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”

One Sketch; Two Paths

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Heraclitus

One Sketch; Two Paths was an exploration using two different approaches and two different media, as Bill Hendricks worked on them simultaneously.
One Sketch; Two Paths

Doodling Vs Drawing

Doodling is to the [artist] what stream-of-consciousness is to the writer.

~Alvalyn Lundgren, Alvalyn Studio

Doodle or Art?

Ink drawing by Bill Hendricks, all work copyrighted.
Creation, 2020—pen,  Bill Hendricks©2020

Great question!

It has both the aspects that Alvalyn Lundgren’s article describes. It had no real purpose. It doesn’t need to depict anything like a person. There was no pressure to perform, but it is meaningful, and a drawing that does communicate.  Not sure how well or not. It is merely a series of marks. They are playful, geometric, linear, shaded, or whatever. It is a question I am interested in considering. 

I will go with automatic drawing with thoughtful consideration. Thus, art.