Doodle Spirals and Petals

Today’s Topic:  Doodle Spirals and Petals

Good Afternoon, Quilters and Doodlers!

It’s 17 degrees below zero here in Minnesota-a perfect time to sit by the fire, sip a cup of tea and doodle my way to better quilting!

In our last lesson we doodled spirals.  We doodled large and small, clockwise and counterclockwise spirals.

Today we will use only small spirals,  but let’s add petals.

Systematic Doodles

Many quilters have told me they can’t doodle.  I think what they really mean is-they don’t know what to doodle.

To help jump-start the process, for the next few weeks, we are going to doodle in a systematic way.

I have a method to my “madness” about doodling that I will share.

For example, I always start with a doodle idea and then build on it.  If along the way, I meander in another direction, that’s great!

The idea is to get the pen moving–systematically at first, and then spontaneously.

Small Spirals with Petals

For today’s exercise, start with a small spiral and add small petals.

Doodle a small spiral with five petals.  Continue doodling to fill at least one row of this flower.

Add a row with four petals.

Next comes three petals.

Finally try two petals.

Take your time and add rows and rows of these flowers to your notebook.  The more the better!!!

Don’t worry about continuous line drawing!  Lift your pen whenever you want for this exercise.

Later in the series, we will learn techniques to turn our doodles continuous lines for stitching.  For now, the important thing is to work on eye-hand coordination.

Add More Rows of Petals

Once you’ve completed several rows of small spirals with one row of petals, add  additional rows of petals.

Start with the five petal flower.  Add a second row of petals. Keep the petals the same size-you’ll have to add more petals.

Next, begin again with the five petal flower.  This time, add only five petals.  The petals will have to be larger.

Notice how different the two flowers are!

Repeat this with your four petal, three petal and two petal flowers.

Doesn’t the double two petal “flower” look like a bow?  Hmmmm…..maybe it’s time to meander off from our “flowers”????

Or….

Create Patterns

Try combining the variations in rows.

Which are your favorite combinations?

You are on your way!

Don’t stop.

Weekend Homework

Repeat this exercise over the weekend with a different pen or pencil.  Add a few splashes of water color paint and doodle over them?

Fill the whole page with just the two, three, four and five petal variations.

And whenever the spirit strikes–try quilting the design!

Schedule

Be sure to check the Fine Art Saturday and Silent Sunday,

Then more doodling on Monday!

The best quilters are doodlers!

Doodling away the cold in Minnesota,

Lukewarm?  Lori

PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only.  Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ.  For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com!

Check out my books on Etsy:  LoriKennedyShop