Doodle #83: For Adriene

Watercolor on paper. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Win it here. PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

Dedicated to my awesome sister in law, Adriene. She gave birth to her first child, my nephew, Winter Alexander, on May 3rd.  I've been thinking about them a lot, even though I haven't been able to fly out and visit in person yet.

A little bit about Adriene- She's from a small working farm in Colorado, and has adventured all over world while helping people- traveling on a fishing boat, working for the Peace Corps in Africa, doctoring in small Alaskan towns, in Ethiopia, in Israel, in New Mexico... and all with this unassuming, humble, steady nature. She's patient and she's brave.

When I last saw her she was seven months pregnant, and already intentionally making her body a healthy, wonderful environment for little Winter.

This doodle emerged as I was thinking about her- peaceful, powerful, loving -Adriene.

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 5/27/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #82: Eden

Mixed media on paper. 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

When the voices of duty and worry, and the claws of controlling outcomes are banished from my studio, creative freedom and play emerge naturally, and I return to Eden. This doodle grew out of playfully exploring a piece of scrap paper in just such a paradise. Enjoy!

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 5/20/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

 

Doodle #81: Journey into Myth

India ink and watercolor on paper.  8" x 5 1/2".  Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

I'm always grateful and a little bit sad when people give me boxes of unused art supplies.  I imagine them, full of vision and possibility, enthusiastically opening the art store doors and purchasing the colors, blank canvases, limestone, easel that wind up unused.  I mourn for the unfulfilled dreams, and...... I LOVED playing with bottles full of india inks coming from just such a box.  They glide across the paper leaving vibrant color in their wake.  The first mark in this doodle was a blue swirl that became a wave carrying a Viking ship beneath a sky of myths, carrying left over dreams from a dreamy moment in an art store to a doodler in an open art studio.

By the way, your boxes of dreams and you are always welcome the first Sunday of every month at my art studio.  Come play, and see where the materials will carry you!

 

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 5/13/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #80: Flying Home with Dinner

Watercolor on paper. 5 1/2" x 8". 4/29/2014. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE

Oh, sweet sigh of contentment. It feels so good to do a real, "I have no idea where this line is going" doodle again! An interesting thing happened along the way: turns out my new brush pen is NOT waterproof, so there was some spontaneous bleeding of ink into the watercolor. I flowed with this unexpected contribution, and I think it ended up giving a nice batik sort of look to the image.  See- the delight of uncontrolled doodling! 

Regarding the title, I think it's from the bird's eye view of an eagle perhaps, with a fat juicy salmon in it's mouth.

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 5/6/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #79: Little Dreamer

Watercolor on paper. 5" x 6". 4/22/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE

I have a nephew coming this month! And there's been an adorable little chimpanzee looking at at me from my calendar all of April.  So, this morning, I had the urge to doodle a little baby chimp with the world in his eyes. And here he is; introducing little dreamer!

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 4/29/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #78: Watching the Wind Dragon

Watercolor on paper. 8 1/2" x 5". 4/15/2014. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

A little something from our scribblers:

"As Falcor got older, he grew in size, this opened up opportunity to assist more than just humans, he was able to help Giants and Norsemen. Little did he know when he took Bestla out on a rescue mission, she would be taking out towns folk in villages to the south!" -M.O.
 

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #77: Pisces Dreamer

Watercolor and india ink on paper. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2".  4/6/2014. Win it here. PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

This feels like the first real improvisational doodle I've done in a while. Except that I've been doodling like mad on my new phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 3). And yes, that's that huge tablet looking phone with a stylus that I can doodle with!!!!  But nothing is quite like moving pigment around on a layer of water as it soaks into the strands of fiber on a sheet of paper.

This lady has a funny sort of smile, that she's hiding with a swath of ocean hair, inhabited by magical silver marine life.

What's her story?

