Marion Arts Festival is Virtual This Year and I Contributed a Make and Take Project!

 

Happy Thursday morning, friends!  We just made it through a couple of nights below freezing....brrrr.  I think most of my plants survived, thank goodness.  Let's hope that's enough of that nonsense for the remainder of April.  I know a few of you got some snow.....and I sympathize!!! Somehow we missed the snow...whew! 

Just a quick pop in to share with you a recent article about the Marion Arts Festival!  It would've been Saturday, May 15th, but to be on the safe side, it's going virtual this year.  So for a month, they've planned all sorts of fun and festivities ONLINE!  I've contributed a make and take Mother's Day card project.  100 local kiddos can pick up goody bags at the Marion library, and they can follow along with me to create a one of a kind card for Mom.  It was a BLAST working on this project!  If you want to see the video, click on "My Videos" here on my site, and you should find it near the top of the listings.  

And to read the whole article about what M.A.F. is offering this year, click HERE.

I really feel like "sprucing" around the house.  Spring does that to me.  There are lots of what I call "medium to large sized projects" waiting for me to tackle, such as repainting the stairs with a funky design, cleaning out and repainting a couple of closets, spiffying up the patio and some furniture re-dos. BUT.....I've got a lot of work to do, and shows coming up, so they will have to wait for now.  For now, I indulge in little sprucing projects, like picking up flowers at Trader Joes, and putting them in a platter with my heart rock collection on the dining room table.  Making them front and center again makes me happy.  I can tell you where most of the hearts have come from...each with their own happy memory.  

It makes me smile as I walk past, on my way to kitchen chores.  There are ALWAYS kitchen chores.  Have you noticed that?  Sigh.  Happy Earth Day!  See you again soon!  -Dori

My Word a Day Journal and Pop Up Shop Coming Soon!

 

Good morning pals!  Happy Friday!  We've had cool and cloudy weather this week....and I'm so happy to see the sun shining brightly this morning!  It's supposed to warm up enough later today, that I'll leave the back studio door open for the doggies to come and go.  They love that!  I love this part of spring before the bugs come out.  It's such a narrow window.  Ha!  

How are you?  The Patricks are plugging along.  I can't believe we are halfway through April already.  Eeeek.  There's yard work to be done.  I'm hoping to tackle some of that this weekend.  Our old boy, chocolate lab turned 11 a few days ago.  We are nursing his back leg.  He seems to have tweaked it, so he's on some meds and lots of rest, which doesn't seem to bother him much.  

Alright, on to the news!  I'm prepping for my first retail event of the year....a GREAT BIG, teeny tiny pop up art show!  Details above.  I'll be hanging out in the Marion Chocolate Shop, which is SO MUCH FUN!  BIG THANKS to Gae and Deane for letting me take over their space for the day!  All of the artwork in this show will be SMALL.  Nothing larger than 5x7.  It's going to be fun!  If you're in the area, I hope you'll swing by and say hi!

If you follow me on social media, you probably already know about my "word a day" journal.  I'm taking an old journal used to record workouts (that was hardly used last year because of the pandemic...haha), and I'm doing quick five minute "entries".  Each entry is a swoosh of paint, some scribbles, a few other marks, a piece of collage, and a word that comes to mind.    I'll share a few examples here....but you can see them all on my Instagram page: @patrickdori and on my Facebook page: Dori Patrick Art.  

These have been a great warm up exercise in the studio for me.  It's good to just get your hands moving, and also nice to have a word to focus on for the day.  A good mantra never hurts, does it? 

I hope you are all doing well, friends!  Stay strong and take good care of one another.

Until next time!  -Dori

Rainy Sunday Morning in March

 

Hi pals!  Happy Sunday morning!  We had a LOVELY day yesterday...sunshine, and warm temps.  We grilled our dinner on the back patio, and I read a magazine out there with a little blanket on my shoulders.  All of the snow is melted now, and we are so glad.  The pups and I spent as much time out there as we could.  The downside.....it's mud season in the backyard.  We have a bath towel next to both front and back doors, so I can attempt to wipe their paws before they come barging back into the house.  In the photo above, they had just "unstuffed" a few of their toys.  When I'm not cleaning up mud, I'm picking up toy innards.  It's a good life.  

I'm starting to find my creative mojo again....I've been dabbling in some art journaling every day.  Even if it's just a scribble or two, it helps me get back into the groove.  We still are not sure how the 2021 art show season is going to go.....but I've gotta get moving anyhow, and get my inventory back up to snuff.  If things go as we hope they will, I'll have something fun to share soon about the month of May, and then the next big in person show will be in late June in Des Moines.  But...we'll see.  

I'm still dabbling in clay.  I'm figuring out my process, and how to express MY STYLE in clay.  That's been a fun and exciting challenge for me.  When you try something new, your senses come alive.  You know what I mean? And I've met some really great, helpful folks down at the Ceramics Center, who are happy to answer my millions of questions.  Ha!  I really love the pot shown above.  I'm into the bright colors, but with a little "grunge" as well.  This pot was made by throwing every single idea at it....ha!  I really was experimenting with the texture, and some wonkiness. (is that a word?) 

In other news, Newbo Shops at 208 is now called Newbo Shops at Heart House!  They've moved to the Heart House, located at 1301 3rd St SE in Cedar Rapids.  And it's SO CHARMING and adorable!  If you are in the Cedar Rapids area, make a point to stop by and shop handmade.  The new space is full of light, and it's so cozy in there.  I just love it.  Here are some recent pics of my new space there.  My greeting cards are finally all stocked up, and I'm working on some small paintings to fill the wall up.

