to discover your work and with all your heart to give yourself to it.” -Buddha

Drawn at the Japanese Fusion restaurant, Kinjo, after watching the movie, The Seven Samurai at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)

Art as a Language

June 15, 2014art, art therapy, Brooklyn, drawing, Existence, illustration, napkinsAbstract Art, art, Artists, Brooklyn, cartoon, creativity, diners, Doodle, doodles, Doodling, drawing, fine art, illustration, Language, NYC, sketching, zentangleMary

Sat down with my usual Earl Grey Tea at Megabites and drew this odd little creature. A local artist who displays his art pieces within the diner noticed that I was drawing on my napkins again and said something really interesting,

Artwork is it’s own language with it’s own psychic landscape.

He’s absolutely right! Wouldn’t it be great if we could have one whole conversation using illustration rather than words?! What if Congress used this method?! We would not need lawyers or politicians to interpret the archaic legalese way in which many of our laws were written. The Tower of Babel would be made whole again. Yeah, I don’t think it would really work but one can dream. Still, I like the idea behind using art to bring meaning to something which words fail to illuminate.

Well, those are my random thoughts and doodle for the day. Cheers to the waitress who got to the doodle first after I left!

Russian Tea

June 15, 2014art, Brooklyn, doodle, drawing, illustration, napkins, UncategorizedAbstract Art, art, Brooklyn, cartoon, Doodle, doodles, Doodling, drawing, Father's Day, fine art, Found Art, illustration, Manhattan, napkins, New York City, NYC, Russian Tea Room, sketchingMary

I’d like to believe this is a cute Russian soldier. When I was a wee lass, my grandmother would buy little Disney figurines for each new child that was born. She went through all of the seven dwarves with my older siblings. I’m the ninth child so she ran out of Disney figurine ideas and I ended up with this tiny Russian soldier with a heart on it’s sleeve. I’m not Russian but maybe I was in a past life or something. Anyway, I wish I knew what happened to it. So, this doodle sort of reminds me of what it looked like.

Speaking of all things Russian, I ventured out of Brooklyn yesterday to a place far, far away in the land of Manhattan. I went to the Russian Tea Room. See below…

My proof I was there. :) — My proof I was there. 🙂

No, that’s not tea (it came later, complete with sour cherries to sweeten the tea). And no, I did not create a doodle on their napkin so I really shouldn’t post this. They had cloth napkins. Fancy schmancy stuff! It’s not like it didn’t cross my mind though. However, since this IS a blog about doodling in Brooklyn. I managed to find one of their printed napkins and brought it back to Brooklyn for a future doodling date in the near future. Yes, you heard me. I actually looked for their napkins to bring home so I might have the PRIVILEGE of doodling on them. My commitment to napkin doodling knows no bounds. Russian Tea Room napkin coming soon!

I’m going to end this blog posting with a Happy Father’s Day! Here’s a tribute to all the cool dads out there. Click HERE to see how one dad that actually doodles all over his son’s lunch bags. Keep doodling and share them with the world!

XOXO

Mary

Underground Doodle Collective

June 14, 2014art, Brooklyn, doodle, drawing, illustration, Uncategorizedart, Brooklyn, cartoon, Doodle, doodles, Doodling, drawing, fine art, illustration, sketching, Underground Doodle CollectiveMary

“All who doodle are not lost!” -Me

Good morning! These are some small random sketches that I thought I would share. These drawings tend to go over big with the Kindergarten group that I am assigned to watch after the school day is over and we wait for parents to arrive. We have made an unofficial Art Club among the students who’s parents run a bit late. We either draw or do some origami to pass the time.

Drawing with the Kindergarteners reminds me of my mom. My mom was always known for keeping plastic ziplock bags of pens, pencils, crayons and sketch pads in her enormous pocketbook. Having eleven children, she was pretty good at figuring out ways to keep us occupied and out of trouble. We ended up drawing all the time…at church, at doctor’s offices, waiting for our food at restaurants. Even though I do not have any children of my own, I am keeping up the tradition of keeping kids focused on drawing while we wait.

