Christmas 2025 Doodles

amthomaspaintings
Jan 18
2 min read

Back in December, I was aware that my creative mojo was waning a little – it was maybe the longer evenings or just that time of year but I could feel the creepies trying to undermine my spirit so...I served myself a dose of my own medicine.

I set myself a little task and made myself accountable to my email subscribers by promising them that over Christmas week, while outdoors, I’d take a little sketching kit with me and spend some time creating quick 5-10min sketches, one a day from 24^th December to 2^nd January (inclusive).

As promised back then, this is the Warts 'n All Show & Tell.

On the first day, I recorded some short videos, more as a proof that I was actually doing what I promised to do. While playing the videos back to check for swearing before making them available to view, I was amazed by the knowledge in my ramblings; I was rambling because I was uncomfortable with the camera rolling but there were valuable nuggets for me in those ramblings.

The thoughts that became gentle reminders

Video 01

Working on several isn’t a chore, it’s a necessity for me to stop me from fussing.
It’s ok to be disappointed with the outcome.
5 minutes is actually a long time so there is time to s.l.o.w down.

Video 02

I know what I like and I need to respond to this more.
Upside down is sometimes more interesting.
Do not fiddle once you’ve got something you like (for heavens sake!)

Video 03

I like painting outside.
But it needs to be away from everyone.
I don’t need permission to bend the rules I’ve set for myself.

A life of it's own

Experience told me that if I just showed up for those 5-minutes a day that I wouldn't be disappointed; that there would be at least one little doodle that would make me happy.

By day 3 I was carrying on at home, painting from my memory, adding more colour, making changes, just having fun and what do you know...an idea started to form for a project I'm looking at right now.