Fat little birds make me smile! The Eastern bluebird is a North American migratory thrush. My subject is a male with the most luxurious neck rolls! Drawn in Prismacolor soft core colored pencils on toned tan sketch paper.
In wanting to get active with my fellow doodler community, I wanted to stop in and introduce myself. My name is Dalton Stark, I live in Texas, and i'm a doodle addict, and an advocate for the possibility of anything. For me, doodling is my purest state of being human. My sketchbooks are a very sacred place for me to practice this expressive and arcane form of imagination meditation, which I'm always trying to find more excuses to spend more time in. It is to me, all about intuition, making discoveries, surprising yourself, having fun and maybe even making yourself and others smile or laugh sometimes. I look forward to being a part of this beautiful inky ecosystem with y'all, here are some very secret sketchbook spreads.
as an artist I manifest my emotions through my doodles. I was going through a rough spot with my mental health back in 2016. This doodle would always light me up. I hope it does the same for you
Just looking at these furry buddies will let your body release all the oxytocin that your body needs to make your day a whole lot better! Even though science tells us that dogs can only make their faces appear to smile. But we know better, they do smile at us especially when we have a lot going on in our lives
Peter was munching on his cheese sandwich and taking bites slowly to make it last longer. It wasn’t fun sitting by himself in a new school in a new town. And then a rabbit with a smile on his face approached and asked, “Want some company?” and Peter’s heart lifted
The things pulling me down seem so huge - cancer treatments, empty nest, COVID, depression, and big world problems. It's amazing how small things, a wren, a breeze, a smile, a bud, a furry friend, can lighten the load.
I frankly don't have much to add other than yesterday (the 28)was my birthday and also i'm almost 25!I need to enjoy every moment or day as I can since life is too short to not enjoy anything!also next year Im going to have a smiley birthday cake instead
"I remember you put a smile on my face. Now I got the crow's feet." ~ A blackout poem from a recycled page of Burnout, an Young Adult adventure/romance story.
I am an art teacher with a master’s degree—trained by brilliant professors who believed that art could do more than decorate walls. I offer safe spaces for teenagers to grow—nourishing soil where their imaginations can take root.
And yet… I am assigned to hallway duty.
This is compulsory education, after all.
So I sit—posted like a sentinel—watching young lives stream past.
“Get to class,” I say with a smile and a nudge.
The system wants attendance; I’m hungry for presence.
Armed not with a whistle or clipboard, but with a pen—
my scribble’s soft insurgency.
The hallway stretches out like a geometric hymn.
Columns and corners chant structure.
Teenagers swirl past—half-formed galaxies of limbs and laughter—
their orbits chaotic, their gravity pulling time forward.
I begin to draw.
Not their tardiness, but their motion.
A shoulder. A blur of sneakers.
A tilted head chasing freedom.
Feet flickering like seconds.
Each mark a pulse.
Each smudge a breath.
My paper becomes a seismograph of seeing—
trembling gently through the mundane.
This isn’t about making art for a frame or a feed.
It’s about refusing to leak away in the fluorescent hum of obligation.
It’s a quiet mutiny against the clock.
I do this on long car rides, too (passenger side, mind you).
Letting the lines grow wild, jagged, and unapologetic.
Not for polish—
but for presence.
This is how I remember I’m still alive.
Still growing.
Still watching.
Still choosing to see.
Because sometimes mental health looks like
a piece of scrap paper,
a moving pen,
and the simple, sacred act of
marking time with wonder.
I had something bum me out a little bit today. Nobody’s fault but it is what it is. So I decided to draw this up. I’m ready for fall and fall beers! I love to sit out under the moon once the temperature drops a bit and have some marzen lagers and other fall drinks. I felt like this captured the moment perfectly. I am excited for music fest in @havertownlife havertown tomorrow. I heard @levantebrewing will be pouring at brick and brew so I’ll be there sucking back some suds. I’m glad I forced myself to learn #adobeillustrator I’ve come a long way. Since then I have been able to help other artists that don’t use Illustrator or vectors and I am pretty proud of that, because when I was in their place it always felt like a huge struggle.
GLOOSCAP AND THE BABY
From Favorite Folktales from Around the World byJane Yolen.
Glooscap, having conquered the Kewawkqu’, a race of giants and magicians, and the Medecolin, who were cunning sorcerers, and Pamola, a wicked spirit of the night, besides hosts of fiends, goblins, cannibals, and witches, felt himself great indeed, and boasted to a woman that there was nothing left for him to subdue.
But the woman laughed and said, “Are you quite sure, master? There is still one who remains unconquered, and nothing can overcome him.” In some surprise Glooscap inquired the name of this mighty one. “He is called Wasis,” replied the woman, “but I strongly advise you to have no dealings with him.” Wasis was only a baby, who sat on the floor sucking a piece of maple sugar and crooning a little song to himself. Now Glooscap had never married and wasignorant of how children are managed, but with perfect confidence he smiled at the baby and asked it to come to him. The baby smiled back but never moved...
#dailydrawing #folktales #kidlitart #babies #algonquian
40th birthday present from my wife- our little family. Our hand painted wooden peg family was purchased from an artist on Etsy (allipopemade) and will hopefully be in our family forever. Makes me smile every day.
PSA.
Remember kids! Nice smile is not the same as a nice person!
Transmundane Tuesday prompt from @carsonellis. Has a nice smile, has a snail shell and wearing a helmet. Or here , wearing a snail shell as a helmet.
