Doodle Therapy

This is the second in a series of blog posts where we meet creatives and talk to them about their strategies for managing their mental wellbeing and how their artistic practice supports this.

I first met Jade Moore (she/they) in the backroom of a Beeston pub where one of the many Beestonian editorial meetings were held before the pandemic sent us all online. At the time Jade was writing poetry and a column featuring local poetry events and other literary delights. They also took on the role of editor for a while. Moving out of Beeston took her away from the magazine, but they were very much part of our community and we have continued to follow their creative endeavours with interest.

The internet provides wonderful spaces for creativities to play. If you search for any kind of genre you will find hundreds of thousands of websites, blog posts and pinterest boards for inspiration. Instagram feels like compendium for all this creativity, and I was delighted when I came across Jade’s new feed @trashdoodling earlier this year. Quirky and quizzical, I think her ‘doodles’ provide a refreshing view of modern life and how we navigate ourselves through it.

Jade shares their words of wisdom on starting out, self care and tools of the trade in this blog post.

Characters, comic strips and zines

“The decision to ‘make art’ is one I’ve recently taken, after years of doing it just for myself. As a child I would make my own activity books, draw my own puzzles, create characters, and draw my favourite stuffed toys. I would do fairly advanced paint by numbers, and then once I hit my teens I started pencil sketching. I’d find a photograph of a famous person I liked, album artwork, or a Disney character, and I’d sketch them.

Sketching is something I started to do more and more, and would return to now and then just to make sure I still had the skill for it. However, I used to get disheartened by the thought that I couldn’t sketch anything original. This led me to creating narratives for comic strip style characters I named Bunny and Egg. I had a little notebook in which I would draw them, and this made me feel as if I was creating something more meaningful. It wasn’t as ‘fine art’ as my sketches – quite the opposite – but it was my own creation.

Then I took these characters and decided to make a mini-zine featuring them. I bought a printer (it was half price from Ryman’s) and some paper, and despite my inner-voice telling me they’d be no good, I figured I would just make some anyway. I started a notebook which said ‘Little book of big ideas’ on the front, and wrote a statement of intent at the front which said the following:

This is a landing pad. It’s not somewhere with control or restrictions. It’s freedom. Nobody expects you to submit this or follow criteria. Nobody is going to tell you it’s wrong or that you’re doing it wrong. The only criteria is you, and everything you do here is a contribution to your creativity and none of it is wasted time. Use this in a way that reassures you that you’re making the most of the mind you have, but do not feel obliged to come here all the time, but do when inspiration strikes.

These are ideas that are thoughts, just the skeleton. They do not need to be fleshed out yet – let them be here for what they are at this moment.

This helped massively in terms of me thinking my creations weren’t good enough. Often, I knew what I wanted to create; I just didn’t know how to make it. I was thinking big, and I needed to think small. I created four zines in total, some were printed at home (albeit with streaky lines and misalignment), and some were printed at work. I work in a library where I am lucky enough to have access to printers and scanners at no cost to myself.

I kept these zines in a folder tucked away in my desk my desk, and didn’t think of them as something other people might be interested in. I had made them for myself, to prove I could do it. It’s only in the last month that I’ve put them up for sale, and been successful in selling some!

In 2019 I joined Sketch Crawl Notts – a group of artists who meet at a specific location on the last weekend of every month, and they sketch/draw/paint whatever inspires them in that place. This was halted, like so many things, by the pandemic, but during that time I tried to keep my creativity levels up. I cross-stitched a lot, and I started doodling. I got a notebook, stuck on some relaxing lo-fi music, and I scrawled out whatever random thoughts came to mind. I didn’t ignore thoughts as silly or not worthy of being drawn, I simply gave them an interpretation on the page. This became a sort of therapy for me, and I was able to present visually, and simply, some thoughts and feelings that were actually very personal. The idea behind them is that they seem silly, but have a deeper purpose. I enjoyed this process a lot, and they are now the main driving force behind my more recent involvement with art, and different art forms.

Last year, I set up an Instagram @trashdoodling where I started copying the doodles I had done in the notebook, but in digital format. Then I left it for a while when a few big life changes happened, and now that I’m settled again, art has been something that I feel ready to take to a new level.”

Inky business

“Mostly I grab a pen (usually Uniball eye micro) and get scrawling! Any black ink pen is good for doodling with, especially when drawing zines. The thickness is important, as well as the bleed through to the other side. The Uniball doesn’t tend to bleed through a lot, which I like. I did invest in some more expensive drawing pens by the same brand, and these came in a variety of thicknesses, going as thin as 0.1! These are great for fine details, which has been important as I’ve been developing my art and the style of doodles I want to draw. I’ve recently started exploring watercolour, as I realised the pens I was buying were also waterproof. This opened up the option of drawing my doodle first in pencil, then inking it over in pen, and not having to worry when I filled it in with watercolour.

I also did a lino printing course with Made By Torty B, as this is a medium I would like to develop and explore further in terms of other ways I can present my doodles. At the session, I created a tulip and a cat. I’ve since invested in all the materials to make more lino prints, and now that I have a studio I have the space to practice and see what creations I can come up with!