*Love this poem, written by Jeff Greenlee, about this one:

sealed to wind and the move
and wind and the pace and to love and the
beginning looking back to tail to life to elder
to over the end of what i am and what I was and where I am and where I was
and the dance and the direction and the
way my mind floats in weeds and seas I do not recognize

and its all water
and things in water
and water in things
and water
water
water
in the alpha
in the wind
in the end

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 4/15/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #76: Fish Bowl Treasure Chest

Getting back in the swing of doodling vs illustration. Unfortunately, I was interrupted several times, which I always things shows in the doodle a bit -the hurry of the doodler. I still like the idea of a treasure box in a fish bowl somewhere containing the keys to EVERYTHING! As a teenager, I remember complaining that there were a zillion books of problems, and no books of answers.  As an adult, it seems there are answers everywhere, but implementation is a muddy mess. Yes, that's right, KEYS TO SOLVING AND UNLOCKING EVERYTHING!

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 4/8/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

#75: Prehistoric Spaceship Doodle

Mixed media ~6" x 4"  PURCHASE A PRINT HERE

This doodle originated from some of the scraps from the last Open Art Studio.  It started out as a red rock landscape, and then a trail of people and camels wandered through, heading for the peak in the back ground. Why are they headed there? Well, apparently, they were following the directions laid out in a cave-painting-style message, depicting a great ship, and the opportunity to make an even greater journey.

 

This doodle has been won, but you can purchase a print here! and like Eliza Furmansky Fine Art on facebook, to catch doodles as they emerge!

*Doodle #74: Summer Teaser

Pastel on paper. 13" x 17". Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

Seattle's weather has been a checkerboard of pouring rain and sunshine lately.  It's like a summer teaser; I long for a magical starlit float on a night still blushing warm from a sunny day.

*This is my last "cheating" doodle.  It's actually an illustration project for a class I just took. The assignment was a cover for Huck Finn using pastels.

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Monday night, 3/17/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

*Doodle #73: Scared of the Dark

Watercolor on paper. 6" x 8 1/2". 2/25/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

*I confess this doodle, and last week's doodle are not "pure" doodles; they're illustrations, meaning they're a little planned and not strictly improvisational in nature. Alas, sometimes the doodler breaks the rules.

This one is from a bit of Treasure Island:

"My eyes turned instinctively in that direction, and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was, whether a bear or man or monkey, I could not tell. It seemed dark and shaggy; more I knew not. But the terror of the apparition brought me to a stand."

-Robert Louis Stevenson

I titled it "Scared of the Dark" for that deep, ancestral, visceral fear that children know so well, and most adults mask in the practical. Oh, to be human, to love life, to fear those little creeping dark places of the imagination.

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuesday night, 3/11/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #72: Bunny Dreams

 

Colored pencil on paper. 8" x 8". 2/24/14. Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

 

This doodle is actually an assignment for a children's book illustration class that I'm taking (I'm not a huge fan of using colored pencils, but I did enjoy layering the colors, and it's always good to leave my comfort zone). The text that goes with it is: 

"And he jumped into his little bed of leaves, curled in a little fur ball, and tucked his paws under him." 

What text would you pair with it?

Favorites from the Scribblers:

After months of growing his whiskers extra bushy, Barton Bunny took a nap, and had dreams of a giant spinach vine floating him through the known bunny universe. Waves of day and night rolled through his head. -Manuel O.

This is the full image with the space for the text at the top.  I can't decide which I like more. The winner of the doodle can choose for me to crop it down, keep it full size, or add text of your choosing to the full size doodle. (It's 8" x 10…

This is the full image with the space for the text at the top.  I can't decide which I like more. The winner of the doodle can choose for me to crop it down, keep it full size, or add text of your choosing to the full size doodle. (It's 8" x 10")

Richie yawned; sleep overwhelming him. But it had been such a good day, he hated to leave it behind. However, sleep wasn’t going to wait much longer. He gathered the green leaves around him and curled up within the tender pile. He closed his eyes and breathed in the leaves’ fresh scent. He felt a passing breeze tickle his ears and fur, as they caressed the leaves that surrounded him. As he drifted off to sleep, the wonders of the day danced behind his eyes, and he drifted off to dreamland with a smile upon his face. -Cyndi D

'Rainbow Swirls Dreamin' -Casey M.

Sleepy bunny you are my power animal!! -Jennifer H.

He dreams in color, he dreams in red. Can't find a Bunny Man! -Jennifer N.

