Trying out this doodling thing. Having fun.

Doodling is one of those things that seems like it should be so easy, but when pen comes to paper...it isn't. It isn't that I've never doodled; I've just never thought of it as an end in itself. I've seen some amazing work, up to and including Zentangles, but I never thought it was for me. I want whatever I do to MEAN SOMETHING, DAMMIT! And doodles, well, all mine seem to mean to me is "I was here. And bored."

However, armed with inspiration garnered by watching several YouTube videos posted by some really talented people, I made a more purposeful foray into the world of color and shape purely for the sake of color and shape. And maybe to learn something about brush and water control. And for fun.

Yeah fun. There, I said it.

With an invisible threat to health and to life itself prowling streets and countrysides all around the planet, with continued murder by law enforcement (and by our own selves, to be strictly honest) regardless of the spotlights glaring upon us all, with the official beginning and potential endlessness of the fire season in the northern hemisphere, with continual forging of a giant funnel that guides the hard-earned cash into the bank accounts of a relative few...girls and other humans just want to have fun.

I presume that if you are reading this, you are alive, and if you are fighting to remain alive, you want that life to be something worth fighting for. When fighting for justice for all, whether it's in the streets or with a pen, the meaning seems pretty obvious, even if success is ephemeral or so often, nonexistent. What is the meaning of fun?

Art, sports, barbecues, guitars and voices singing around a campfire or in a living room, computer games, fill in the blank. (Really. Fill in the blank: _________________.) what does it all mean? I don't know, but it seems important since every animal that we humans feel any kinship with at all appears to do things just for fun. Otters chase each other in and out of the water, lion cubs tussle, dogs bite ocean waves and leap to catch Frisbees.

Here are some small observations and generalizations. Fun is what creatures who are alive do if they are given half an opportunity. Fun keeps us human. Fun connects us to other humans. If there isn't any fun around, humans will create it by devising more interesting ways to do our chores. Fun is how we fill in the spaces between stretches of striving and terror. Fun refreshes the spirit and allows us to get back to work with a lighter heart and rededication to the task.

So I painted some colors and drew some doodles the other day. The success of these projects is fairly low on the artistic scale, but pretty high on the fun-o-meter. More time spent with brush and water should, I hope, result in more interesting work. If I keep painting (and posting), I may even see an improvement over time.

I'm glad I doodled today. Tomorrow is Monday, and all that implies.