However, scrawling with ink remains my favourite. “

Favourite piece

“Snooty Giraffe”

“This was my first ever attempt at watercolour, and I did it as a continuous line drawing. I find that approaching a drawing this way helps to not overthink it so much. I didn’t worry about getting all the shapes right, or having the giraffe be too detailed. I had a cup of tea with a giraffe design beside me, so I kept my eye on that for the general shape of a giraffe, then I drew it. I remember thinking in the moment that it looked wrong, I wasn’t happy with the feet, but then once I’d finished (in less than a minute) I looked back at what I’d drawn and was genuinely surprised. I then began experimenting with my watercolour paints on a scrap bit of paper before painting the giraffe. Again, I went in with a more carefree attitude, an ‘it doesn’t matter if it looks terrible’ attitude. I wasn’t striving for perfection, just experimenting. I even did a reel on Instagram as I was painting the giraffe, and it’s in real time, but I still worked pretty fast. Every time I look at this painting, I feel encouraged that even as a beginner I can make something I’m proud of. I’m not saying it was a fluke, but I’m definitely taking things a bit slower now and considering how the paint behaves. “

The ART in self care

“I’m a visual person. I also have a lot of things going on in my mind that sometimes doesn’t make any sense. Of the thoughts and feelings that do make sense, I write them out in my poetry. But the rest? They find their way out through my doodles. Sometimes what I’m feeling isn’t best represented in a poem, but through a single image. There might be aspects of myself I’m not ready to share to a room full of people, but a scribble in my notebook helps me to release some of it.

For example, I used to feel an incredible amount of gender dysphoria. This would affect me every day. I’d feel uncomfortable in my own skin, be constantly trying to appear differently, or wear the right clothes to help me get through the day. Thankfully, I’ve arrived at a more comfortable place with my body, but one of my very early doodles related to my dysphoria. I have shared the doodle online, but I never gave it context, I simply wrote the caption ‘How I feel about a thing’. Sometimes with my doodles, they don’t need context. I know what they mean to me, but the visual format means anyone who looks at them will have their own interpretation. Creating doodles with this in mind helps my wellbeing because I feel that I have creativity, control, and connection when I send them out into the world.

One of the doodles I share most often is my ‘gone to make tea’ sign. I made this not only because I love tea, but because it’s comforting, it’s a reminder that we are allowed to take a moment out of the day to do something as simple as make a cup of tea. Having it in the form of a sign reminds me that I can set boundaries. I can put up a sign or a statement that says ‘this is what I’m doing, do not expect anything of me until I have finished doing this thing’. That kind of mentally helps me when I feel overwhelmed with the everyday stresses in life. It’s important to take moments away from it. “

Advice for new doodlers

“If you have doubts that your art isn’t good, or your style isn’t unique, do it anyway! Do it for yourself and see where it leads you. Get a crayon and scribble something, anything. Draw the most basic flower ever, and write a few words beside it. Only you can create that. Only you can draw a flower that way. If you want to paint, buy some paints. They don’t have to be fancy; you don’t have to break the bank; you just need the core materials and the willingness to try it. Not everything has to be perfect the first time, but creating something, even if it’s small or wonky or not what you thought when you set out, it’s still your own. Go to the ‘art’ section in a bookshop and see what’s there. Even better, look what charity shops offer. They’re really good for craft materials, and keeping the budget small when you’re starting out can really make a difference. You don’t necessarily want to go out and buy all the best materials and end up not knowing what to do with them. Take small steps, make the time to contemplate and explore. Make marks with different materials. If you look at someone else's work and think ‘I want to do that!’ then you can, and the great thing is it’ll still be in your style. If you just want to draw circles or triangles, nobody is saying you can’t. Art contains so much freedom, yet artists can be guilty of applying restrictions. Get rid of them. Draw a bunch of dots on a blank piece of paper if that’s what gets you started, but the most important thing is that you do get started.”

Strategic self care

“Staying in touch with my own needs is a big part of my self-care. If something is causing me anxiety strong enough to alter my mood, I know that I need to change something, or set some boundaries. I am definitely someone who tries to strike the right balance between work and rest. Another aspect of my self-care is how I spend my weekend mornings. I get up at around half 7 during what I call ‘the golden hour’, and I make a cup of tea and focus on a relaxing activity such as reading, or most recently cross-stitch. I listen to the meditative podcast ‘The Empty Bowl’ in which they talk about nothing but cereal. The time I spend doing this is so valuable to me, and is precious time. It is after this that I can start the rest of my day.”

Current projects

“One of my current projects is ‘Print Your Protest’ with Books For Good at The Carousel. Through this I am exploring ideas surrounding gender/gender expression, and how gendered terms are still prominent in everyday life. Myself and the other artists on the course have received funding from New Art Exchange to cover the costs of materials and use of The Carousel in creating our works will which then be part of an exhibition. This will be open to the public, and anything sold will be going to charity. Keep an eye on my social media in October for more information on this.

I have an online shop via Ko-fi, here: https://ko-fi.com/jademoore/shop

Instagram handle @trashdoodling / https://www.instagram.com/trashdoodling/

I have recently started renting a studio out of Oldknows Factory in Nottingham, which is going to help lots in terms of my artistic process, and establishing myself more as an artist. I am almost at the stage where I want to explore local craft markets, and any support via my shop/ko-fi will go towards building my art.

I have a table selling my wares at Fortune & Glory Film Club’s screenings, featuring my doodles, zines, and other special edition artworks inspired by the featured film. The next event is a screening of The Craft, on October 12th.”

Thank you so much for taking the time to inspire others with your creative story. Looking forward to your exhibition and seeing your work in print!

Bees & love

Debra