Thank You, Charlie O!

I don’t know Charlie O’Shields personally, but I’ve always felt a bit of a connection with him. He’s from Kansas City — my neck of the woods — and we’ve chatted on line about art projects, like the “Ladybug” he designed for Hallmark Cards.

.

We have one of these plush, zippered pouches, and the grandkids have always had fun checking to see what goodies Ladybug might be hiding. Sometimes it’s a bit of loose change; sometimes it’s candy; sometimes it’s just a cheery note.

For those who aren’t familiar with Charlie, he’s the founder of World Watercoolor Month, and the creator of the Doodlewash blog. He’s also the author of Sketching Stuff and other “art activity” books.

After my first disastrous workshop in the 2025 “Bingefest” that is Sketchbook Revival, I nearly called it a day and closed up the studio. Instead, I decided to at least check out what other “Fun and Play” presentations were available. Next on Karen Abend’s suggested list was Charlie’s 2019 presentation (his first time ever on video) called “Scribble, Doodle, Color”.

Charlie, if you’re reading this, I hesitated. Taking part meant gathering a few recommended supplies like a watercolor palette, a round brush with a pointy tip, and of course, a set of watercolors and a cup of water… and in my state of mind at that moment, it was just too much.

But, I decided to listen in a bit. Now, if you do know Charlie, you know what a fun, infectious personality he has. Charlie is all about having fun and encouraging us to do just what his program suggested, to scribble, to doodle, to color.

Well, why not play a long a little? Charlie suggested an interesting sort of “scribbling” practice. An imaginary nature walk. Being a landscape artist who loves “scribbling” quick gestural drawings of nature, I was only too happy to take part in this little exercise.

The directions were (1) to scribble the basic shapes we might see on a nature walk (2) to doodle a few recognizable objects from those shapes, and (3) to have fun coloring with our watercolors.

This is really the same process I so often use for my nature drawings. Just making a quick gestural drawing with graphite or ink, adding a few details, and then not painting with watercolor, but just adding color, and instead of our traditional watercolors, I love using my gansai.

.

I had so much fun with this! As you can see, I added in a “bird-like shape” — that’s the weird doodle in the upper left, and I added a few little flowers in the lower right. And then, Charlie, I’ll be honest. I shut off the computer and went on about my day. I didn’t listen to the rest of the presentation because I didn’t need to. Your fun approach to art and your love of whimsy had brightened my day and helped me overcome the sense of disappointment I’d been feeling earlier.

So, again, thank you, Charlie O’Shields. This little drawing will probably be pulled from my sketchbook and pinned to my bulletin board as a reminder of how much fun we can have with art when we’re willing to just scribble, doodle, and color.