Welcome. This is my painting, "Doodledark 01."
This piece began as a technical experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if I started with random shapes and colours and let the painting evolve on its own, without a pre-planned design. I used acrylic ink, a medium that allows for both flat, saturated colours and precise, defined lines. As I began, the forms started to grow and connect, one leading to the next, quickly forming a face.
The title, "Doodledark," reflects this process. The "doodle" refers to the unplanned, intuitive way the forms emerged, while "dark" hints at the rich colours and the subconscious, internal world that the painting came to represent.
A primary goal of this work was to create something that a fellow autistic person, or "Aspie," could understand on an intuitive level. When I've shown this painting to others on the spectrum, a common reaction has been, "That's what's in my mind." This response suggests that the painting effectively conveys a shared cognitive and sensory experience.
The intricate details, repetitive patterns, and dense, interconnected forms are not chaotic. They represent a mind that is highly organised, where every piece of information and every sensory input is given equal weight. The intense, unblended colours and sharp lines can be seen as a visual metaphor for how I, and others on the spectrum, often experience the world—as a collection of distinct, vivid data points rather than a blended whole.
"Doodledark" is a map of an inner world, a self-contained system with its own logic. It is a piece of non-verbal communication, a visual language for those who are attuned to its specific kind of order and complexity.