Nocturnal meanderings

When I started painting systematically 12 years ago, I thought a canvas 30x40cm (about 12x16in) was vast. As time past I got more courageous and by 2004 my largest canvas was 170x80cm (about 68x32in) and my first solo exhibition was underway. Since then I've worked in all sizes, usually on canvas except for watercolour. For the last six weeks or so I've gone back to small! 

I don't know how long this fad (zentangle style art) is going to last, but at the moment it's fun and certainly an improvement on the painter's block I've had for well over a year and out of which I  could not escape despite following all sorts of advice. 

So now I'm scribbling little patterns day and - as this sketch shows - night. Someone told me the other tday that anyone can draw patterns - which I suppose is true - so it isn't an art form at all, except that in building a composition of any size, the same rules apply. Not all the compositions, even of doodles (often now called "zentangles") are satisfactory and they can all be appreciated (or rejected) with the same strategies as "real" paintings and drawings.

This one is from the sketchbook I keep by my bed for nocturnal meanderings. I didn't start with a plan, so the result is spontaneous and will serve as a pattern sampler for future drawings.

nocturnal whale