In part, I think drawing with the kids keeps me calm as well as them. I think kids tend to feed off the energy of the adults around them so there is yet another reason why doodling is important to humanity. We all need to chillax (as some of the older students might say)!

So, I hope you enjoyed my sketchbook! Off to get some coffee, breakfast, and a napkin to continue my Napkin Doodle Crusade across the Brooklyn frontier.

Something Random Today

Did this doodle at, um, I forgot. Okay, so this was a crazy weekend!

I went to the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park to see the documentary, Inocente with a Q&A and art reception on Thursday. Such an intimidatingly beautiful place! If you’re in Manhattan, go check it out. They seem to have a lot of interesting venues there.

Then, I had to head to Long Island after work to the Huntington Arts Council on Friday to see the, Day on Long Island photography reception for my boyfriend (his photo was being displayed). So inspired by the talent there that I decided to register for a course in photography this summer. I’m really excited about it!

I trekked over to Babylon Village, NY on Saturday morning to see Art by the Falls hosted by the Babylon Village Arts Council. I picked up painting there and got to talk to a bunch of different artists on their techniques. I wish I took a notebook with me.

On Sunday, I thought it was the perfect day to bike ride to Coney Island and take photos. The clouds added to the drama of my pictures with the carnival atmosphere. I was happy with them. Was especially happy to have bumped into a musician who was playing his guitar with his many parrots. Unfortunately, one of the parrots made a nest out of his collected money.

So yeah, I lost track of my blog, my napkin doodling, and I am having such a fun time visiting all these different venues. I feel like the creative juices are replenished and I’m ready to return to creating again. I have no idea what this doodle is, by the way. I wish I could come up with some Jungian esoteric explanation but, today, it’s a doodle. Your insights are welcome though. I know it was coffee induced though. Must return to my tea drinking habits, me thinks!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here’s an old Artist Trading Card (ATC) that I drew using a Micron Black Ink Pen with a tip that was .005 (I think). I was into pointillism which is creating the shading of an image using clusters of strategically placed dots. It’s very meditative to do this technique. I highly recommend it. Of course, not all of it is pointillism or stippling. I improvise now and then.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Ars Gratia Artis. (Art for Art’s Sake). -Baudelaire

Ars Gratia Artis. (Art for Art's Sake). -Baudelaire

Invoking the Greek gods and goddess in a Greek Diner (Megabite’s and Earl Grey Tea again) to help me with my artwork and my napkin doodling. Creative energy is in the air!

SONYA, a non-profit organization that stands for South of the Navy Yard Artists have an Art Walk with maps distributed to different vendors so people can locate some local art. Today, I bought two handmade ceramic bowls from a local vendor at my farmer’s market. This morning, I helped my boyfriend frame his photography for a gallery showing through the Huntington Arts Council on Long Island (Showing on May 15th-June 16th at the Main Street Petite Gallery in Huntington Village, NY). And finally, I get to see Cirque Du Soleil‘s Amyluna tonight! Exciting day! I might have to play with some paints today just because the day calls for it.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day Weekend!

Napkin Genie

Make a wish! Granting your wish for more and more tea. 🙂

Cosplay: Taking Doodles to Another Level

May 1, 2014art, Brooklyn, Cosplay, Costumes, doodleanimation, Anime, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn Cherry Blossom Festival, cartoon, Cosplay, costume, Doodle, doodles, drawing, illustration, Japan, sketchingMary

I think you know you have made it as a successful illustrator when there are people who are willing to spend a fortune to look exactly like a character you created. Cosplay, which means Costume Play, is a huge movement among fans of anime, manga, video games or films where one dresses like the anime character without being in the context of a play or some sort of Halloween party. Such an event happened in Brooklyn last weekend at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s Cherry Blossom Festival. I wrote about the event last weekend (click HERE to read about it). I thought maybe I would share some of the Cosplay costumes that I photographed at this event. If you know what characters they are, please mention it in the comments section.