Finding Joy in Creation: Insights from Artist Dori Patrick

In this episode of Creative Crossroads,  Ellyn and Catherine welcome mixed media artist Dori Patrick, who shares her inspiring creative journey. Dori, hailing from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, owned a collaborative art studio and storefront called the Dreaming Bear for 12 years. It was filled with creative workshops, parties, and community outreach projects. After closing Dreaming Bear, Dori transitioned to working from a home studio, where she rediscovered her personal creative process and style. She discusses her upbringing in a creative family, the need to express herself through making things, and her belief that everyone can be creative in their own way. Dori describes how she navigates creative blocks, gets inspiration from everyday life, and organizes her space for optimal productivity. She also reflects on the importance of community and her evolving role from teaching others to focusing on her artwork. As Dori prepares for art shows and continues to explore new ways to inspire and connect with fellow creatives, she shares valuable insights into staying motivated and true to one's artistic voice.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:48 Dori Patrick's Creative Journey
07:40 Finding and Honoring Your Creative Voice
11:27 Navigating Creative Blocks
13:53 Working on Multiple Projects
21:46 Studio Space and Organization
25:53 Opening the Dreaming Bear
27:21 Community Outreach and Events
29:57 Challenges and Closing the Store
33:47 Transition to a New Season
36:55 Finding Inspiration and Creativity
43:02 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Check out Dori's Work and follow her!

• Dori’s Website
• Dori on Instagram
• Dori on Facebook
• Dori’s Etsy Shop

Thanks for joining us at Creative Crossroads! Keep creating and we'll see you again soon!

Transcript

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 0:34

Welcome back to Creative Crossroads, everybody. I'm Ellyn and my buddy Catherine is here and today we're welcoming a very special guest. Our guest is Dori Patrick. Dori is a mixed media artist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She has done all kinds of interesting things and dabbles in all kinds of things, including owning a storefront for about 12 years in Iowa called the Dreaming Bear. And it sounds like it was a very collaborative space, a make and take art studio where she hosted creative workshops and parties. We're excited to get to know more about Dori and her creative process as part of our series. Welcome Dori. We're glad you're here.

Dori Patrick: 1:17

Thanks so much, you guys. I'm happy to be here. Oh,

Catherine Dutton: 1:22

And to kind of kick off our conversation, we're going to throw you a question that we didn't give you in advance, which is, I know, what does it mean to you to be creative? Yeah.

Dori Patrick: 1:37

boy. That's a really good question. I think there are, I think for me, it is just this need to express myself with my hands. I have always, always, always had this compulsion to, I guess compulsion might be. The best word for it. It's I cannot not make things like I don't understand. I don't understand people who just sit and watch TV and, you know, don't have something busy going with their hands or something. So for me, it's just, I think it really is just ingrained in me. I grew up in a create pretty creative family. My mom is a very accomplished seamstress. Like we're talking, she made her own wedding dress, kind of accomplished seamstress. So, and that skill totally skipped over me. I am, I am not that talented, but there were always scraps. around for for us kids to play with. You know, my dad was very handy with gardening and building things and, you know, bringing some of my mom's visions to life in the house. Like if she needed, you know, a shelf built or whatever. So there were always scraps around and we were always playing and gluing and cutting and and I just grew up just loving, I have always loved making. I have, I know a lot of people who say, They don't think of themselves as creative. And that always kind of starts a little fight with me because I, I definitely believe everybody is, there just are different ways of being creative, right? Like, just because you don't paint or you don't draw realistically or whatnot, doesn't mean you're not. There are so many ways to be creative. So, I try to remind my friends who think that they're not that. You know, that recipe you just, you know, you made off the fly. That's creative. You know, that poem you just wrote. That's creative. There is such a broad spectrum of creativity, but for me, it really is. It's a need. It's a compulsion. I feel better when I'm making, you know, I just feel better when I at least have a little time during the day to, you know, even if I'm just like gluing something into a journal or. whatever, 10 minutes a day. It just helps ground me. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Like, I just have always done it. I can't imagine not ever doing it.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 4:31

Do you think the way you created as a child with just whatever was around do you think that has impacted the way you create now?

