A Little Saturday Afternoon Doodling

 

I thought I'd share with y'all the most recent page from my sketchbook. Since Spring seems to be just around the corner, I've been on the look-out for the first signs that Mother Nature is ready to take off her Winter coat and send us some Spring warmth and flowers!...  so "Nature" was my inspiration word for this page.

Often I find that picking a topic or theme word for each sketchbook page helps me to avoid the "fear of the blank white page" that can happen when I'm starting something new. And really, the word that I pick can be anything! 

Looking back in my most recent sketchbook, I've used all kinds of themes to jump-start my drawing... everything from mermaids to space aliens to seasons and holidays. I've got pages about things that make me happy... and pages inspired by our family vacation. Any topic will do!... For me, having a theme is just an easy way to dive in and start doodling!

I think the beauty of keeping a sketchbook is that it provides me with a safe place to experiment. I'm free to explore any idea that I want to. No one is looking over my shoulder, telling me what to do and how to do it. No one will be putting a grade on my doodles. They are just for me... for my learning, for my growth as an artist, for my self expression, and for my fun! And much of the time, my sketchbook provides the inspiration for paintings I create or cards that I design. It's a black and white account of the progress I'm making as an artist, and it's a huge source of my own unique creative ideas.

Over the years I've filled up many many spiral notebooks with my silly drawings. I like to work on graph paper with a plain old mechanical pencil and a kneaded eraser. Nothing fancy, and super portable. I take my sketchbook with me when I go on trips, and I always have it at the ready right next to the chair in my art studio. 

How about you?... Do you keep a sketchbook? What works for you in capturing your creative ideas? I'd love to hear all about it!

Big Changes And Finding Inspiration

"Tiny Mermaid"

Life has been happening around our house as my husband Joe and I get ready for his retirement in August. I almost can’t believe it’s actually happening... but it IS!! We’re both looking forward to living according to our own timetable and seeing what each new day brings!

After hunting and searching for a one story house that might "fit" our next stage in life, we finally decided that nothing quite felt like home to us after all. And so we decided to do some major renovations on "This Old House" where we've lived for 34 years now. Much more on that later as we work through the process of making changes around here!

With so much on my mind, I’ve found it hard to find inspiration for new paintings lately. I’ve been sketching quite a bit, but nothing has seemed quite right to actually transfer to a canvas and paint. So I decided to paint one of my tiniest canvases with this cute mermaid.  It felt important to keep creating... and she was not very intimidating to paint. Just a little project to get my creative juices flowing again!

What do YOU do when you find yourself without inspiration???... What are your tips for getting back to creating again? I'd LOVE to know your secrets!!

Until next time... HAPPY CREATING!!

 

In The Neighborhood...

I've just started walking 30 minutes first thing in the morning... and, in order to encourage myself to keep at it each day, I'm taking iPhone pics of beautiful & interesting things I see in the neighborhood while I walk.

I saw these purple coneflowers today & thought they were lovely, planted against a simple white picket fence background... Made me smile! :)

Moore Doodles

One of the talented artists I enjoy 'following' is Stephanie Ackerman, whose colorful doodles & lettering style are whimsical & straight from her heart. As a Christian artist, Stephanie has been an encouragement to me to combine my faith & my love for color & illustration & journaling in a fresh new way. You can take a peek at Stephanie's Doodle Gallery here.

Just recently I decided to take one of Stephanie's online classes... 'A Whole New Doodle'. Honestly, I've had the BEST time playing with my pens, doing some 'freestyle doodling' and learning some basic lettering... and I'm just beginning!

While I was at our family's farm recently (and away from all my internet distractions!), I got out some basic supplies... a stack of plain old lined notebook paper, a pencil, an eraser, a medium sharpie pen, and a box full of Prismacolor markers... and I doodled my little heart out!  :)  I drew the borders 'freestyle' (no pencil sketching first), but the alphabet required a little more pencil & erasing!

Above is a little 'freestyle' border doodling...

...and some decorated capital letters below. My capitals are 'embellished' using Prismacolor markers... but you could use colored pencils or paint, really whatever you want!

I left these 'little' letters simply colorful, but they could have had some funky doodles in them too, just for fun.

The last Sunday afternoon of our farm visit, I sat at the kitchen table next to a sunny window, spread out all my art supplies, and colored a whole page of borders I'd inked up on Saturday. You would have thought I was a little kid with a brand new box of 64 Crayola crayons!... I was one happy 'colorer.' (that's a word, right?).

Color Me Happy!

If you like to doodle like I do... then I totally recommend Stephanie Ackerman's 'A Whole New Doodle' online class! Before you know it, you'll be doodling your heart out too!