Those fabric word banners have been a lot of fun to make!  I'm working on painting some more fabric for my stash, so I can whip out some more.  If you're not local, I'm also filling up the Etsy shop, slowly but surely.    Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings today.  I hope you are feeling happy and hopeful about spring. Keep moving your hands, staying creative, and keep smiling.  Cheers, D

My Tiny Journal Collab with my Friend Gae!

 

My friend Gae and I love collaborating!!! Here's a peek at our on-going tiny journal trade that progressed over the course of this lockdown winter. We each have an itty bitty journal, made by Sugar and Boo (look them up! Good stuff!) We passed them back and forth....I did painting, collage and mark making. Gae added fibers, stitches and beads. This is our final pass before we possess our original journals to finish. Here are a few of my current favorite bits in Gae's journal before I hand it back to her. Thanks for encouraging us....it's a fun thing to do with a creative friend!

Happy Thursday, pals. Hope you are doing well. There's a light at the end of this COLD BLASTED tunnel. We are expecting a high of seventeen today! Woo hoo! Unzip your coat! Open the windows! Throw your scarf in the snowbank! (Just kidding, I won't do those things until it's at least thirty degrees.)

Okay, Let's Do This!

 

Happy Hump Day, friends!  How's it going?  We are almost through January...so that's something, isn't it?  We have birthdays in our family during February and March, which help us get through the rest of winter with a little more joy.  But it always feels good to get January dealt with.  Earlier this week, we had a pretty major snow fall....it was so pretty!  And the snow was light and fluffy, so it was easy to shovel.  For that, we are thankful.

Thought I would pop in with a quick hello and show you my latest design that's been added to the Zazzle shop.  I figured "Okay, let's do this" was a good mantra for a new year.  THIS NEW YEAR especially.  I love how these products turned out.  The mug and notebooks are my favorites...but truly, they are all fun!  If you've like to add some of these goodies to your every day routine for inspiration, you can click HERE to arrive in my Zazzle shop.  I'm off to the local ceramics center to finish up some pots and sculpt some sacred hearts.  More on that later.  Toodles, Dori

New Fabric Designs on Spoonflower!

Hi pals!  Happy Wednesday (and inauguration day).  How are you?  We woke up early for the gym this morning to find single digit temps....brrr.  Truth be told, the winter hasn't been too bad...so we can take it, I think.  We have a couple more days of sunshine and highs in the 30's during the day, and then I'm told it will plummet again.  I better get to playing with those pups in the yard before the big freeze.  The pups and I carve out a little time every day after lunch to go in the back yard and romp.  Callie Mae is a ball fetcher, while the old boy, Bosco, is a perimeter checker.  Sometimes he will get his blood up and break into a jog if you pick up a stick that he wants.  

Anywho!!  On to the news!!!  I'm HAPPY to share that my Spoonflower shop is finally up and running!  My designs on fabric!  It's so much fun!!!  I'm introducing three designs right now...and I'm hoping (heh heh...fingers crossed) I can get a few more designs done as the year goes on.  

"Colorful Heart Grid" is, of course, the one you see on the left in the pic below.  It's a reproduction of one of my mixed media paintings, using acrylics and collage papers.  I bought a big hunk of that one in the petal signature cotton.  I'm thinking a skirt....but also think the pattern will lend itself to being stitched into other fun little crafty projects, like art dolls and pillows.  We'll see.

The other two prints are mixed media abstracts I created a while back on paper.   "Smoky Morning Sky" contains ranges of grays and pinks with little surprises like lime, yellow and tiny bits of red.  "Changing Course" is predominantly shades of green and aqua, with a touch of hot pink, black and yellow.  I love how these worked out too....even the pencil and crayon scribbles show!  I ordered fat quarters of cotton of those two, so I'll probably cut those up and put them in small stitching projects as well.  

Spoonflower is a wonderful company to work with.  The quality of the cotton that I ordered is just lovely.  I haven't washed it yet, but the reviews I've heard indicate this is up there with a cotton from a quality fabric store.  

Would you like to shop?  Click HERE to reach my Spoonflower shop.

Happy Almost New Year! See you on the other side!

Good evening, pals!  We are almost to the end of 2020!  Good on you for making it this far!  Of course, I don't need to tell you what a challenge and a struggle it has been.  A growing list of my dear friends have lost loved ones to this pandemic, and it is so heartbreaking.  I just cannot find the words....it's all too much, really. I count myself a fortunate one to still be blessed with my loved ones at my side, my good health and a warm home.  My husband and I have been able to continue our work....we both already worked from home, and really love the simplicity of it.  But there's something different all together about not feeling safe to venture out for the fun, isn't it?   

We're managing. We've adjusted our sails, slowed down, and found delight in the small things.  I dare say we appreciate more.  So much more than ever.  And we are trying to let people know we love them when we can.  I personally am finding respite in the simple act of creating a little something every day.  While I've missed the art shows and seeing my wonderful customers and friends in person, I've enjoyed the slower pace, void of too many deadlines.  I'm following my creative muse wherever she decides to lead me.  I'm enjoying exploring different mediums.  I've dusted off the old sewing machine again, and have had a blast stitching painted canvas banners, prayer flags and other goodies.  I took a ceramics class in November to refresh my skills, and JUST LOVE IT! I'm spending a few hours a week at the local community potter's studio, where I soak up all the inspiration and nuggets of wisdom that I can.  I'm having fun with some online courses as well...in painting, mixed media and ceramics.  I'm hoping to spend the rest of the winter just soaking in the processes of other artists and learning some new techniques.  I find that's such a good way to recharge the creative batteries.

My gratitude goes out to all of you, dear readers, friends, supporters, cheerleaders, customers and all around kick ass people.  Thanks for making 2020 more bearable, and helping me to see how truly blessed I am.  I look forward to writing and creating more in the new year.  May this note find you happy, healthy and full of hope.  Happy New Year.  -Dori