Dori Patrick: 4:41

Yeah, yeah, I think so. A little bit. You know, it's, growing up is tough y'all.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 4:51

Amen

Dori Patrick: 4:52

anybody who's

Catherine Dutton: 4:53

you

Dori Patrick: 4:56

Ask anybody who's done it. There is. There's a time. I don't know. Maybe it happens right about middle school or high school where you become just a lot more self conscious and more of a need to just sort of blend in and be like everybody else because you just want to get by, so I think there was. I think it has taken an interesting trajectory. I think I sort of bucked that a little bit, maybe in my teenage and young adult years and really realize that this is just what makes me happy. And this is just what I have to do. I struggled a lot as a young adult working in crappy job jobs that didn't, you know, didn't make me happy. But I had babies, I had to pay the bills, you know, you know, the drill.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 5:51

Yes.

Dori Patrick: 5:52

And it just, it just It was just calling to me. I can't even, it started as a whisper and then it just got louder and louder and I kind of found my way awkwardly and messily to where I am today. Yeah, yeah, and I lost, totally lost track of what the original

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 6:18

No, that's okay. That's fine. We'll go where we go. But I was thinking, so it seems like what you create now, and if people haven't seen it, we'll add some links so they can check your work out, but it seems like you create what, what brings you joy. Do you ever feel like you have to create what people want, or do you just create what Dori wants?

Dori Patrick: 6:41

Sometimes I do but mostly I don't mostly I do whatever I want to do and that's a really great place to be but for instance We were talking before we hit record this painting behind me. This was a part of a project that I was applying for. And that, you know, put some constraints on your brain of here's what they are looking for, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. But I still had to have it. have my voice. And so I am more in tune now than I used to be of what makes it me. I kind of know that now, but that takes a, that takes years of practice. And I mean, you know, it's just, you start to figure out who you are and what your style is and what you gravitate towards. And You can't help. You just can't help but do it. And you know, I have times in the studio where I'm making something and I'm like, what are you even doing here, Dori? This is like, this does not feel, you know, we all do. I think there's a misconception that Artists are always just hitting the nail on the head every single time, and that is not how it works. It's a lot. There are a lot of failures, a lot of start overs. Some things work out, some don't. You just, you're just along for the ride, really, on a daily basis.

Catherine Dutton: 8:14

You know, you said that you've worked hard to find your voice and that you, that you really try to honor your voice and what you do now, how did you go through that process? Can you talk about that process of finding your voice? Mm hmm. Mm

Dori Patrick: 8:31

maybe. I, I don't think, I think that I was not aware that it is a process. I think I remember an instructor telling us In a class once pay attention to what you pay attention to and that has stuck with me for ever. It still is a reminder that comes up in my life daily. So I started thinking, okay, what is the artwork that I love? What is, what are the things that might make my eyeballs happy? You know, I admire all talents. I admire sculptors who can make realistic human figures. I, I respect all of that. The stuff that excites me? I started paying attention to that. And for me, it's quirky, it's colorful, it's crooked. It's ripped up and stitched back together again. So I started really paying attention to the things that. Made my little heart go pitter pat, I guess. And that is where, and there was a disjoint there in the beginning, when I was young and not quite sure and trying to please people, you know, I would say yes to everything because I just needed to make the money and As the years go by, you kind of figure out what gels with your type of art, and I don't do a whole lot of commissions. I rarely do them, because there's something that kind of shuts down in my brain, that I feel like that person has a, a preconceived notion of what this is going to be. And then I'm like, Oh, well, I've got to make that preconceived notion come to life for them. Right. And I just lose it. And then I put it off and I put it off and it's, so I'm better now about kind of knowing what kind of projects work out for me. But and then my art started catching up. To what I was attracted to, you know, at first I was like, I love the wonky stuff. I love this quirky stuff, but I was over here painting straight lines and filling it in perfectly. And then I was like, well, why don't I like this? Well, dummy, you're not, you're not paying attention. to what delights you. Take that little house you painted and, you know, rip it up or make it crooked or something like that. So it took some time to kind of figure that out. And now I just, I know what I love and I can just zero in and if something's too precious, I know what I have to do. It's just that practice, practice, I know nobody likes to hear that, but it is hours and hours of just working and working and trying over and over again. And then it comes to you. I really, I promise it does.

Catherine Dutton: 11:52

I love that. When you sit down to, to create, do you, how do you, how do you decide what you're going to create? Do you have days where you're like, I know I'm doing this, or do you have days where you're uninspired? And if you are, what do you do when that happens?

