When the lights go down in the city...

...and the sun shines on the bay-y..."  Can you hear Steve Perry's sexy voice flowing in the background while you journey through Jaiya's beautiful doodle?  On the surface I see (and hear) an ode to San Francisco, our City by the Bay. 

But Jaiya, an architect and feng shui practitioner in San Francisco, was on the phone discussing the business and practice of feng shui while she doodled this.   

Growing from the San Francisco title on the notepad,  the composition of bridge, sea, sail boats and fog float in attention to the commanding sun.  If you look hard enough, off to the left you'll even see a siren conducting the undulating rhythm of this composition.   

Where the depth of this doodle transits from the shore to the deep sea, is with the few words its author chose to write on the edges of her composition, "WITH THE CHAOS OF SELF."  But it's funny, when I look at her doodle, what might be tempting to say is a chaotic, stormy ocean, to me is really a beautifully rhythmic musical composition and is actually inspiring me to go deep and get back in touch with my own creativity!

Do you see a difference when comparing Jaiya's doodle with the other architects? 

If so, why do you think that is? 

Do you want a martini with that olive?

KB, an extraordinary architect, submitted doodles of such artistic talent that I had to fervently quiz him to ensure that they were, in fact, doodles.  KB ensured me that they were all drawn during staff meetings and reflect his wandering subconscious mind while participating in the assembly.

Now, I know KB quite well, and after looking through his doodles I grin when I see some of his common threads...notably The Martini Olive. 

I'm going to post one of many doodles today.  I'm starting with this one because it's a humorous display of the wandering mind during a typical staff meeting.  Look at the bottom of the page.  Those of you who have had to endure less-than-exciting teleconference meetings will recognize what KB drew.  Funny that this was the focus of his attention for however long it took him to draw it.  Glad I wasn't there! 

By the way, how many olives can you count below??  

Color makes the world go 'round

We have another color doodle submitted by our celeb lab planner, GM.  This time, lots of curves and circles, but in his traditional fashion, methodically filled with color.

For some of GM's earlier works, go here.  One thing I know about GM now is that he is probably a very good listener.  He doodles on most of his phone calls and we know from this study done in the UK that he's retaining more information than if he wasn't doodling!

Magic Carpet Ride

Check out these gorgeous visual color weaves from GM, a very talented lab planner.  So far not many people doodle in color and GM's woven, geometric technique is eye-catching. 

GM is a master at artfully fitting many complex elements into tight spaces, which requires the skill to fit and rotate shapes in one's mind while planning a space.  The work is intricate and complex and his doodles seem to reflect this creative talent.

The irony for me is that when I think "LAB," I think clinical and white.  How inspiring to find an exciting burst of colors:

Magic Carpet Ride - Click to Enlarge Detail for a Quilt - Click to Enlarge 

Architect #1: Raffi Z.'s Labyrinths and Soldiers

I'm looking forward to finding out if this is a common theme among architects, but I haven't seen someone use an arrow as well as Raffi!  During one long (2 hours +/-) phone conference call, Raffi drew a labyrinth of arrows, weights and measures...almost like a diagram for a remake of Donkey Kong.  Which way to go and what happens if you take a wrong turn--do you get chopped in half?  Hung from a noose?

It's brilliant!  And  note the comment at the top of the page, "It's a matter of confidence."   

My favorite part of Raffi's doodle series is a drawing that we found a few days later in his notepad:   a little warrior made up of targets and arrows ready for battle.  It's as if this little 7.11 soldier was birthed from the Arrow Matrix, set to slay and clean up the chaos of the labyrinth before him. Scroll down and don't miss it--he's adorable.

Raffi's Pinball Labyrinth...which way to go??

The funny thing is that Raffi did not see the (clearly male) humanoid in his doodle until I pointed it out! That's what I love about doodles. Who knows what you're going to get when you're not consciously thinking about it.

Little 7.11 Soldier, birthed to battle the labyrinth above.  Isn't he cute?!: