Autistic Doodler

[Nairobi]

It looks very surreal. These are all really well done.

 

[Pebble]

Everyone has been so generous with their comments I went to the trouble of creating a jpg of my second favourite piece. It is poor quality both in its resolution and lighting, but it was the best I could do with what I have to work with. Even so, it does show much of the detail.

It is a prime example of what I meant when I talked about some of my drawings presenting differently upside down. It has things it it that you will only see by doing so (if you can manage it without too much trouble).

This piece owes a little bit to my fascination with M.C. Escher's drawings, without slavishly trying to emulate his unique talent.

Thank you all for giving me a different outlook on my work. I would not say it is truly spiritual, but rather a fairly accurate roadmap of my headspace at the time of their drawing, which is why each has a uniqueness all its own while sharing similarities.

View attachment 69824

This is extraordinary. I could stare at this for hours and keep seeing new things. I’ve seen in movies where people do that in art galleries — just sit in front of one painting all day. I could never imagine that. Until now.

 

[Pebble]

I love it! I would enjoy a book filled with stuff like that.

Concur. I would buy such a book in a heartbeat.

 

[Richelle-H]

I could stare at this for hours and keep seeing new things.

I stared at these for days and hours myself. The one you were so effusive over took about 2 months. I cannot say where they come from. Part gut feeling, part intellect, part experience, and an x-factor that I cannot really define.

They all grew organically, my mind flip-flopping around going from black on white to white on black, every line to enhance something I saw or wanted others to find through careful observation. I am trying to reconnect with that, but it is hard, as I am no longer the same person.

I continue, however, because I spent a lot of money on new art supplies, money that could have been used for a new pair of shoes or possibly a new outfit. I know artists are supposed to suffer for their art, if you would believe what movies would have you believe, but I am sure being deprived of a new outfit, no matter how stunning, does not quite qualify. *Grin*

Thank you for your kind words both here and elsewhere, they are much appreciated.

 

[egotrice]

Oh my, these are incredibly lovely @Richelle-H . Your mark-making is elegant and confident; every line is clean and beautifully intense. I love how my eyes keep traveling throughout the details. There is something quite precious about black & white ink drawings- I feel like they allow me to really appreciate the movement behind the artist's hand. Oh yes, you are an artist! See how you evoke these feelings

Art adventures are healing. Thank you so much for sharing. I think the act of doing so, no matter the size or level, even if it's just a few lines - requires a lot of vulnerability. More than people realize.

 

[Richelle-H]

Thank you for your kind words egotrice.

My doodles are all expressions of time place and mental state. Maybe that is all art ever is. However, if it is art, it is very primitive.

I have toured both the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and seen that latter's ink drawings. Also, I was awed by the Portrait of Rembrandt's mother in which the focus is entirely on her left hand. It is so lifelike it looks as if it were glued to the canvas. Yet another example of how a reproduction, no matter how good, does not do justice to the original.

Anyway, thanks to you once more and any and all who find enjoyment or fascination with my meager attempts.

 

[Richelle-H]

Been a while, so I thought I would post yet another of my mind melts. Again, this sad photo of the original is okay but lacks something that is difficult to express in mere words.

Anyway, here it is and what you may see has nothing to do with what I actually put into it during the time I doodled it. (some work was done with the drawing rotated 180 degrees... just saying...)

 

[Richelle-H]

It has been a while. I thought I would add one of my smaller less intricate pieces to the mix.

 

[Suzette]

Honestly @Richelle-H, to call your art "doodles" is very self depreciating. You are an artist.

 

[Alexej]

great stuff

 

[Flown]

Wow. I am enthralled by your art, @Richelle-H ! You are quite talented!

 

[Richelle-H]

It has been some time since I posted in this thread, but earlier today I was looking through my never decreasing field of boxes looking for something I needed when I cam across all my old sketch books from the late 70s to 81. I am not sure I care to show some of the really old stuff, but I thought I would share some of my sketches from 81. It was more drafting oriented to some extent, as that was the extent of my drawing training when I started out.

These last two are be being extremely silly. I make no apologies!

 

[Alexandria]

@Richelle-H - Those 'doodles' (something to which I too am prone) are simply amazing - many have an alchemical air of mysticism about them.

 

[Magna]

Everyone has been so generous with their comments I went to the trouble of creating a jpg of my second favourite piece. It is poor quality both in its resolution and lighting, but it was the best I could do with what I have to work with. Even so, it does show much of the detail.

It is a prime example of what I meant when I talked about some of my drawings presenting differently upside down. It has things it it that you will only see by doing so (if you can manage it without too much trouble).

This piece owes a little bit to my fascination with M.C. Escher's drawings, without slavishly trying to emulate his unique talent.

Thank you all for giving me a different outlook on my work. I would not say it is truly spiritual, but rather a fairly accurate roadmap of my headspace at the time of their drawing, which is why each has a uniqueness all its own while sharing similarities.

View attachment 69824

Late to comment, but I think your ink drawings are wonderful, @Richelle-H

I hope the following comment about this particular piece (that I think is great) doesn't offend you. I see a representation of male and female. The image to the right of the snake not only has a shape of a vulva, but it's also complete with what looks like a fallopian tube and fimbriae filaments at the end. The snake to me represents the phallus. It's facing the female symbol and clearly it's excited by way of it's rattling tail.

Just one person's view of something.

Thank you for posting your art.