Dori Patrick: 12:09

It varies a little bit. Some days I know exactly what I'm going to do because I have, I may have an like right now on my studio table. And it's such a disaster. I would show it to you, but I'm embarrassed at how messy it is. But right now I'm working on glass items. So I I'm using up stuff. So I have some little glass gems I'm painting up. I'm getting ready for a holiday bazaar next month. And then I'm like, well, I've got these vases. So while I have the glass paint out, I'll get going on these. So. There are days where I show up like this afternoon. I'll show up in there. I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to work on these vases because I do things in batches and I know what I'm going to do. There are other days where I show up. And I don't have the foggiest, but I know there's a show coming up and I better make something so that my poor husband doesn't drive me five hours away and we have nothing to sell. So there are, there are things that motivate you too, you know, deadlines. But yeah, so when I get stuck I, if I'm really, really stuck, I will set a timer on my phone and just tell myself, okay, Dori, you can do anything for 20 minutes. Just move your hand for 20 minutes and let's see where that gets us. And so I will just, whatever it is, I may grab a piece of paper and just start working on an abstract or move, just doing something. And usually by the end of that 20 minutes. I'm like, all right. All right. I got it. I got it back. Let's get to this. You know, other times, you know, like if I don't feel well or something, you know, it's a little harder to get going and I'll do the timer again, you know, I'll just say, okay, you can do this for another 20 minutes or, you know, if it's really, really bad, I just drop everything. I'll go take the dogs for a walk or go work in the yard, just like completely remove myself and then come back. And it's usually not as bad as I thought it was.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 14:27

So do you, you mentioned your glass project that you're working on right now, do you typically work on one thing at a time or do you have multiple things going on?

Dori Patrick: 14:37

I always have multiple things going on. For two reasons. Number one, it keeps you from fussing and overworking one piece. You know, if you've got one thing and that's taken all your energy and all your love, it's like, It becomes too precious. It's too. You got too much invested in that one piece. And if it's not a masterpiece, well, then your whole day is gone, you know, so, but when you work in multiples, there's something about adding a little to this. Moving it aside, adding a little to this, like I just had a vase yesterday tip over and roll in through like my little paint palette thing that I was using and it like made these cool splotches and I was like, okay, universe, there we go. So I just took all my vases and started like, Okay.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 15:34

Oh

Dori Patrick: 15:35

You know,

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 15:36

that's great,

Catherine Dutton: 15:37

love that.

Dori Patrick: 15:38

I swear. Yeah, yeah. So, and there's another reason. Oh, the other reason I do batches is I have to produce a lot of work. So we And I say we, my husband, he has a day job. So, he is so sweet and kind to travel with me when I have art festivals or shows or whatnot. He is my driver and my, my navigator and my everything. He, he's a snack getter. You know, he gets the snacks for

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 16:11

that's important.

Dori Patrick: 16:13

yeah, yeah. So, I need to have, I need to have, be ready for a show. I never feel ready for a show. There are always like 10 more ideas I wanted to get done before the, you know, before we travel, but I want to have as much done as I possibly can. And when you're working in multiples, you can make that happen. Like it takes longer, you know, you're working through five or six paintings at a time, but then after a couple of days, boom, there you go. Five or six paintings. Pack those up and, you know, move on to the next set. I am always, always touching multiple items in a day because if I get too focused on one piece, it's a disaster. It's like, you can tell, you can tell I have like painted it within an inch of its life. And I, yeah. You've gotta step back.

Catherine Dutton: 17:12

So how do you know when one of your projects is finished?

Dori Patrick: 17:19

Uh, like a piece? Like a painting? Yeah. I think I, I, I'm getting better at it. I, when I see myself slowing down in things, I, I can't think of things to do with it. I guess. So most of my paintings start off just making a mess. I do lots of layering. I use modeling paste for texture. I layer, layer, layer, layer. And then as I slow down and I start to see something evolve, I'm more thoughtful on those final layers of finishing them up and trying not to overwork them. So. I kind of have this feeling that, okay, if you're slowing down and you can't think of something to do to this right now, let's set it aside. We'll look at it another day. And then sometimes, you know, a couple days later, I'll look at it and go, Oh wow, that's done. I don't need to mess with this. Or I'll just, I'll know what to do. But you know what? A painting could just. go on forever. It could, you know, a painting could just have so many iterations. It could never be done. So sometimes it's just a matter of, I've got a show next week. This has to be done. This is done, you know, and I don't, I don't love every single thing. I'm not in love with everything I make. I have a lot of joy when I'm making, but I have certain pieces that I love more than others. And I'll tell you what, the pieces that I do not like as much always go first.

Catherine Dutton: 19:09

Interesting.