Finding Creative New Ideas Every Day

 "Backyard Gardeners"

So, where do new art ideas come from anyhow?... Well, everywhere really. I'm finding even life's ordinary everyday moments can inspire fun & creative ideas for art!  :)

On an average spring or summer Saturday morning around our house (after blueberry pancakes & coffee with my husband Joe!), it's time for Joe to head out into the yard. He puts on his straw gardening hat & I know he's about to be in his "Happy Place." I can almost see him start to relax as he mows the grass & pulls the weeds & moves plants from one location to another more suitable home. Watching him from our kitchen window, I feel like I'm watching him "paint" his own very beautiful picture.

Of course, our Lab, Winnie, is sure to make it known that she wants to be out in the yard with Joe too! She lies by the basement door & whimpers (loudly!) 'til Joe has finally finished mowing the grass. Then it's time for her to head out into the backyard & "supervise" the gardening. I'm convinced this is the highlight of Winnie's entire week!  ;)

A simple, every week scene at our house... Who'da thought that something so normal could inspire anything creative???

A little side-note here... Winnie is a black lab, so I cheated when I colored her brown! I'm still figuring out how to work with areas of black in art & not have them look like a great big black hole!  :)

Back2Nature

"Back2Nature"

My husband & two grown sons are in the process of preparing for a major hiking/camping adventure (I love that they want to spend time together this way!). The trip itself will hopefully be in the summer of 2014... but in the meantime, there is research to be done about the trail, camp-y things to plan, & lots of equipment to gather... My husband is savoring every bit of the process!

My family teases me, saying I love the IDEA of nature better than the REALITY of nature (read here... not a fan of snakes, spiders, mosquitoes & sleeping on the ground). Vacation-wise, I'm more of a cottage-lover. Give me indoor plumbing, a porch with a rocking chair and the sights & sounds of the great outdoors, a camera, my journal & sketchbook, a coffee maker, simple healthy foods, a good book, the company of family & our sweet dog Winnie, a nice clean bed at night... and I'm a happy camper!

My Recent Rx for Creative Block

There's a funny thing about my Creative Blocks... No matter how hard I try to push those big old blocks aside, they just won't budge! And that's just what I found this month as I sat down to update my blog... I was completely at a loss about what to write.

Now normally, my tendency would be to press on, hoping that inspiration would magically reappear. But this time was different...

This time I got busy!

I am NOT at all excited about house cleaning (or cooking either, for that matter!). But since I was getting nowhere with my writing efforts, I jumped into cleaning my studio & "This Old House." It felt good to chase some of the dust bunnies away that had multiplied during the winter months.

My wintertime reading had been James Herriot's book, All Creatures Great and Small. I enjoyed traveling around the English countryside "with him" so much as he cared for the animals & the farm people there, that I immersed myself in his second book All Things Bright and Beautiful ... Nothing like a trip to faraway places (even if only in book form!) to bring new inspiration to me.

And since it's been so pretty outside...

...I've spent extra time enjoying the newness of Spring in our neighborhood. I must say, though I'm not a photographer at all, I've had so much fun capturing pics with my new phone camera as I've walked our lab Winnie on the block each day!

Taking pics has really challenged me to see with fresh eyes... There are interesting things, inspiration & beauty around me everyday!

So... Yet another lesson learned for me about being a creative person... Sometimes it's best to put my project aside for a while & let my creative brain gain some fresh perspective.

Thank you so much Lord for "wiring" me to be a creative person. Please help me to honor You while I allow creativity to grow in me.

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

I {Heart} Handmade

One of the wonderful things about being an artist today is being able to easily access other artists & their inspiring work online! I'm a HUGE introvert... and though I longed for creative community for many years, it wasn't until I started offering my art on Etsy that I began to actually "meet" other artists. I have loved talking design & colors & techniques & arty tips with these generous & inspiring friends! Many have really taken me under their creative wings and helped me learn & grow as an artist!... I will always be grateful!  :)

I thought I'd share some of my current Etsy "favorites" with y'all!... The list just keeps growing as I make wonderful new discoveries on Etsy everyday. I hope you'll click on the thumbnails above & go exploring with me!... It's amazing to see all the beauty & creativity there is to enjoy in this handmade world we live in!

Inspired By Folk Art

"Cozy Winter Home" ACEO

One of the things I've been longing to do art-wise is to return to my folk art-style "roots." I don't have an art background... and much of my inspiration in starting to create came from folk art & outsider art.

I love...

...the colorfulness of folk art!

...the "use what you have" & "improvise as you go" ingenuity of folk art.
 
...the "nothing's perfect" and "somewhat wonky is OK" philosophy of art.

..."one of a kind" and "made entirely by hand" kinda art!

Back when my two sons were little & we spent many fun hours in our local library, I loved to hunt for books for myself filled with pictures of folk art, Amish quilts, cottage-style decorating & tales of flea marketing. As a budget-wise mom, I was drawn to the "design on a dime" philosophy I found within these books... Yes, this way of thinking really fit my lifestyle!

Well, many years later, I still love the same things!... rich colors, nubby & woven textures, repurposed materials, artful creations full of personality & originality, art made by hand that tells a unique story.

I hope that the art I create today reflects my love for the beauty of handmade!