Do Artists Blog Anymore???

 "Cat Loves Bird Loves Cat"

Long, long ago (January 1st, 2006 to be precise!) I started my very first blog. I called it Simple Blessings... an arty blog that gave me the opportunity to capture my everyday thoughts and feelings and illustrate them with my doodles. Really, it was the first place where I shared my art publicly... and that was a very BIG deal back then for this shy, introverted artist!

I learned a lot from that blog!... the value of telling my story, even the small seemingly insignificant things.... that I really DID like to write... that it was worth it to take the risk and put myself and my art "out there," even when it wasn't perfect. I "met" other art bloggers and for the first time, developed a sense of creative community. And I even learned a little bit of HTML too!

Eventually, I decided to stop posting in SimpleBlessings and I started the PholkartStudio blog instead. If I remember correctly, I ran into "technical difficulties" with the darker background and white type I'd used in my old blog. Another lesson for me on the blogging learning curve!

I can't say that I was a regular blogger back then... but I did post quite a lot whenever the mood struck over the years. And it always gave me JOY!

Fast forward to the present...

Instagram became the "next great thing" and it seemed like art bloggers were abandoning their blogs in favor of this very visual (and fun!) platform. I held off on jumping on the Instagram bandwagon for a while... but eventually I caved and hopped on Instagram too. And my blog was put aside and got very DUSTY!!!

But lately I've been feeling the pull to get back to blogging. I quit Facebook a while back (that' a whole 'nother story!) and Instagram just isn't feeding the writer in me. I guess I miss blogging... but I'm wondering...

Are there any Art Bloggers out there anymore???

I sure hope so, 'cause I'd really love to find them!

** The painting "Cat Loves Bird Loves Cat" was created by me. You can find other whimsical & quirky paintings like this one in my Etsy shop, PholkartStudio!

'Tis The Week After Christmas...

...and somehow, in all the travelings afar and gatherings at home and tree decorating and cookie baking and present wrapping and talking and laughing with the ones we love and dog-sitting for my son's Great Dane and eating waaaaay too much delicious holiday food and doing a thousand loads of laundry and about the same amount of dishes....

... I'm just now getting around to showing you the paintings I made for my Etsy shop to celebrate Christmas this year.

First up is "Jolly Old Saint Nick." I had never painted a Santa before, so I was really excited about creating him!  :)  I used an original sketch I'd drawn and painted him with acrylics on a 5x7 inch canvas panel. The background is a soft gold I mixed up, with gold dots on top. I really like the contrast of his dark red suit and hat against the background. Wonder what could be inside that present he's holding???... I'm kinda in love with his cute little grin!

The second Christmas painting I made was based on an illustration I'd created several years ago... "Away In A Manger."

This one was also painted on a 5x7 flat panel canvas. It's simple and a little "quilty" and sweet... just the star that led the shepherds to the baby Jesus, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

What an amazing event!!... Who could ever have imagined God's gift to us!!???
 

Finally, this is the canvas I painted for an Christmas tree ornament this year.

I never did get a photo of the ornament on my Christmas tree before the season was over... so this scan will have to do! The background is a 2x4 inch flat panel canvas that was painted bright white and flecked with gold. I hand lettered the word "Rejoice" with a black fine point water-based Sharpie paint pen, and painted the heart a deep red inside the letter "O". I finished it by gluing white string to the back of the canvas, covered the back with white cardstock and signed it.

So that's it!... My Christmas 2017 RoundUp of Etsy paintings!!  :)

And, since today happens to be January 1st of 2018, I'd like to wish YOU a very Happy New Year filled with Love, Joy, Hope, and Creativity!!

Hello July 2017!

Photo Credit from Pixabay: Workandapix

Happy July Friends!... Here I am, once again dusting off my neglected blog. It's been a year and a half since I've written (insert emoji with eyes rolling here!). After taking a looong break from Etsy while my husband Joe & I were helping to care for his mom, I'm now gearing up to reopen my shop again (hopefully pretty soon!).

