6. study of structure of something’s parts: the study of the structure of anything made up of interconnected or interdependent parts
I have not been here for several weeks due to being busy in other areas of my existence. First, came a nasty summer cold with all the attending hacking, sneezing, and sniffling. Second, was a family crisis with my Mom which continues and will do so for some time. Last of all, my router went out and I had to order and wait for a new one to get back on the Internet.
But, I have found a new word to play with, Morphology, and one of its several definitions is listed above. I, at first, intended to use it to define all the doodling I have been doing. I started out doing Zentangle Mandalas, but that morphed into something else that morphed into yet something different again. It just kept morphing, thus the new word. Before you get completely confused, I’ll give you examples.
Zentangle Mandala 8/12/09
This is the sort of thing I started out to fill my sketch book with. That however, morphed into other images.
Zentangle 8/13/09
And morphed again when I added color and realized that the images were a bit of fantasy.
Fantasy - The Gate 8/25/09
I was happy and content with the word, until an older and far better artist than myself, pointed out that these images could only be two dimensional and therefore couldn’t actually be considered a structure. Semantics!
We did explore other possibilities such as Doodlology (I had to try it four times before I could actually say it, and laughing didn’t help), as well as Scribblosophy, because, of course the images have stories built into them. But, semantics aside, I still am leaning toward my original choice.
During all of this stress and busyness, I continued to fill the pages of my journal as well as my sketchbook. And began to see a definite connection between the two. My journal is written in English, but my sketchbook is an entirely different language, one I am learning and watching expand on a daily basis. I truly want to title the sketchbook The Art of Morphology. Then realized that might be a good title for my journal as well.
My life is morphing with each new day. My consistent journal entries are actually my own study of the structure of my personal existence. The pieces and parts of that existence are definitely interdependent and even, sometimes interchangeable.
I think that the best part of all of this is that my sketchbook is actually another kind of journal. One that is far more deeply connected to my subconscious awareness of what is happening in and around me. One I might have missed entirely if I hadn’t been cataloging my attempts on my daily journal pages. It has been filled with wonderful little surprises and a plethora of connections to all sorts of other things, including some of my poetry from many years ago.
If we allow it, we all grow on a daily basis. We change and become other than we were yesterday or the day before that. In that sense, we morph from one level of existence into others. Being aware, studying those changes, can and does make that process easier at moments. Journal writing and doodling are ways of accomplishing that process. Simple ways that can result in deep satisfaction and also moments of delight.
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