From the Doodle-Song Sommelier:

A children's book illustration needs children's music to go with it. So I'm going with "Mister Rabbit." It's been covered by so many people -- Pete Seeger's version is great. Kids' artist Ralph's World has a great version too. Here's the version from local kids' artist (and founding member of The Presidents of the United States of America) Caspar Babypants.

Doodle #71: Frolic

 

Acrylic on paper. 5" x 5". 2/9/14. Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

 

After the last Open Art Studio, I used the left over paint on someone's palette to make this doodle.  It's the first time that I remember using acrylics on watercolor paper.  It was fun playing with the texture, and meeting this happy little seamonster playing with a golden ball -what a frolic! (I checked the spelling of frolic just now, for some reason I always think there's a k on the end, and discovered the precise definition is "to amuse oneself, make merry, to be full of fun." Spot on!

I pre-doodled this one because I was headed out on an adventure to Colorado and New Mexico which included much frolicking in hot springs and on ski mountains with family and friends, old and new.  This doodle was apt and delightful foreshadowing for a wonderful vacation.

This doodle has been won, with the title, "The Mermaid and the Moon."

Read the rest of the titles, captions, stories, song pairings and this time, a haiku here.

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #70: Sea of Opportunity

Acrylic on canvas. 6" x 8". 2/9/14. Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

This is my first doodle in acrylic. It grew out of little demos I was giving at yesterday's Open Art Studio.  I was demonstrating a value gradation for one artist, and using painters tape as a mask for another artist.

The title came from a conversation I had afterwards in which someone saw the little squares as windows to other dimensions. I liked this interpretation. -It's like the Blues of too much opportunity.  Also, I'd had several conversations at Studio with people being confronted with SO MANY art materials and ideas they wanted to play with at once!

I'm still a little frustrated with my photography skills (or lack there of): the blues in the actual doodle are phthalo, looking much richer and more turquoise than you see here in the photo.

Check out the poetry, songs, stories, quotes, and thoughts about this doodle from our scribblers here. 

To win this doodle, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Tuessday night, 2/18/2014!

Click here to see the ALL of the Doodles so far!

Doodle #69: An Interview with the Doodler

Watercolor on paper. 6" x 8 1/2". 11/31/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

Watercolor on paper. 6" x 8 1/2". 11/31/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

This month, THE DAILY DOODLE has transitioned to THE WEEKLY DOODLE. So, it seemed like an appropriate time to doodle myself a little Doodle-Interviewer to help me share what I've learned from THE DOODLE so far. If you have additional questions for the doodler, or if you'd like to share about what YOU'VE learned from the DAILY DOODLE, please respond in the comments below, or when you share DOODLE #69 on your timeline (it will, as usual, double your chances to win the doodle).

Where did THE DAILY DOODLE come from?

An example of a "journal doodle," the origin of THE DAILY DOODLE.

An example of a "journal doodle," the origin of THE DAILY DOODLE.

I wanted my art website to be fresh and exciting for people to visit often and see new pieces of art, however, the larger, more in depth oil paintings I was working on, took too long to complete. Meanwhile, I’d been missing my “doodling.” So, one night, while I was writing in my journal (and doodling), I thought up THE DAILY DOODLE as a way to doodle more, keep my website fresh, and be able to send original art to people without dealing with the constraints of a monetary exchange.. I sat on the idea for a few months, and chose to start it on my birthday, as a present to myself (I usually give myself art supplies and a day in my studio for my birthday), and as a fun way to “document” my trip around the sun in doodles.

What exactly is a doodle?

My definition of a doodle is a spontaneous and improvisational piece of art.  The limitations that I set on my doodles for this project was that they could be completed in less than a day (most of mine took from 20 minutes to 3 hours), and that they could fit in a 6” x 9” envelope, which I could mail for a stamp.

What have you learned as a Daily Doodler?

THE DAILY DOODLE  has three main parts: creating an original spontaneous piece of art everyday, sharing it, and giving it away.  Thanks to THE DOODLE, I learned a lot about what I find personally fulfilling and challenging about each of those parts of the creative process.

