I have always been interested in art. Have tried most mediums and have always enjoyed sketching, painting with watercolours and acrylics, all with various good and bad results. I always preferred abstract art.

I started doodling about 15 years ago with pencil and a note pad, drawing swirly lines in a repetitive form and I just loved it. At the time I did not recognise that it was a very calm process, I knew was that it was great fun and I never knew how the picture would turn out. But the outcome was that I felt much calmer and had never really understood proper switching off my thoughts like that before.

That was the start of understanding meditation and a mindful approach. I had tried meditation but never really got what I was supposed to be feeling. With doodling it finally fell into place for me. Doodling is not necessarily about art and making a beautiful picture for me it has developed into having the freedom to draw and make mistakes on your own terms. If a line or shape is not perfect or how you thought it was meant to be, that’s fine. Fix it and change it into something else.

Most of my doddles have started with a shape or squiggles. I have not idea of what the outcome is going to be, the interaction of lines etc decide on how the picture develops and its final outcome. My main focus is on how I build up the relationship with shapes and lines and how they interact with each other and while doing so I am able to switch off, create a calm state of mind. For a lot of people this is a hard concept to grasp. But there is a freedom in drawing doodles that is quite unlike any other creative outlet especially for people who don’t think that they can draw, but have always wanted to draw something.