"The Lemonade Stand"

Last time my Etsy shop, PHOLKART*STUDIO, focused on digital stamps for cardmaking. But this time, I'll be offering something completely brand new! I have fallen in love with acrylic painting!!... and I'm having the best.time.ever drawing my cute little illustrations on canvas panels and painting them with yummy, colorful acrylic paints!  :)

I'm also experimenting with creating hand painted ornaments. The tiny yellow house in the upper right corner of my blog is one of those ornaments! I've got that one hanging in my studio right now for inspiration. And I made the "quilty" star below for a sweet friend who is a quilt-lover just like I am!

As always, my blog is a work in progress (like I am!). I'd be honored if you'd like to follow along with me on my art journey. If you'd like to receive email updates about my new blog entries, there's a little form at the top where you can do that. And as always, I'd LOVE to hear from YOU! :)

Blessings & Happy Creating!!

Patti

Fast-Forward to Wintertime...

Photo Credit: Sharon Ang on Pixabay

Last time I wrote, it was July and I was exercise walking in my neighborhood, happily taking iPhone pictures of purple cone flowers by my neighbor's white picket fence. And then... well Patti, what happened after that...???

I'd like to have a really incredible story to tell you about being abducted by aliens or being marooned on a deserted island without my computer to keep my blog up-to-date... but nothing that bizarre or amazing has happened to me in the past six months. The fact is... Life Simply Happened, and I'm just now getting back to this blog that I love (*wink!*).

If you're wondering about the penguins... we're experiencing a bit of a Polar Vortex here in North Carolina once again. After a balmy Christmas Day, today's temps crept into the low 4o's & tonight will head back down into the 20's (not quite penguin weather, but hey!... pretty darn close!).

As for me... I'm trying to re-establish my arty routine & looking forward to filling the shelves of my Etsy shop, PholkartStudio, with lots of whimsical new art in 2016!  :)

"First Snow"

Find Me On Flickr

"Animal Kingdom"

For a long time now, I've wanted to create a 'gallery' of my illustrations so I could share them here on my blog. But Blogger ...which I love 'cause it's so easy!... good old Blogger just doesn't have an 'app' for that.

So... I went back to my old flickr account, which was dusty & neglected... did some major housecleaning... and set up new PholkartStudio albums to show off my art, especially art I'm creating for the Doodle-a-Day challenge (having so much fun with that!).

"EIEIO"

Right now, I have some "Oldies But Goodies" illustrations there from my first blog (circa 2006!), along with a bunch of ACEO's (Artist Trading Cards) I created to sell in my Etsy shop, PholkartStudio (currently on an extended vacation to some undisclosed tropical paradise or other exotic location... haha!). No doubt this little 'gallery' will evolve over time. But for now, I'm just happy to have a little 'home' where my art can stay... and you can visit. And I really do hope you will!  :)

Rainy Days and Mondays...

So... It's been one of 'those' days. Foggy, drizzly & cold outside... and I've been at home trying to find my cleaning enthusiasm while conquering our mountain of dirty laundry. (Really!... where does all that dirty laundry come from anyway??). Folding the (now) clean mountain of laundry, then walking the dog in my yellow raincoat... I wonder what we're having for dinner tonight. Aside from the yucky weather, it's been a pretty normal Monday at our house.

Most Mondays I eventually get my 'engine' revved up. I make a big pot of coffee, treat myself to a piece of dark chocolate, & turn some 'coffee house' music on Pandora... or maybe some Amy Grant or James Taylor. Happy music... Comfort music... 'Music to get things done by'. But today, the 'blahs' have followed me around the house all the day long... 'Blah, blah, blah blah blah!'

And then it hits me!... What better way to chase away my 'meh' feeling than to give it a face... and maybe a cozy pair of pink bunny slippers & a nice cup of hot coffee in an 'I Love You' mug.

