Behind the (not exactly) Scene: Dictionary of my strokes

This one began with a scribble, really, randomly moving my pen over the page.  You can see it in the outline. The froggie on the left was suggested to me by the shape of the area.

Boom asked how i come up with these.
No plan really; i have some
images i like to reuse, and colors i like, though colors aren't really necessary (just fun!)

My "Dictionary"

  A lot of what i do is repetition of the same motifs.

Rosemaling

This one is from some lecture notes.  Often i begin with th swirly strokes; i don't remember which of these two was first.

 Above, i've indicated the place where i likely started.  These are called "C" and "S" strokes, based on the shapes.
  Here's an introduction:
https://www.norwegianamerican.com/features/discover-rosemaling-a-creative-norwegian-adventure/

 Folk Art "Painting"

   Rosemaling is a form of decorative painting.
    i've been drawing and painting most of my life, though it's never been something i do every day..  In the early 1980s, i started folk art/tole painting.  These days, i mainly do the strokes with pencil or pen.
  And i tend to keep at things.  In all the classes i take, at least back when, i was an indifferent painter.
  Anyway, here's site which gives good basic instructions:
https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/craft-projects/how-to-paint-comma-strokes-beginner-folk-art-painting-tutorial/
  There's some free instructional projects and a teacher directory.
If you'd like to find a real, in person teacher, see Ther Society of Decorative Painters https://www.decorativepainters.org/
  In the 80s, i filled LOTS of watercolor books with practice comma strokes.  They were REALLY cruddy, but i didn't let that discourage me.
  There's lots of books and videos out there.  i searched "how to make folk art strokes."  You also might want to look for images by Jo Sonja Jansen, one of the better-known practitioners of the art.  https://josonja.com/pages/test
Generally most painters assume you need paint and brush to do these strokes
https://www.ehow.com/way_5453648_folk-art-painting-techniques.html
but i've done them with pencil and pen for 15, 25 years.  Those tools are handier, and actually easier.  But getting started with them, it would've been easy to get discouraged.  

Zentangle

  The past few years, i've added these "letters" to my doodle dictionary.  You can find LOTS of different "tangle" instructions out there. Here's two of the most comprehensive sites:
https://zentangle.com/pages/glossary
http://tanglepatterns.com/zentangles/zentangle-terminology
  One of the tangle patterns that fascinates me most is called Paradox.  You can see the twisty square within squares designs in the froggy doodle.
 http://tanglepatterns.com/2010/05/how-to-draw-paradox.html
  If you follow this link, you'll see what looks like impossible instructions.  It took me months of filling pages with attempts to get decent ones.  The trick is to simply follow the instructions and do not consider what your end result will be!

The Expert's Touch

   In any area, there's the stuff you know by experience.  Maybe you don't even know how you know it.
 If this looks mysterious, it's not because it some sort of magic.  You haven't been doing it for decades.
  But you learn by doing.
  The clerk who's been on the job a week can get the new guy started, and either of them might need to call a more senior member.
  My point isn't that anyone can learn this weird doodling i do, though that's also true.
  And it applies to - well, probably just about everything!

This is a fantastic story, probably based on a true incident.  You can find it here,
http://qlcomp.com/?p=51story

Another time, i'll post about the "Grammar"