DOODLE #32, Morning Bird.One of my personal favorite doodles that didn't get a lot of response when I shared it. It's also a pretty close impression of how I usually feel posting my art o

Some days required tremendous effort to keep the barking hounds of “making something good enough” at bay so that I could begin, and most days I was shocked to see another original doodle emerge on the paper from what seemed like nowhere. I learned to respect and trust the mysteries of the creative process.  The author, Julia Cameron, has a deal with these mysteries that goes, "I'll take care of the quantity, you take care of the quality," that definitely worked for me as a doodler. I also learned that what I enjoy the most about the act of creation, is discovering something new. The doodles that were the most satisfying to create, were the ones that surprised me the most, the ones where I found a new way to play with color, line, character, paint, paper, highlights, shadows, etc… like discovering a new game to play.

The vulnerability and toughness required to publicly share my art daily, often without enough to time to evaluate it first, was a big challenge for me. Some days it felt like busking naked on the street with no one looking my way, and some days it felt like being showered with applause and gifts from strangers. I was often surprised by how much positive response there was for doodles I wanted to hide, and also sometimes a little heart broken by a smaller response to doodles that I adored. I forged a strong and helpful boundary between when the art is mine during the creation process, and after I’ve shared it with the world and it no longer belongs to me. I also learned just how deeply and profoundly nourishing it is as an artist, when someone takes the time to curiously engage with a piece of art I’ve created and then share their response with me.

DOODLE #56, Love Letters from a Bashful Tree Nymph. This is the only doodle that I won.  It's also a bit of how it feels to be sending my doodles off into the world.

Sending each doodle off reinforced my ability to truly let go after the creation part of my process was complete. It was really hard to let go of some doodles, especially since the art of mine that I usually hold onto is the first experiment with something, and most of the doodles fit into that category.  Some days, I put off the drawing as long as possible when it was for a doodle I really wanted to keep for myself. Then, I’d draw out a name, and as soon as I'd read it and thought about this person who wanted something I'd made, I’d feel a shift from a tight stingy grip to a flood of warm generosity and experience the deep satisfaction of having a gift to give, and someone to give it to. 

 

Can you tell us more about The Doodle as a Gift?

I heard the theater director, Anne Bogart, speak at a lecture this year, and one of the things that stuck with me was the distinction she drew between art as “survival” and art as “gift giving.” The Daily Doodle provided me with an amazing opportunity to experience the full potential of art making as gift giving and receiving.

The act of creation was a gift to me as the doodler -it is pure joy to get to play, discover, and learn in the present moment, and making the time each day for that, felt like creating an opportunity to get a present.

As the doodler, I also experienced the gift of having my doodles received with anticipation and appreciation each day online, which felt like the gift of good company- the attention of those wonderful people in your life who are genuinely curious, who listen completely, and respond with new insights about what you share.  Speaking of insights, there were the incredible and unexpected gifts of poems, songs, stories, new perspectives, worlds, friendships, and camaraderie that I felt showered with as people responded to the doodles I posted.

The Doodlers desk on a week I'd gotten a bit behind in sending off the doodles.

I also received the gift of knowing I’d made a difference, when I received messages from people who had started their own DAILY DOODLES, picked up their paints again after years and decades of not creating, tried some new art supplies, started writing again, kept writing, learned to articulate responses to visual art, or just let me know that seeing my doodle each morning brought some beauty and joy into their day.

Then of course, there is the physical gift of opening a 6” x 9” manila envelope to receive your very own original doodle, and for me, knowing that something I created is being loved and appreciated, and is giving pleasure or inspiration to someone in the world.  As a Doodler, I received that wonderful nourishing sense of purpose fulfilled from knowing the gifts I gave were received, and that has been an incredible gift!

How has the Daily Doodle changed you and your art?

I’m faster. I “let it rip” more. Being prolific helps me take bigger risks; I’m less concerned about each piece working, knowing I’ll make another one the next day, so I swing out bigger. Also, I’ve learned how to really “let go” of a piece after it’s created.  To step back, and just be one voice observing. Do it, and move on, don’t get hung up on evaluation, and criticism. This has bled into my theater improv, too, and provided me some extra freedom on stage

Why are you changing the Daily Doodle to the Weekly Doodle?

Doodle #40: The Mean Doodle Mistress. The dark side of THE DAILY DOODLE.

Doodle #40: The Mean Doodle Mistress. The dark side of THE DAILY DOODLE.

