ARTIST’S STATEMENT – GAIL MCNAUGHTON (February 29, 2008)
WHO IS FLOWERCAT ™ & FRIENDS
Flowercat ™ & Friends are symbols of peace and harmony. They reach out to the world to offer peace through their gentleness and friendship. There are specific characters that are intertwined in one another’s lives – Angelica the Angel/Woman, Flowercat ™, Sammy the Snake, Grapeapathia, Pow Wow the Sheep Dog, Dogflower, Chili-Chikka the Bird, Priscilla the Pig, Cornacopia, Ollie the Owl, Eli the Eagle, Chocó-Cat, and others that are constantly being developed. It is my belief that these doodle art characters can bridge the gap for world peace by bringing a softened heart to each and every person. When we feel love we can give love. The symbols of hearts and the gratitude symbol “G” invoke calm and serenity as I draw them. The energy of love that is put into each drawing radiates outward through time and space to reach those in need for where intention goes, energy flows. I am divinely guided to draw and use my magic markers and I hope that I inspire you to find your own voice through art.
My vision for people is to look inside themselves and find their passion and go ahead and do it. A passion is something that gives your life meaning and makes you get up every morning. My Flowercat ™ and Friends characters live and breathe within me. They were developed out of a creative spirit who was feeling alone. By them being born on paper, out of my head, they have become my confidants and best friends. They are my children. They are a part of who I am as a person for I created them out of the very depth of my being and a great need to not abandon myself in the face of adversity around me with what was happening in the world and very close to home. My Mother had lost both her legs to diabetes, had several amputations, moved from home to a retirement home and then on to a long-term-care facility and I was two hours away. At times I was feeling homesick and didn’t know how I could help. Flowercat ™ came to me and has inspired me out of my feeling of loneliness and abandonment and shown me a way to help. My Mother was also inspired by my doodle art characters and at times she became Flowercat ™ and personal drawings were done to celebrate her life. At 91, at the end of her life, I am feeding her like the Mother Bird feeds the baby so a lot of my drawings have taken on real activities that I’ve been doing in my life today. They are one way of healing my heart from the loss that I am feeling but the longevity of her in my heart. Dementia of a parent really takes them away.
Flowercat ™ & Friends have voices and want to be part of society’s evolution to a more peaceful nature and speak to the world by spreading Joy, Love, Gratitude and Good Will.
WHEN AND WHY DOES A DOODLE ARTIST DOODLE?
I doodle all the time and have spent countless long hours drawing and colouring. Art can be doodled in the car, sitting in bed at night, sitting in a hospital room, in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep, sitting on a long flight, watching TV or any time that you really want to. I have one rule and that is that any so called mistake cannot be a mistake and has to be turned into something else. So far, I have not destroyed one drawing.
Doodling taps into creative sources that sometimes seem foreign. Doodling has made me laugh, cry, shifted my mood and lightened my spirit. I have had revelations of information and solved problems in a very creative way just by letting my imagination flow. By drawing the same things over and over again they often give you new interpretations and a new perspective. I sometimes sleep with my doodle art and awaken refreshed and motivated by my pictures. A routine in our household has been for me to put each picture in my husband’s business mail box so that he can have a peek at what I am up to. After he looks at them, they are given back to me to file by date. These albums are accumulating and are as meaningful as photo albums as they are a glimpse of where I am in space and time and what my beliefs are. When I am traveling and in foreign countries or in new situations I find that I incorporate the culture into the drawings so this gives me a glimpse of where I’ve been. I also doodle while in training classes and at seminars and when I come home I make books out of my notes and artwork so when I reread my notes the drawings are there as a spirit of good will and are watching over my learning and living.
When you create something internally you really take on the nature of what you’ve done and you become your creation in mind, body and soul. It is my greatest gift to help heal the world in my own way, at my own speed and in the context of my own self expression and for that I honour my soul.
The Birth of Flowercat
January 21, 2007
On a wintry night,
There was a pounding at the door.
I put the lights on,
And sitting on the front porch,
Was a present,
That had a card that read,
“Only one who believes,
Should open this box,
For it contains magic.”
The red bow was enticing,
And I traced it with my finger.
I swear the lid popped up,
When I knelt beside it,
And put my face close.
Was this a jack-in-the-box?
I reached inside,
And there at my fingertips,
Was a round snow globe.
There was a white ball,
Emerged in fluid just floating aimlessly.
It intrigued me.
Compassion flew in my heart,
And feeling like the globe must be cold,
I held the sphere in my hands,
And watched it like a believer.
My hands became warm almost immediately,
And I felt such an attachment to the globe.
It was like an embelic cord.
Before my eyes,
The white ball started to spin,
In the sea of clear soup,
In its home in the globe.
Like blowing up a balloon,
The embryo took shape,
And I smiled watching what appeared to be
…Birth…
A head, two furry ears, 5 petals around the face,
Two furry paws with nails, a nose, eyes, mouth,
Long eye lashes under and over the eyes.
I was enamored.
I was a Mother.
This heaven sent creation,
Hung in animation,
And smiled at me,
From her self contained world.
When I shook the ball,
It snowed and,
Her lashes and whiskers,
Got coated with snowflakes,
But with another flick of my wrist,
And a twirl of the globe,
The snow swirled faster and faster,
And my little newborn was dancing.
It was magical,
And she looked like a ballerina,
And the next, a tap dancer.
In my heart,
I could feel her urge to jump out,
And sit in my lap.
She just stared with those sapphire eyes,
And I was caught in the moment,
Mesmerized by my fate,
For what had I done to deserve this honour.
I watched spots appear,
One by one, on her petals,
All in different colours.
Then a heart announced itself,
Sat on one petal and painted itself red.
Another heart appeared at her paws,
Which she stretched forth to me.
It warmed my soul as it sent thoughts,
Of pure love, harmony and joy,
To the core of my being.
Her tail began to grow,
And became a lush vine,
Filled with flowers, leaves and berries.
It just took root,
And circled the snow globe,
Blossoming and growing where it traveled.
I wound the crank on the base of the snow globe,
And to my delight,
It turned on a magic light show.
The pool was purple, then green, then blue,
And Flowercat that I named her,
Pulsated with brilliant white light.
Her love radiated beyond the snow globe,
Out through my heart,
To every living creature, plant and animal.
There was such an infusion of harmony,
That happiness multiplied.
The peace of the moment,
Became the peace of the world,
And the lushness of living,
And the symmetry of the world,
Was readjusted just by one small,
Gesture from Flowercat,
Who ignited her whole heart,
Into believing in the survival of the world,
That the body of the world followed in pursuit.
That’s what love is all about.
Flowercat had been created by God,
To bring peace and harmony to the world,
And limitless opportunities for us,
To blend together in true love.
In this moment of joy that I and the rest experienced,
Flowercat walked through the snow globe,
Hopped onto my lap,
Had a nice long nap,
And now resides in my mind’s eye.
She brings her gestures of love to the world,
When we have communion,
And I set pen to paper,
And draw her in vignettes.
Her voice is strong and she initiates intuitiveness,
And through one drawing at a time,
The world will be healed,
As she radiates her love willingly,
To mankind.
(Flowercat was created in 2006 as part of a dream)
Gail McNaughton, Canadian Poet & Doodle Artist