Recently, I have come across an article from Scientific American. Falling in love does make people more creative. Because it makes us think differently. That triggers global processing, hence promotes creative thinking and interferes with analytic thinking. Sex though does the opposite. It triggers local processing, promotes analytic thinking, and interferes with creative thinking.
From now on, I shall not look at love and sex the same way.
Titled Let the Cat out of the Box and Be Free
This latest drawing of mine doesn’t have tons of hidden meaning. It is what it is – let the cat out of the box and be free.
In relationships, people often say something like, if you love someone, let him or her go. I think that is a bit not too pragmatic. The way I see it is that when you love (the roses) someone, let him or her have the freedom (a cat in an open box) within the boundaries (the frame) of what that relationship is or to be. And he or she will be happy looking for the things he or she likes (plenty of fish for the happy cat).
At the top left is a view of the port or the sea (I thought of the fish and hence, the ocean). The bottom right is a door. Why filament light bulb? I just happen to like its vintage feel.
The last few doodles I drew was rather serious and they were getting complex. Last night, it was a long day at work. Exhausted by the never-ending calls from nine in the morning till evening, exhausted by the endless paperwork from early evening till ten at night (alas, performance review period), all I wanted was to unwind. Perhaps play some video games as our guild members have been beaconing us to start our Diablo 3 season 22 journey but my wife was tired; perhaps watch some TV but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to indulge into; perhaps drink more wine but I really couldn’t as I started early. So I have decided to doodle. The theme was: something cute.
Titled as When Cats Listen to Moonlight Sonata – first orientation when the pair of cats in the center are upright.
It didn’t take too long to complete the drawing. Two hours. And it was fun, especially the endless musical notes around the cats.
What I was and still am struggling with is the drawing’s orientation and that’s why I haven’t added my name onto the drawing. I would pick the first one if I want to see the cats in the center in the upright position, which is also where the spiral starts.
The second orientation gives perspective on the scoresheet
The second orientation is also good, especially when you want to focus on the partial sheet music inspired by Moonlight Sonata. And I like the pair of cats sitting at the bottom edge of the frame, upright.
The third orientation is perhaps the most balanced
I like the third orientation for the composition gives me a balanced feel. I can still make out of the sheet music. There is a certain ‘weight’ towards the bottom half of the drawing.
My favorite perhaps is the fourth orientation below. It seems most natural. Just that, the musical notes are upside down and it reverses the Moonlight Sonata.
Fourth orientation with a pair of cats sitting at the bottom of the frame.
Last Friday, I was on leave. And it was extraordinary. I was happy. The weather shifted from cloudy in the early afternoon to rainy to sunshine back to the threat of thunderstorms ended with a partially cloudy evening. The moon was half-covered by the cloud giving me the illusion of staring at a half-moon.
I stumbled upon a printed drawing. It was a blue giant crab with very interesting web-like patterns that reminds me of a dreamcatcher. At that moment, I thought I was dreaming, caught by the blue giant crab. Maybe I was dreaming. It was just me and the drawing. I could not help but to make a mental note of the composition. I traced my fingers through the crab a few times. It helps me to memorize. My zodiac is cancer. That further captivates me.
Titled as Under the Watchful Eyes of a Blue Giant Crab Love is in the Air. It is a simple composition with three elements. This drawing can be viewed upside down as well.
These days, I think of young people in love. That was this song of mine I kept on humming as I composed this drawing. I thought of a theme park. I love theme parks. It is not that my parent did not bring me to a theme park when I was young. It is the desire to see and experience the world like kids do.
Kids from the park, I wish to be To possess a sense of innocence To take back all that has taken from me All the joy take a look at their faces
Song #139 – Kids from the Park
While this drawing only has three elements – the crab, the couple, and the roses – it took me more than eight hours to complete. This is by far the longest I have spent in drawing. I like the roses that spiral from the center of the drawing. I also like the fact that I can hang this drawing upside down shifting the focus from the crab to the couple.
When viewed upside down, the focus of the drawing shifted.