Mostly, it’s the time consuming weight of the daily “doodle administration.”  Photographing (and if I did the doodle after dark, setting up all the lights in my apartment to get a decent picture), uploading, cropping, color adjusting, posting to three different places on line, collecting all the responses and responding, adding some of those to the site, doing the drawing, mailing the doodle out.  –all that was taking more time than I was willing to give each day.

There were also days when I didn’t want to doodle, and forcing myself, even if it culminated in a really awesome doodle that I was happy with in the end, made me feel like a pissed off slave building a pyramid for a pharoah. (See Doodle #40, The Mean Doodle Mistress, pictured at right, for my best visual expression of this.)  That’s when I changed the Daily Doodle to a six day a week project.  I’m a strong believer in the importance of a day of rest. That helped, but I still felt like I was “getting through” the year, which isn’t the relationship I want with my life. 

Changing the Daily Doodle to the Weekly Doodle, allows me to really enjoy the process of creating, sharing, and giving indefinitely, while maintaining the balance of the rest of my life. Also, I’m looking forward to pursuing some other art projects this year.

Did you achieve what you wanted to with THE DOODLE PROJECT?

I love making art, and I love giving it to people, but there isn’t always a pull for that.  It can take a lot of fight to carve out the space from my life to make a gift that no one wants yet, like building a house on spec instead of contract. In the past, it’s felt a little crazy to devote so much work and passion to something that only I care about.  After THE DOODLE, there’s now a little call for my art in the world that I needed to hear. Creating an audience for my art draws more of it out of me. So, yes- THE DAILY DOODLE has transformed my playful artistic expression into an actual gift, fulfilling it’s creative potential as a communication given and received, and providing me with the experience of my art as a contribution, something I’ve always wanted to achieve as an artist. Also, I now have original art all over the world, from El Salvador to India, Germany to Sweden, appreciated by loved ones, acquaintances, and strangers.

 What’s next artistically for the Doodler?

Well, of course I’ll be continuing to create, share and give away a new doodle every week (with occasional bonus doodles thrown in mid-week). So keep your eye on Eliza Furmansky Fine Art so you don't miss out on the opportunity to win YOUR doodle.

Theme painting of "Last Stand". Oil on canvas 18" x 18".

Also I’m starting another collaborative project to watch for on my facebook page, too: I'm hoping to do a  24 hour “theme painting”  a couple times a month. I enjoy keeping my doodles as strictly “free fall improvisations,” but I had so much fun painting from a theme for the 14/48 Festival, that I want to play with that some more.  So, I’m planning on collecting “themes” from my doodle fans to paint on my every other Friday Studio Day.

Zaza Fearless (in process). Oil on canvas. 3' x 5'.

And then there's Zaza Fearless (read more about this project here), a large, very detailed, oil painting that’s a surrealistic time traveling depiction of the evolution of the universe on a piece of thread, that I’d love to add to weekly, share it’s growth, and even have people contribute ideas for what part of the universe they want me to paint next.

…and I’m taking a children’s book illustration class, and illustrating a reading curriculum text that I’m really excited about getting to contribute to, since I've been using the curriculum with my Learning Journey students for years!

I hope everyone who has enjoyed THE DAILY DOODLE, continues to enjoy and collaborate with me on the WEEKLY DOODLE and on the other art projects I'll be sharing more of soon!  Thanks for taking the time to look at some of my doodles and read my interview!

What advice would you give to future doodlers/creatives?

 Don’t give up. Keep playing. Don’t be afraid to share. Remember to acknowledge yourself, and that you're doing it for fun. Don't let it become a grind. Seek what inspires you, and nourish yourself with it.

Watercolor on paper. 6" x 8 1/2". 11/31/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE. 

Watercolor on paper. 6" x 8 1/2". 11/31/14. Win it here or PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.
 

To win this week's doodle, of the DOODLE INTERVIEWER above, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

To get your name in the jar twice, when you share the doodle, add something YOU'VE learned from THE DAILY DOODLE, or add a question for the Doodler.

The Drawing for the original will be Monday night, 2/10/2014!

Click here to visit the Doodle Archive and see ALL of the Daily Doodles!

