texture is how we feel the world. Smooth Rough Jagged Brisk It’s a visual language all humans can understand. It’s our job as artists to see, feel and experience the world in our own unique way. Today I challenge you to doodle a brick texture. As your pen stipples across the page imagine your fingers running over a bricks surface. Watch the video and let me know in the comments how it goes

Let’s be real here, the reason we feel called to doodle is because doodling is a tool to clear our mind. When the pen glides on the paper your thoughts and emotions have a place to land. Processing stress, grief or pain that we experience in life can be challenging to put into worlds. That’s where LINES & SHAPES come in, As the alphabet to express our soul. Our emotions aren’t logical. We can put letters and English words to describe what our heart is experiencing. Cue LINES & SHAPES No rules, no boundaries. Anything can happen in a doodle. That’s why it’s so important for us to respect this daily practice. Because it’s just just about “becoming an artist” It’s about becoming YOUR TRUEST SELF. Doodling is the tool that helps us get closer to our emotions. Closer to our own voice, our own heart. When you sit in silence to doodle, you begin to unlock a whole new world within yourself. Your assignment today: Fill your post it note with shapes Organic shapes - free flowing, think flowers and leaves and squiggles. Geometric shapes - any shape that has a name, triangle, rectangle, circle. While your hands are doodling shapes, notice your thoughts. Are you rushing through this to “just get it done” Or are you present with the pen and paper in front of you? Keep doodling & retracing your shapes until your mind feels completely relaxed. Those first few shapes, your thoughts might have been racing. The whole goal is to SLOW DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS. When you’re don’t with your doodle, take a moment to reflect in writing with a pen and paper what thoughts you can’t stop thinking about. Let yourself process out loud to yourself on the page. Write for as long as you need. Extra challenge: Create a new Instagram account to act as a personal growth journal. No followers, no friends. Just you. Peacefully documenting your personal growth each day. I want to challenge you to post a picture of your daily doodle. Even if it’s “ugly” Get in the habit of not judging your own work.

If you want to become a real artist, you have to picture yourself as a wanna-be novel writer. All the best novelists know how to tell a good story, with metaphors, themes and underlying messages. They know how to transform letters into compelling stories, & that’s exactly what an artist does too. Except artists don’t use letters A B C D E F G to tell stories artists use LINES, SHAPES, COLORS, VALUE, TEXTURE & FORM. An artist knows how to arrange simple lines in their own unique way to configure a story - aka a work of art! Think of a final painting like a paper bond novel. Before the novel came the rough draft, before the draft came years of journaling, before journaling came learning to write each letter of the alphabet. So now it’s up to us to start at the very beginning. Learning the art alphabet and practicing our first letter LINE Your assignment: On a small post-it note size paper I want you to doodle simple Lines. Squiggly, straight, thick, thin. Whatever line your hand feels like doing. Don’t think. Sink into your body. Trust your hands to move. Let your mind go blank. Don’t judge your doodle while you’re making it. Doodle whatever random lines you want. Extra challenge: once the post it note it filled, trace back over your lines. Pretend like you’re going to frame and sell this doodle to a friend to keep on their desk. Practice your best craftsmanship. While also being patient with yourself. Remind yourself you’re going to be bad at this today. Just like the first time you tried dribbling a basketball. It was hard, you stumbled. It was awkward. Yet you just kept practicing. Over time it got easier and easier. After months of practice it felt automatic. We’ll get there soon with drawing. Simply trust in the process & don’t judge yourself. Be kind to that little artist inside of you taking baby steps. When you’re done with your doodle, post a picture of your doodle in this chat. Comment your reflections or any realizations you’ve had during the creative process.