While I was drawing, my wife was watching watercolor videos on YouTube. I don’t paint in watercolor. But from what I have picked up – since we share the common space, she watching TV in the living room and I drawing in the dining area – watercolor painting is somewhat similar to oil painting. You can do wet-on-wet. And there is an allowance to correct mistakes as you paint. The type of drawing I do, though is monochrome, is less forgiving. And I have to be very certain of the order of layering. My wife has this desire to add colors to my drawings. Perhaps one day, I will give in. For now, I still prefer black and white.
Towards the end of the drawing session, I said to my wife, “Why spent so much time watching watercolor videos when you could spend the time drawing instead?” I mean, she has the watercolor equipment and papers. To that, she replied, “Action faking psychology”. I Googled and it says, “Action faking is all the stuff we do that makes us feel good about our progress without actually making any meaningful progress.”
I often joked with my younger friends and said, “Had I born into this era, my dating life would have been so different.” As in, with dating apps, I don’t think I would get married so early.
It’s a joke. As in, I am not born into this era.
But what if?
That would be a topic for another day. Meanwhile, I cannot help but think, heartbreaks in this era must suck way more than my era.
Titled as Wounded Heart and the Incommunicado
With instant messaging and all, I have no idea how people these days cope with heartbreaks. Say, you are trying to reach him or her. But you just can’t. Every message you receive throughout the day – which is a lot thanks to how connected we now are – would basically be a disappointment. Why isn’t the message come from him or her? And you can’t stop this thought whereby, the next message could be from him or her.
Back to this drawing, and I must say it once again. Drawing to me is therapeutic. It calms my mind. I like this particular one a lot. It took me close to four hours to conceptualize and complete the drawing, which is way longer than the previous ones. To complete this drawing on the same day (inspiration comes and goes), I had to rush to Art Friend and buy a set of replacement pens because mine went dry. I have also derived a special technical – unfortunately, you can’t see here – to ‘hang’ the objects onto a set of pre-determined frames. It was an experiment and I like how it turns out.
In the center, is a heart. Punctured by a spear and through it, the telephone coil is cut. Incommunicado at its most straightforward interpretation is one is unable to reach another on the phone. In this drawing, there is another meaning whereby the two could be separated (think life and death) and they just can’t talk to each other.
Layered on top of the heart are roses and thorns. So yes, there is a theme of love here (again, love in many forms). There is blood gushing out from the heart but what’s up there? Raindrops? Or tears? That’s for you to decide.
Today is a really happy day for me, to be rekindled with my passion … and music. Y wanted to get a Ukulele so that during her quarantine in Malaysia, she has something to do. I did not know anything about Ukulele. But it is a form of guitar, with chords albeit totally different from the guitar chords, these are chords that are meant to be strummed, or plucked.
I love music. I love musical instruments. And I always challenge myself to play an instrument different from what I am accustomed to.
Ukulele is different from classical guitar. First, Ukulele has 4 strings instead of 5. Second, the open chords are GCEA instead of EADGBE (Every Angry Dog Got a Bone to Eat) and hence, tuning is different. The chords are entirely different too. Third, the size. But regardless, Ukulele is still a string instrument. You play the chords and you strum.
Titled as MAGO and the Wild, Wild Ukulele
I did not know how to play the Ukulele. So I have done some research on the Internet and have decided to test a Ukulele with Jason Mraz’s I am Yours. The chords are pretty straightforward. Just C-G-Am-F. And the Ibanez Ukulele that has finally got my recommendation at Swee Lee has this warm tone (due to dark nylon strings and Mahogany wood) and full-body sound (due to its shape) that I have fallen in love with. It is an entry-level Ukulele for Y is a beginner. If I were to get one – since I am an experienced guitar player – I may give Martin C1K Concert Ukulele a try. I may even be tempted by the 2K Concert edition.
On a totally separate topic and is related to this doodle, my favorite K-pop girl group GFRIEND has recently released a new song called MAGO. This retro-style disco-dancing song could well be my favorite of all theirs thus far. The dance is not overwhelming, yet delivered with class.
If you have watched the MAGO video, add that to the Ukulele and the four chords, that is the doodle of the day folks.