Dori Patrick: 19:11

crazy. It's crazy. And I never let people know that. Of course you don't want to ever let people know that. But I was just, it's so interesting. And my husband, and my husband knows because he does the shows with me I'll be like, Oh, I don't know about, I don't know about this one. So he knows and then boom, somebody's like, I love that. So who, so that teaches me to say, who am I to judge? Who am I to judge? You know, I don't need to love every single thing that comes through these hands. If it brings someone else joy, then who am I to judge? So, and that is so freeing, you guys, that is so freeing, to just, yeah, yeah, it's like somebody will love it, someday, somebody will find it and love it, and it always works out, so, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm going off on a

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 20:11

No, it's

Catherine Dutton: 20:12

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 20:15

So you don't ever walk away and abandon an idea? You finish it and hope somebody will love it?

Dori Patrick: 20:22

Most things, most things. Yeah. Yeah. You know, at the end of a show season, there are always what we call the stragglers. You know, the paintings that did not make, did not find a home by the end of the summer. And sometimes, It's something I absolutely love and I'm like, well, fine, I'll just keep this and, you know, I'll move it around in my house. But other times I also will just, I'll put it in my supply closet and when the time is right, I'll paint over it. And Another thing, those paint overs, those paint overs are some of my favorite pieces because they've got all that juicy history underneath, you know, and I always try to let a little bit of it show through so that you can see where it's been. But those are some of my favorites. The things that don't work out, don't sell, Paint over boom.

Catherine Dutton: 21:23

cool.

Dori Patrick: 21:24

really technical. Paint over boom. That's

Catherine Dutton: 21:27

I love it.

Dori Patrick: 21:28

right. Mic drop.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 21:31

It's giving us something to think about. Cause, yeah. I mean, I've had once or twice with a quilt where I've literally Finished a quilt top and then gone, you know, and chopped it up and done something different with it, but not very often and it's probably something I should think about more often. That's

Dori Patrick: 21:49

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, of course, I'm sure, you know, paint, paint is so easy to start over with. It's not I mean, I, I suppose it's probably a different approach with fabric and stitching, but yeah, like nothing has to be forever. You can just. And that's the great thing about being your own boss, you know? Nobody's here to tell me what to do. If I want to tear this up, I'll tear it up.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 22:18

So, tell us more. You said your space is messy right now. Tell us about where you create and is it, is it usually messy or? Do you reach a breaking point?

Dori Patrick: 22:30

Oh yeah, yeah. Uh, yeah. I I try to clean it up every night. Cause that does drive me kind of crazy. I am not a neat freak, but I've got to know where stuff is or I go pretty crazy. So I currently work in the back of our house. We have an addition. It used to be so I have two grown children and we are empty nesters. They are, they have flown the coop. And so the, the second, that second kid left, we were like, let's, let's move stuff around, hopefully they'll, it'll work out and they'll stay away. But and it has, they're doing great. But so I've taken over the back family room and it's probably about a. 15 foot by 20 foot space. It's not, you know, huge. It's got a little half bath off of it and a little closet, which is packed to the gills with all my stuff. But so when I closed the dreaming bear, that was in the spring of 2016. So all those years I had that studio, you know, that storefront, and it was quite a challenge to adjust from. Greeting the public every day and keeping having all the space in the world to figuring out how to come home to a much smaller space and just figure that new life out. But it's a great. It's great for me. There's linoleum. There's like old linoleum on the floors. So I don't have to be careful with the paint. I love that. We really should probably replace the floors one of these days, but if I'm going to slop them up, what's the point, right? So, yeah, and so I just, I have, it's really packed, you guys. It is packed. It's probably time for me to do a purge of my supplies, but I haven't done that yet. Because you never know when you're going to need something, right? Yeah. You don't wanna, don't wanna part with that little thing. So I have an area for painting. I have two big restaurant work tables. You know, like the metal, uh, workbench type tables. And they're really nice and lightweight, so I can move them around to configure them how I need them. So I mostly paint there. I'm not much of an easel painter. Unless I'm, you know, working on something big. But then around the room is shelves full of stuff. Just Full of stuff. And I usually, at the end of the day, I, I love to put things away because I don't like coming into a room all haphazard. What's nice about having my own space is if I am in the middle of something, like these glass items, I can just leave it out. You know, it's not like, not in anybody's way. I can just leave it out and I can come to it the next day. But I do love a good. Clean up just helps with my yeah, but this week it's pretty bad and my We have a back door We have a back door that goes off of my studio. And so that is where the doggies get let out So I am also in addition to work the studio worker. I am the doggie care potty person. So I'm always the one letting them out and bringing them in and that kind of thing. So it's kind of a fun little Fun little routine to be able to just hang out with my dogs and make stuff, you know?

