Started: 1/19/25 | Completed: 1/20/25

Meaning: This is the cover page to my "project sketchbook" representing my brain.

This page came out looking really cool.
I practiced the design on bright-white marker-paper. Once I put it on the Bee Paper sheet, the colors came out a little darker and more saturated and looked way better.

Started: 1/19/25 | Completed: 1/20/25

Meaning: My standard doodles as the representation of my brain.

I just wanted to doodle so this first page was me warming up my skills.

Meaning: Sometimes we get into hairy situations that we don’t like, but persistence is important.

”What’s hairy about it?”
I used a new doodle technique where I created a lot of long doodles going into various directions. I didn’t really like how this came out and as I continued it got worse and worse. But it did give me the idea for Twisted Roses below.

Completed: 03/07/25

Meaning: I’m a sweaty person, and so are my doodles.

Research & Experimentation
I wanted to try and figure out how to best represent my doodles as they would appear under water drops. I started by drawing out drops to try and make sure I understood what was happening.

So I took a piece of plastic and put doodles underneath, then added a big drop of water to see what would happen. It helped the final product a lot.

Meaning: If you want the roses, you have to deal with the thorns.

Depth and pointiness.
I went real deep into the vining effect and ended up. making shapes that looked like roses. I’ve always wondered what my doodles would look like shaded like this so it was interesting to see. Sort of reminds me of paper animations.

Started: 02/22/25 | Completed: 02/22/25

Meaning: Doodles are the foundation to all.

Outside the doodle box.
I was curious if I could shape my doodles into 3D shapes and have it look cohesive. This was my first attempt and I think it turned out real interesting…though the proportions are off.

Completed: 08/20/25

Meaning: Order out of chaos. Fixing mistakes.

A nicer version.
The original version (below) came out way darker than I wanted it to. I was using Faber-Castell matte pencils and went too hard. So I decided to erase it and start again by making actual tiles. This worked really well and I love the outcome.

Completed: 04/08/25

Meaning: Making more order from chaos.

Leaning towards order.
This was a test of how this would look. If I had the doodles go in the exact direction, would it look like a woven basket? The answer is yes!.

Completed: 04/14/25

Meaning: LGBTQ+ is in my blood.

Pretty colors.
This was the first time I tried using the FX Pencils. They have a learning curve since the color that comes out can be unpredictable. I was having a lot of fun with the flow and contour. This specific piece sparked the start of the Synaptic Weave technique.

Started: 04/19/25 | Completed: 05/18/25

Meaning: Evolution.

Ideas form other ideas.
I loved doing the Rainbow River so much that I decided to do it again but in both colored pencil (Prismacolor Premier & Faber-Castell Polychromos) and in Uni Pin Fine Liner. I wanted the two perpendicular to each other. Came out nice but I realized I didn’t do exactly what I was hoping for as the color pencil lines came out much thinner than in Rainbow River. The tree came out super cool though and I loved the little raccoon.

Completed: 05/22/25

Meaning: Hard to pay attention sometimes.

Through my eyes.
This is probably the closest representation I’ve gotten to ADHD. Note: Some of the boxes aren’t colored correctly as my scanner doesn’t pick up fluorescence well.

Started: 03/01/25 | Completed: 04/23/25

Meaning: The amount of focus it takes to have to pay attention is rough. Causes lots of tension.

Keep them open.
Sometimes I feel like I have to treat myself like in The Clockwork Orange where they keep dude’s eyes open with these metal things.

Started: 05/18/25 | Completed: 05/27/25

Meaning: Out of destruction comes creation.

The bird wasn’t the intent initially.
I was just doing a spiral. But I eventually realized that the spiral looked like a bird in reverse (the original was actually with the square holes on the right). So I changed my plan and made it into a fire bird. Was a really cool accident.

Started: 04/19/25 | Completed: 08/20/25

Meaning: Meditation.

Just fun.
I have a lot of fun doing this Synaptic Weave technique. This was just me having fun with drawing and coloring.

Started: 05/22/25 | Completed: 8/19/25

Meaning: Learning to go with the flow.

Trust the process.*
I started by drawing a bunch of marks with the chisel end of my Ohuhu Honolulu Alcohol Markers. Then I blocked out a bunch of lines and filled them in to make the brick shapes. After that, I took alcohol markers and white gel pen to make the shadows and highlights. Was a fun process but didn’t look good until the very end.

Here’s what the alcohol marker looked like before I added lines:

Started: 05/22/25 | Completed: 08/19/25

Meaning: Adaptation.

