CREATING AESTHETICS IN PAINTING USING DOODLES

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Author

Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
This research considers the possibilities of creating aesthetics in painting using doodle. The main thrust is to establish a new mode of artistic expression in painting by recreating the doodles made by a select number of people, while the objectives include to, identify images in doodles, explore line and texture as design elements inherent in doodles, explore the various techniques that could be employed to create visual space for doodles in the paintings, create paintings adopting doodle images in their original form, create painting compositions combining different doodle images, and create paintings, drawing inspiration from doodles. Doodling is a mode of expression that is made on a surface; it is an exercise that is regarded as aimless and undecipherable and therefore, its products eventually are discarded and end up in the dustbin. The researcher?s intention was to elevate the status of doodles from objects of waste, to adorable and desirable elements of aesthetics. The research was inspired by the psychoanalysis theories of Sigmund Freud relating to unconscious and sub conscious states of the human mind. The researcher discovered that doodling, dream and fantasy act as connecting links between the conscious and the unconscious and also that Surrealism as an art movement was inspired by dream and fantasy which are both offshoots of the unconscious, and also that doodling is spontaneous and is generated from the realm of sub consciousness. He therefore considered Surrealism and Spontaneous paradigms as major theoretical ideas suitable to conceptualize the visual thoughts for this research. Literature was reviewed to ascertain the level of people?s use of doodle to create artworks. Attempts were also made to establish the fact that artists in Nigeria have variously explored and adapted line, which is a major attribute of doodle in creating works of art, especially of ulism and onaism which are two of the prominent artistic movements among Nigerian artists, but none have explored doodle as a viii directional focus. The research method adopted was action research in practice-based methodology, which is a way of knowledge that brings ideas, theories and action together with the aim of creating practical knowing. The studio experiments were divided into two parts, exploration and development of form. The exploration of form considered preliminary studies which formed the basis for the development of form. The different stages of studio practice also systematically provided answers to the various research questions raised to actualize the research aim and objectives. At the conclusion of the research, it was discovered that doodle images abound everywhere especially in solitary and public places like toilets, library tables and chairs, office walls and commuter buses. Literature reviewed revealed that many artists adapted other forms of images and subject matter to explore their interest for doodling which negated the actual meaning and characteristics of doodle. Paintings created during the exploration of various techniques during preliminary study III, could on their own stand for finished artworks; an example is Celestial Imagery. The research, “Creating Aesthetics in Painting using Doodles” has contributed to knowledge through establishing the possibilities of a shift of artistic thematic representation from conscious to subconscious attributes; advancing visual means of transforming doodles into a creative visual expression in Nigerian painting; opening up a visual dialogue for artists, the creative possibilities beyond man?s state of consciousness.