When I was in high school I drew all over my first period French copybooks. I’m not much of an artist so my doodles weren’t great works of art or anything. They mostly consisted of clowns dancing around windmills with the occasional field of tulips and the odd sailboat or two in the background.

With apologies to my French Teacher Ms. Gulczynski, Wikipedia defines a doodle as an unfocused drawing made while the person’s attention is otherwise focused. Hey, I sat by the window so I suppose my doodles were the better choice between doodling and staring out the window for the entire period. No, I will not share my French grade.

When I started working, my desk calendars were always covered in doodles I’d done while talking on the telephone. My mind wanders so I suppose for me doodling helps me maintain some sort of focus.

Many years after I’d long since graduated high school and forgotten all of the French I learned in grades 10-12, I took an Art Appreciation class at our local community college. My last project of the semester was to create a collage. I knew instantly what I wanted to do. My collage would feature the dancing clowns and windmills of my first period French days. I used an online translator to create the dialogue that appeared in the thought bubbles above their heads, I printed out the clowns I found online on a color printer, I used glitter for the grass, and felt for the clouds. It was the most fun I’ve ever had doing homework. I got an A, which was pretty cool too.

I’ve been floundering a bit here at Soapboxville lately so I was pretty excited when a few weeks ago I picked up the February issue of Oprah Magazine, this month’s theme is Express Yourself.  I picked it up hoping that I would find inspiration for Soapboxville and I think I did. The “26 Ways to Tell Your Story & Share It with the World” piece provided the lightbulb moment I was hoping for. The piece is an A-Z guide to expressing yourself and the letter D lit a fire under my creativity, Doodles & Drawings. Of course! You already know I love to color and take photos and now for the next year I’m going to doodle or draw or try my hand at a piece of art every week and share it here. Be warned, I’m not much of an artist but I do love to try. So I humbly present to you my first doodle of 2012, created while I talked on the phone with a good friend.

Want to join me on this journey of artistic expression? Leave a comment below and we’ll hook up for a weekly link up.

As always, with much love & affection,

~ Carol Anne