Doodle #68: Sleeping Beauty's Moonlight Kiss

Watercolor on paper. 8 1/2" x 6". 1/25/2014. Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

Watercolor on paper. 8 1/2" x 6". 1/25/2014. Win it here and PURCHASE A PRINT HERE.

I recently found my childhood copy of Sleeping Beauty, and noticed something new:

When the princess pricks her finger on the spindle, she's destined to fall asleep for 100 years.  I'm not sure what the prince's kiss had to do with her waking up, just a coincidence?

Perhaps it was the moon that let her know 1200 months had passed with this moonlight kiss...

Also, I received a deck of "Tangle Cards" as a gift, and discovered a plethora of new patterns to play with; Sleeping Beauty's bed chamber gave me a great excuse!  If you like playing with patterns, definitely try out the "Tangle Cards!"

Read what "the Scribblers" wrote, and find out which songs the "Doodle-Song Sommeliers" paired this doodle with here. There are some really beautiful stories, poems, and thoughts shared for this one!

 

Click here to visit the Doodle Archive.

Doodle #67: Seaco the Broncohawk: Everyone wins!!!

Watercolor and permanent ink on paper. 6" x 9". 1/20/2014. Win it here and Buy a print here.

Watercolor and permanent ink on paper. 6" x 9". 1/20/2014. Win it here and Buy a print here.

The Broncos and the Seahawks are going to the Superbowl this year.  Having lived over a decade in both Denver and Seattle, guess what my facebook feed looks like right now? 

Introducing Seaco the Broncohawk: the mascot for me and everyone else in a similar conundrum for Superbowl XLVIII. We're gonna win!!!!!!

Of note: The Broncos beat the Patriots and the Seahawks beat the 49ers, sending both teams to the Superbowl, the day before Martin Luther King Day, which is when I did this doodle.  I think the day inspired me to create Seaco as a reminder that we're all REALLY on the same team, playing together.

 

To win this painting, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Monday night, 1/27/2014!

Daily Doodle #65: Stellar Migration

Watercolor and permanent ink on paper. 8" x 6"   ~Purchase a print here.

Watercolor and permanent ink on paper. 8" x 6"   ~Purchase a print here.

From the Scribblers:

Under the moon and stars, She closed her eyes.
The heavens shone down upon her
And she could see all that was
And all that had been.
She remembered those that had come before,
Who had led to her
And this life she lived.
She closed her eyes
And she gave thanks.

-Cyndi Deaton

My almost 6 year old was looking at my computer and said she likes this. I asked her for a title - she said it reminds her of the song "Cats Down Under the Stars", so there you go. "Cats Down Under the Stars" from Sammie, age 5.

-Leanna K. S.

From the Doodle-Song Sommelier:

I had a song in my head the moment I saw this. I resisted though. With the lips and stars in space I wanted to give it something profound like Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra." But nope. I shouldn't resist what came to my head. I gotta go with what the doodle inspired me to choose, and it's quite profound in its own way. It's another Sesame Street one. "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" sung by Jim Henson as Ernie.

-Dan Anafi

Even the moon loses focus sometimes and instead shines its face upon another, less defined, yet perfectly split among anonymous souls. They are stars yet unborn, torn between Earth and joining the moon in the sky.

-Hannah P.

Astral Mosey -Chris Music

Breath of Life -Brie J.

They're Coming Here -Aaron J.

We are all made of stars -Elijah H.

Kiss the Moon -Mike W.

It's Raining Stars -Marne C.

The man in the moon consults with the mother divine. -Astrid V.

"'Round About Midnight." After the Miles Davis album. -Hans C.

Click here to visit the Doodle Archive.

Daily Doodles #65

Three really fast ones at 1am because I didn't want to break my promise.  Glad I kept it, too, because I got on facebook to find this lovely note on my wall:

Yo Furmansky - the Loyal Daily Doodle Followers have not seen a new Doodle today (yet), and no new one yesterday. You still have 2 hrs, so I speak for us all (not really) we really do hope you rally the Doodle Elves, or Migrant Workers, or Art Slaves, or take that 3rd hit of Meth to summon up the required inspiration and energy to deliver us a Doodle. How are we to be inspired to write poems, lyrics, short stories, record songs, pen titles, solve World Hunger or bubble wrap and deliver the vulnerable and delicate words that express how the Doodles touch and feed our souls? And don't miss another day, we don't take kindly to that. There might be an Art Revolution, or an abstinence from creativity, or even worse! Patiently waiting for the next Doodle...
- The Loyal Daily Doodle Followers.

