When People Think Ojai and Cartoons, They Inevitably Think 'Colleen

Ojai artist Colleen McDougal says of her long-time Ojai experience, “My grown children used to roll their eyes as kids whenever I was stopped at the grocery store by acquaintances who wanted to chat, and the kids would ask, ‘Is that someone else you went to high school with?’ If you live long enough in one small town, you end up with a reputation whether you were reputation-worthy or not.”

All would agree that McDougal is reputation-worthy. Her talents are many, and she reviews her many faces. First, “Illustrator for hire, and I’m currently considering a collaboration with Ojai Museum to illustrate a memoir book that they are considering re-publishing about a turn-of-lastcentury Ojai founding family.”

She continues. “Caricaturist — I work private parties occasionally and caricature commissions.”

And, she paints. “I am currently building my body of work for a November 2017 gallery show at Ojai Community Bank. I will have paintings in acrylic and watercolor and maybe a wall of humor from my 25+ years of opinion page cartoons from the Ojai Valley News. Maybe some sculpture, too.”

Regarding cartoons, she calls first using that talent to entertain elementary school friends, then, after cartooning in college journalism classes, she began contributing locally. “My Ojai Valley News contribution was my conscious plan to give back to the village that raised me,” McDougal says.

She also gave back through Enchanted Prints, her screen printing business. “We did logo design, print ads and signage, and even offered youth group tours to allow each child to print their own T-shirt.”

McDougal’s repertoire includes metalworking, too. “I was privileged to learn the metalworking trade at my father’s bench: Carl McDougal of Pyramid Manufacturing in Ojai.” There, she became skilled at jewelry die-making and hand engraving. Her expertise led to a commission to create the coins for the film “Batman.” “The Batman movie coin design was in the days before such concepts were developed and rounded out in cyberspace,” she says, “when actual coins had to be minted for use in the movie scene where Two Face tossed Gotham coins on the ground.”

McDougal’s father had other lessons too. “My father explained that I’d never be bored if I kept on learning. So, learning new things has always been my passion.” That passion led her to Ventura College for some classes in the 1970s, but soon she went to work. “I went to work in an ad agency as an artist, and my OJT (on-the-job training) was the best education I ever had.”

Eventually, she did take classes at CSUCI, including animation, which she says has allowed her to introduce the simpler animation concepts to the Ojai Valley children she teaches at the Ojai Recreation Department.

Over the years, McDougal has developed a philosophy. “I have struggled my entire life with understanding the WORTH of being able to produce art — of ‘being an Artist.’ I have never thought of ‘when did I become an artist’? Because I was born bent this way. There was no ‘becoming’ … but there was a disconnect for me trying to understand what’s the big deal? It’s just who I am.”

Being who she is has led to McDougal’s reputation as not just an artist, but as a caring member of the community. “Some nice person will recognize me on the street and start a conversation recalling that my home was the ‘cool house’ where this person spent many hours and overnights as a youth, or they may have come to my screen print business as a kid to print their own T-shirt, and now they are adults.”

It could be said that if you live long enough in one small town, that town can end up with a reputation for you too, and that seems to be the case for McDougal. “I appreciate that Ojai is a place where people seem to loosen up and actually interact with other people. Maybe it is the Energy Lay Lines that some gurus speak of, but I do feel there is an energy that opens up communications here. Ojai is a special place.”

Portions of this interview were reprinted from the November 2016 issue. Here’s an update:

McDougal continues to exercise her creative muscles. “When the shutdown happened in 2020, the timing coincided with my decision to retire from teaching. I had spent five years enjoying teaching art at Montessori School of Ojai and teaching Basic Animation through classes at Ojai Recreation Department and at Valley Oak Charter School. I had already retired myself from drawing a weekly cartoon for our local newspaper. I felt that my “body of work” was 25 years of opinion page cartoons and I had dismissed myself so that new talent might step up.”

The isolation year of 202021 led to plenty of time for selfintrospection.”What was my worth now? How can I continue to stay relevant? Ultimately, I gave myself permission to be an ARTIST with no limits. I would say YES to projects that were presented to me for collaboration and I would say YES to artistic flights of fancy. As art therapy, it has been healthy! I’ve drawn cartoons that were completely personal to help me to remember moments in isolation when earwig bugs invaded my house and when lonely moments helped me to see how happy my coffee machine routine made the inanimate object friends that welcomed me each morning. Perhaps it was to convince myself that I wasn’t really going crazy from the lack of human interaction. I drew cartoons to prove that it happened.”

She drew cartoons, and collaborated with others on their projects that required illustration, and sculpted, too.

And she painted. “The painting time allows me to escape while standing in my makeshift studio that used to be a dining room. I figured it might be a few years before I’d be hosting family or friends around a dinner table, so set up your easel and have at it.”

“My favorite painting so far is “Coming Home Again” which depicts downtown Ojai in an early morning light on a wintry day, with snow on the Topa Topas. There is a single vehicle on Ojai Avenue. How many years has it been since I’ve seen that? This painting resonates with old folks my age and even with newer residents. I feel privileged to have had that inspiration flood me, and to have developed the skills to download it though my brush and acrylic paint., Thank you, Universe.”

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