Hubby helps sometimes.
I had my husband draw out marks using the chisel end of the Ohuhu Honolulu Alcohol Markers. I thought he would make it look more like mine but he went all fancy. Made the final piece once I added lines and highlights/shadows look really cool!

Started: 09/05/25 | Completed: 09/10/25
Ref. Cosmic Web

Meaning: Another way to think of brains…neurons through space. We are all our own universes.

Conspiracy theory time…
Sometimes I feel like the Earth is a single-celled organism that lives in an impossibly large creature (the universe) that itself is living on a single-celled organism. This is infinity.

I also really like the cartoonish/graphic design quality it has.

Started: 05/22/2025 | Completed: 09/06/25

Meaning: Thoughts are random and often intrusive and can be quite hard to ignore.

I draw what I see.
I had my husband scribble random alcohol marker shapes and I draw what I saw on top with a mix of acrylic markers and gel pens. One of my favorite pieces.

Started: 9/21/25 | Completed: 10/19/25
Note: Underwater Currents | Palette: Surf & Turf

Meaning: The fluid, yet turbulent nature of peace. Influenced by agate, giant clams, and coral. The name comes from the colors and the movement I tried to convey in the piece.

In repetition, I fine peace.
This piece exemplifies my struggle with planning and spontaneity. I actually tried to start it multiple times and have abandoned multiple sketches. I couldn’t’ get the lines right, the curves, the movement. After I finally had the sketch, I still struggled with where to add variation and how.

The lesson is to let the process take you where it wants to go. Don’t be stuck to made-up parameters. The piece evolves on it’s own. Trying something new doesn’t always work, but’s it’s always a teaching moment.

Started: 10/19/25 | Completed: 11/04/25
Note: Sunset | Palette: Amethyst Sunset

Meaning: This is how I think peace feels. Bright and dark, undulating rhythms.

In the flow, time dissolves and only creation remains.
No matter how hard I try to plan things, no matter how many times I start and stop, the piece will do what the piece wants to do. Struggling against it makes things harder. Trust the process. Let the piece evolve.

Started: 08/14/25 | Completed: 09/19/25

Meaning: Thinking can be hard sometimes. There are lots of things to distract you.

Even in order there’s mess.
I probably could do the clouds better but I like this. I used metallic gel pens to outline the white squares and clouds.

Completed: 11/25/25

Meaning: Growth and new beginnings.

Another magical accident.
So I was having so much fun with the Synaptic Weave technique that I kept going and wanted to try it out with the new medium I’d picked up, ARTISTRO Acrylic Paint Markers. So I drew out a shape (below) and decided to just leave it as it was instead of filling the whole page. It looked like a flower and I colored it like one. This is the piece that single-handledly changed my focus from just abstract doodles to finally putting effort into realism. This was an accidental flower and it was done so well that it inspired my motivation for realism practice. It also showed me how much I truly loved painting with acrylic markers.

Completed: 11/25/25

Meaning: Practicing a new technique to see what I can do.

Leaves are safe.
I think I tried to recreate the magic of the first flower but I ended up doing leaves. Which is fine, they turned out cool.

Meaning: Pushing the limits.

Lines gone wild.
I was really just seeing what I could do and push this technique to the limit.

Started: 12/13/25 | Completed: 12/13/25

Meaning: Proof.

My skills have improved.
I painted a monarch thinking it would be somewhat easy. Butterflies are not easy, but this came out so nice that it continued my assent to realism.

Started: 12/12/25 | Completed: 12/14/25

Meaning: I can make pretty realistic things.

But more importantly, I can combine realism with doodles!
This betta starts to show the evolution of my art where I combine my realism skills with my abstract skills. This is what I was hoping for.

Started: 12/14/25 | Completed: 12/15/25

Meaning: Art for fun.

Life in a bubble...
I just wanted to paint bubbles. Took me a few tries because they are deceptively simple, but by the end I got a really nice result!

Meaning: Attempts aren’t always successful. Visions don’t always come to life.

Grass is always greener...
I liked the dark version of the bubbles but I wanted a lighter background. So I made this one and didn’t like it as much. I tried.

Started: 12/21/25 | Completed: 12/21/25

Meaning: Birds are difficult for me.

Lost the sass.
The reference I used for this piece had a hummingbird that was so much sassier and fiercer than the one I made. I was unable to capture the emotion I saw, and created a dumpling instead. Oh well. Maybe birds should be the next focus?

Image from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/summertime-in-the-united-states-of-hummingbirds/:

Started: 00/00/00 | Completed: 00/00/00

Meaning:

Journaled content about lessons and/or thoughts.
Content.