And so I did!  :)

This is #5 in my Doodle mini-challenge... just something quick & fun I'm doing to help me get my drawing 'mojo' back. I think it just might be working.  :) 

Illustration Friday - IF: Swim

For years I've played with the idea of submitting some of my silly doodles for Illustration Friday's weekly topics... but yes, I've always been a bit too shy! Today though, when I saw that this week's topic is SWIM, I remembered an ACEO I made a while back that I thought would fit the challenge...

This art card is called "Here Fishy Fishy." It measures the standard 2.5"x3.5" and was created using Copic markers & Prismacolor pencils.

I have a special love for this tiny piece of art since the little boy with his tousled red hair reminds me so much of my youngest son when he was little!   :)

Welcome Spring!!

Photo Courtesy Big Stock Photos

I don't know about you... but SPRING could not come quickly enough for me this year!!

Now, I know as a "North Carolina Gal" I really have no room to complain! While the Northeast was being covered repeatedly by snow this winter, we were mostly just cold & soggy, with day after day of gray skies... Nothing multiple layers of warm clothes & an extra pair of wooly socks couldn't cure! Oh!... and LOTS of hot coffee!!   ;)

Truth be told, Wintertime is always challenging for me. Like so many other artists, I struggle with depression... and there's nothing like soaking up some early spring sunshine to lift my spirits! My studio is on the south side of our home... definitely the best place to be year 'round to catch Mother Nature's warm glow when the sun does peek out!

"Kite Flying Lessons"

Back one gray day this past winter, when I was especially yearning for spring, I asked my arty friends on facebook if they could suggest some SPRING Ideas that I could illustrate. I really needed some help in pulling my imagination out of winter's chill & back to warmer weather. And they gifted me with a loooong list of inspiration!... as well as the encouragement that YES!, there would be spring again!

...And that's how "Kite Flying Lessons" was "born"... An itty-bitty piece of artwork that reminded me again of my need for the encouragement of creative friends and the hope of SPRING! 

Unplugged

Recently, my husband & I took a very rainy trip up to see his mom, where she lives on the family farm. I took this picture of the light in our bedroom window... Somehow, the warm light seemed especially inviting on that cold, rainy evening!

In some ways, life at the farm is still untouched by time. Things are the way they always have been... well, not really! But the pace of life is definitely slower & it's not hard at all to feel closer to Mother Nature with all her moods & beauty.

One thing that is definitely missing there... The internet has not found its' way to the farm (nor do I expect it to get there for a very long time!). Even our cell phones struggle to keep from dropping their calls!  ;)

And so, I've come to find that the farm can be the perfect place to snuggle up with a cup of tea, enjoy the quietness, & doodle in my sketchbook without distraction.

Here are some recent "Farm Doodles"... Just having fun with some autumn themes. The "Peace Dove" sketch will no doubt become a Christmas card design in the months to come...

I'm looking forward to watching as these simple sketches become little pieces of colorful art!... It still feels like a magical process to me!  :)

Farm Doodles © Patti Moore

A Little Rainy Day Work-In-Progress

My sweet husband surprised me this past Christmas with an iPhone! (Thank you, hon!)  He knew I had wanted to take pics & share them more easily on the web. I'm still working on getting the focus right, but here goes with a little work-in-progress from my art desk!...

Since last fall, I've gone "back to basics" art-wise... which for me is creating small format original illustrations, especially ACEO's (artist trading cards which measure 2.5"x3.5"). I've learned that I love little projects... I get bored & restless when an art project takes too long. Seems I'm always eager to move on to the next fun idea!  ;)

I'm also back to my "first love" art materials... a mechanical pencil with a kneaded eraser, a fine-tipped Micron pen, my rainbow of Prismacolor pencils, and a wonderful mix of Copic & Prismacolor markers... Just love being surrounded by all those yummy colors!  :)

This ACEO ended up being a bit of a "Stop & Go Project" as I fit my art time in around the rest of life! I finally got it finished & listed in my Etsy shop yesterday...

Say hello to "Rainy Day Friends."

"Rainy Day Friends"