Category: Doodles and Play

Welcome to 2026

Being in the Now—
Even on a Scrap of Paper

A fun little line drawing filled with playful figures, floating shapes, and childlike celebration, capturing a sense of being present and in the moment.
A Place to Go While Staying Home—Bill Hendricks/Shadowmason

I’m starting the year with this little drawing simply because it makes me smile. I like the strange little world that showed up here — a figure with its arms thrown up like, “Okay, universe, let’s celebrate,” a Ferris-wheel-looking thing, balloons, suns, and those chunky little bug-stick people bobbing around, just enjoying and being present.

Nothing in this really makes sense, but it feels playful and relaxed. I love the variation in the lines and how loose it is. It’s not careful or perfect — it just… happened, while I let my hand wander. In its own quirky way, that feels like “living in the now”: not overthinking, not polishing, just letting something exist because it wants to.

I’m guessing that’s a pretty good way to walk into 2026.

“the Tate has a great resource on what play can mean in art”

Cogs / The Living Machine — Process & Reflections

The 80/20 Principle

A vibrant abstract illustration depicting interconnected pipes, gears, and curved forms in vivid hues of orange, teal, and gold. The composition suggests a mechanical system that feels alive — forms overlap and flow with depth and rhythm, evoking the idea of consciousness and structure emerging from chaos.
Cogs / The Living Machine

While refining the work, I recalled a lesson I often shared with my students: the 80/20 principle. You can always keep working and perfecting, but there’s a point where the essence is present — where the piece is alive and coherent. This artwork marks that balance: form and meaning are clear without endless revision.

transformation and renewal — how structure and energy evolve through process.

Putting it out there… That is what an artist does.

Every artist writes his own autobiography.
                                             ~ Havelock Ellis

Putting it out there… That is what an artist does. I am realizing that more and more, I am writing my autobiography. An artist does put it all out there.

Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) has been taking more of my time lately. I just finished the Northern Yearly Meeting eNews for July. For the past few years, I edited and produced the eNews for the yearly meeting.

For most of my writing now, I am using Grammarly. Yes, it is AI, and since I am dyslexic, it is very helpful. However, there are still mistakes, mostly because of reading errors. I get impatient and skim. I found that it is not good for proofreading. I am considering writing more about my life, but I don’t know how open I want to be. 

Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks have captured my attention as a new medium, and I am playing with them in combination with other materials that I am comfortable using. Applying the Inktense color with a brush was a concern because it has been quite a while since I last used watercolor or a brush. After playing with them, have a handle on the ink, but not a tight grip. : ) My pen work over the last couple of years has been beneficial.

I think of my friends Joe Sinness and Andrea Carlson, artists who are adept with wet media and can create sharp lines and crisp edges. 

I am drawing more and finding it rewarding—it allows me to center, and it is a meditative practice for me. Over the last few months, I have created three or four new pieces.

Below is a fun and quirky piece I created by playing and experimenting with Derwent Inktense pencils and my pens.

IMG_4582-Color Study 06202024
IMG_4582-Color Study 06202024

It is great to have F(f)riends…

“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,’ says the White Queen to Alice.”  ~  Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

A friend, who is a Friend at the Minneapolis Friends Meeting, called me today and shared Carroll’s quote with me. What struck me about this quote is that it addresses an experience and the concept of time. I have read in several places that, according to quantum physics, time is not a linear analog; instead, it is one moment stacked on top of another, and we experience time all at once. Therefore, our planning and setting of goals is a form of remembering a time in the future. I know, deep, huh? I am not a physicist, but these concepts inspire my work as an artist.

Door05192024, Mixed Media, Pen and Digital,
Door05192024, Mixed Media, Pen and Digital, Hendricks 2024

What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

Making my planned drawing look as natural as my spontaneous drawing similar to the drawing below. 

“I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I’m doing.”
― John Cage

Title: Horizons-05-13-2024, Sakura Pigma Micron Pen drawing, A spontaneous sort of drawing started during Quaker meeting for worship.
Horizons-05-13-2024—Sakura Pigma Micron Pen drawing.

I am currently listening to “Where the Heart Beats”  by John Cage. I knew Cage was a musician but never understood his music. Where the Heart Beats is a great read and an excellent audiobook. The man had a unique way of looking at the universe, both its natural and spiritual sides.

Art ReEducation