Not sure how these doodles fit together yet.  This is the order I doodled them in, from left to right, but they may not be in chronological order.  Definitely wondering how the scribblers will make sense of this!

To win these doodles, share this link on your facebook page and tag or message Eliza Furmansky Fine Art  so I know to put your name in my daily lottery jar.  If I've "liked" your post, you know you're in the jar.

Add a title, story, lyric, or thought inspired by this doodle, and I'll put your name in twice! I LOVE reading your responses and interpretations! Thank you.

The Drawing for the original will be Wednesday night, 1/15/2014!

Click here to see the last 64 Doodles!

Daily Doodle #64: First Green

Watercolor on paper. 8" x 6".  1/12/14. Win it here.  Purchase a print here.

From the Doodler:

Before the drawing- Yesterday, I woke up to one of the gloomiest Seattle days I've experienced in some time, and was so thankful to spot some green shoots coming up in a neighbor's garden.  Today, when I started this doodle, it was all red rock formations, and then, like yesterday's surprise, a seed dropped in, and opened green life upon the doodle world. If your world right now is drenched in gloom or frozen in ice, just remember spring is nigh.

After the drawing- I must admit, this is not one of my favorite doodles.  It feels like it's rehashing some other doodles, the djinis from #45 "Blossoming", these formations that happen when I improvise with paint sometimes (you can see them in  #49 as floating bubble people, and in an older oil painting as "The Forces beneath the Stories").  I was concerned that the well had finally run dry.  So, it was this amazing experience to discover all of this inspiration from the scribblers, the sommelier, and out of nowhere, a "doodle musician", that's right- this doodle somehow sparked some original pickings from a banjo player!  So, a big giant SHOUT OF GRATITUDE to the doodle supporters and contributors out there, and an apology for no new doodle today.  There will be a fresh one tomorrow, I promise! And now for the treats:

Introducing our first original Doodle Song!!!!!!!!

Check out this banjo riffin' from the talented Jeff Greenlee, titled, "Sounds from Sunday Evening"; I think we've found ourselves a doodle musician, yee haw!

From the Scribblers:

"The 'Magic Nut' dropped from the Miracle Tree, and bounced on the ground until it cracked like a baby chick pecking out of its shell. The green fog hissed from the crack, and the world around it transformed. Rocks began to swim, air puddled and clumped in the sky, water froze in the warm air. Among the few brave souls to ever consider breathing the mist was a curious young woman. Her fate was unknown until she took her first deep breath. She hesitated, then entered the fog, never to be the same flesh and bone again. Who stepped from the fog was Scrappy Angel - the cardboard, watercolor and ink goddess we know today."

-Casey Muldoon

 

"Like Hope and Truth, Life always finds a way."

-James Leonard

 

"Her Favorite Color

Nature in all her glory
Wears prismatic garments
Proud to display her apparel
For the admiration of all

But winter nips at her heels
And she strips herself
Of the fancy clothing
To take refuge
In her white blanket

When she readies herself
For the spring soirees
She chooses to don first
The truest green"

-Cyndi Deaton

From the Doodle-Song Sommelier:

These abstract ones are nice for anyone doing their own musical pairings because they really work well with most music. Much like with Doodle #49, "Lava Lamp Dreams," the first thing I see is some sort of nebula; and, I want music from Vangelis from the soundtrack of the old "Cosmos" tv show. But, I see your title and motivation for the piece and decide to let it influence me. I thought of maybe following my choice for "Lava Lamp Dreams" and selecting Beethoven's 6th Symphony, "The Pastoral Symphony." But that's about being in the spring; and, this is more about the melancholy of winter, the wistfulness for spring when it's winter, and how it's not that easy to get to that spring green. (For this same reason "Spring" from the "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi is not a great choice either -- though "Winter" from "The Four Seasons" works nicely if you're looking for something Baroque to go with this.) That's why my choice for this is "Bein' Green" by Jim Henson as Kermit The Frog.