 

[Richelle-H]

Late to comment, but I think your ink drawings are wonderful

Thank you, and anything you see in one of my doodles is as valid as what anyone else might see. I spent many hours on that and it changed even as I was drawing it. A large number of my doodles started out as a project to teach myself various pen and ink techniques. As I never had any concrete vision to implement, they became whatever the mood and the moment dictated and thereby exhibited certain properties through happenstance rather than any conscious vision.

I am always buoyed by any reaction to my doodles, positive or negative. SO thanks to you as well @Alexandria for your positive comment.

They are just doodles done to pass the time! Even if the time spent on them rather belies the term doodle.

 

[Knower of nothing]

View attachment 79227

This is my favorite one for the space implications. But the other pieces in this thread that are more about texture and flow are also incredible (I see lots evoking hair and natural growth). All the internal consistency and respect for established pattern really does it for me. Is beyond simple abstract doodling. I wish I could see them in real life. Your ability shines through very clearly even in the pictures but I know what ink is like up close.

 

[Richelle-H]

This is my favorite one for the space implications. But the other pieces in this thread that are more about texture and flow are also incredible (I see lots evoking hair and natural growth). All the internal consistency and respect for established pattern really does it for me. Is beyond simple abstract doodling. I wish I could see them in real life. Your ability shines through very clearly even in the pictures but I know what ink is like up close.

Thank you kindly for your comment. That particular piece was in a sketchpad dating from 1981. In reviewing more of that book, I must have been exploring perspective among other 'things', being that I was in my mid-thirties at the time and I had yet to be diagnosed with autism.

Apparently, my head was in a rather strange place at the time as this additional sketch may attest to.

 

[Richelle-H]

I have actually started to draw again, or as I like to think of it ‘doodling’, and I thought it might be interesting to document the beginning and end of a doodle. The reason I still think of it as doodling is because each and every drawing is made up of many different doodles tied together by some otherworldly and unconscious guidance that manifests from time to time. Anyway, here is a snap I took at the beginning of something I worked on over many weeks.



The lighter, more indistinct section is in pencil. I Use pencil to let my mind act without the commitment that ink requires, thus freeing me to be more creative. Some ideas can remain, others morph over time. The final result is the culmination of days of thinking and rethinking, turning the artboard every which way. This creates something that I can look at after the fact and see something new in it. While this is presented in the view in which it started, there is no correct up or down. I have been looking at it quite a bit of late with the short edge down and you can guess which short edge if you wish, they both have something different to offer. Anyway, here is what the above finally became.



It is a pity that a photograph of a black and white drawing loses something. It lessens the impact. While every line is correctly presented, the even weighting that is forced upon it tends to make some of the subtler aspects of the drawing less affecting.

Nothing else to be said about it. I hope those who view this find something to attract your eye and spark your imagination.

*clicking on a thumbnail will show you the larger picture*

 

[Sablerose]

I have actually started to draw again, or as I like to think of it ‘doodling’, and I thought it might be interesting to document the beginning and end of a doodle. The reason I still think of it as doodling is because each and every drawing is made up of many different doodles tied together by some otherworldly and unconscious guidance that manifests from time to time. Anyway, here is a snap I took at the beginning of something I worked on over many weeks.

View attachment 101375

The lighter, more indistinct section is in pencil. I Use pencil to let my mind act without the commitment that ink requires, thus freeing me to be more creative. Some ideas can remain, others morph over time. The final result is the culmination of days of thinking and rethinking, turning the artboard every which way. This creates something that I can look at after the fact and see something new in it. While this is presented in the view in which it started, there is no correct up or down. I have been looking at it quite a bit of late with the short edge down and you can guess which short edge if you wish, they both have something different to offer. Anyway, here is what the above finally became.

View attachment 101376

It is a pity that a photograph of a black and white drawing loses something. It lessens the impact. While every line is correctly presented, the even weighting that is forced upon it tends to make some of the subtler aspects of the drawing less affecting.

Nothing else to be said about it. I hope those who view this find something to attract your eye and spark your imagination.

*clicking on a thumbnail will show you the larger picture*

I love your work! They are beautiful! I have tried and tried to draw and i just cant get what's in my head to get to my hand and the paper. I paint because it relaxes me but im not good at that either. I did have several sculptures get shown in museums in high school, I very much like sculpture, the silky feel of the clay I worked in back then, I can still remember it. Could NOT master the wheel but loved to watch my art teacher use it. I had better control with my hands and a lazy suzan she let me use. My art teacher was a godsend and would let me "hide" in her classroom if i needed an escape at school, she was an old beatnick. . . A real one , wow did she have some awesome adventures . I guess she was kind of a role model for me looking back on it. But you have real talent, your works you shared here are really something, heck the first one alone made me think of a fairy dancing in the woods with no one watching her, putting her whole heart into her movements. . Thank you for sharing

 

[Richelle-H]

Sablerose, I once held myself back for a long time by thinking I could not do something for one reason or another and not just in my leisure activities. My first attempts were extremely primitive, but took to carrying a sketchpad around with me practically everywhere in my early 30s. That offered two things: 1. I was able to occupy myself if a situation was something I wished to ignore; and 2. ironically, that attracted people to me who wished to look over my shoulder, which was something I did not relish as it sometimes forced me to converse, but in hindsight it was essential to me becoming the person I am today.

Thank you for sharing as well and your kind comments about my work.