Debbie Rodriguez

Debbie Rodriguez

My mind doesn’t stop….and what is on my walls would still be bouncing around in my head if I hadn’t stopped to take ‘visual dictation’ and captured those images on paper.  I love colors, line, form, and anything visual.  Since I was a child, I knew I was a designer, not a fine artist, not an illustrator, “A Designer”. 

But design took a backseat to all the other ‘important’ things in life.  Until August 2014, I was in Portland, Oregon, and took our young friend to Dick Blick’s Art Supply Store to select a birthday gift.  My life has not been the same!  The fountain opened up and has been spilling out ever since: my sketch pad calls while waiting at soccer practice, waiting for a meeting, before bed, at lunchtime, and sometimes even in the car.  I never doodle when the car is moving though, only at stop signs and red lights until one of the kids reminds me, “Mom, put your doodles away you are driving,” (at least I know I am raising wise kids).

At Dick Blick’s, we perused the aisles, looking for just the right paper: the weight, texture, thickness, shape of the pad, and the perfect shade of white.  Then, of course, we had to select the perfect pens with the right colors, tip, center of gravity, and barrel circumference.  That evening I started to ‘capture’ the images: words, colors, lines, shapes, and linear movements were jumping into my hand to get themselves expressed across a page. The images press on my hand until I give in and release them.  When I can, I try to honor the request.  Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, have been set free since fate met destiny in the sketch pad aisle at Dick Blick’s.

I have always been visually and aesthetically inclined.  The way I process life is with the help of paper.  I write, I doodle, and pretty much use a pen for everything it is possible to use a pen for. I have always taken notes in a nontraditional way and I usually have a sketch pad tucked in a pocket. The aspiration for my notes and doodles is to capture words, which end up on a page, which lead to learning, which could shift perspective, and maybe even open the door to understanding.  Doodling feels like soul work to me sometimes.  And other times, (hopefully) something beautiful on a willing surface!

I also like to doodle names for friends and family.  I imbue them with my experience of them and always see them as beautiful….because I encourage my eyes see to that way.

I hope you enjoy my doodles and take time to discover all the waiting-to-be-discovered-details…my soul sometimes finds its way into the details.  Thank you for letting me share all this crazy activity that goes on inside my head!