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 26:25

That's

Catherine Dutton: 26:25

love that.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 26:27

Can we talk a little bit more about your shop? About the Dreaming Bear and what inspired you to open that? And how that was important to you?

Dori Patrick: 26:37

Yeah yeah, so I opened the Dreaming Bear in 2004 the spring of 2004 and it actually started in one little teeny tiny little cottage and then this space across the street opened up. And it was much, much bigger. So I was really only in the teeny tiny space for about five or six months before this big space opened up. So we moved it across the street and I had visited, uh, St. Louis and they have a place, I think it's called You Can Do. And it was, we were on vacation with the kids and it was this fun place where you could drop in, you didn't need an appointment and you could make stuff. They had all kinds of supplies and things, and I thought, my God, this is so fun. We could totally do something like this back home. At the time, we didn't have anything like that. Things have been popping up nowadays, but back then there was nothing like that. And in my gift shop, I sold my work, and also I sold a lot of things. Handmade items from other local people and just, it was fun, colorful gifts, things that made you laugh, you know, like silly, silly gifts. And we had a really great reputation for just being like this, the place you went for fun and I, the girls that worked for us. I always told them, you're the hostess of a party here. So when people come in, this is a party, and you're including them in your party. And it really was like that. Like, we just, we had so much fun. We did birthday parties for kids. We did wine nights for ladies. It was a lot of you know, I was glued to my calendar all the time because my biggest fear was like. I can, I cannot forget a single, you know, because people are planning on having, we would have bachelorette parties there and, you know, all kinds of, we had painting supplies, mosaic supplies, we had a glitter bar, we had, I mean, you name

Catherine Dutton: 28:53

They're far.

Dori Patrick: 28:54

it, it was, yeah, yeah, I know, I would come, you guys, I would come home. And like, you'll get into my jammies at the end of the day and like glitter would fall out of my clothes. You know how glitter is, it just like gets everywhere. But yeah, and so we were able to do a lot of cool community outreach projects too. We had the space so we would have a local shelter come and, you know, Show us how to make the little fleece blankets for doggies that are in shelters. And so we had a fun day doing that. I would host Kids through I don't know if you have foundation to where you guys are if you or if that's just

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 29:38

that is. Oh,

Dori Patrick: 29:39

Regional thing it's it's an emergency. They provide emergency services for people who need to get out of dangerous situations and so they are sometimes a liaison for a child and Between like getting them their foster care. So there I worked a lot with, yeah, I worked a lot with the kids in the middle school to high school age, they would come, we got a grant and to pay for these kids to come and do art with us. And that was, that was. mind blowing. I mean, it's, there's some kids having a hard, hard time and for them to just have a couple of hours of creative freedom was really, it was very meaningful to me to provide that for them. So yeah, so the Dreaming Bear was like this party all the time and the years went by and I As the years we were there, let's see, we were open for 12 years total. And probably by that 11th year, I was really like. Getting worn out. I had some health problems that we were trying to figure out and I also just never had time to Plot like to do my own thing It was all what you're always thinking about the next workshop the next project we could do with people You know, you're always thinking about other people and there was just no time to for me, so I I didn't even really start figuring out my style until we closed that store down, because there just was no time. I mean, I knew what I loved. I knew I loved color and things, but it took a while after that to really, like, I sat down and went, I don't even know how to. Like, I was so used to leading everyone in a project that it really, it took me some time to figure out how to do my, my own thing. But I, so we had an exit strategy and we closed in the spring of 2016 and we went out with a bang. It was like the biggest party you'd ever see and,

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 31:56

Awesome.

Dori Patrick: 31:57

still have young ladies come up to me and say, I had my birthday party at the Dreaming Baron. That just means so much to me. Yeah, it's cool. You know, it's kind of funny when you're done with something, you're done. You're just like, I am done with this.

Catherine Dutton: 32:14

Mm hmm.

Dori Patrick: 32:15

And I was like, trying to stay positive. But now I can look back on it. And it was such a great, it was such a great place, a great time for all of us. So yeah, I have that retail, that retail background, which I think helps me at the shows and stuff.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 32:38

Oh, sure.

Catherine Dutton: 32:39

yeah. And it sounds like that was an opportunity for you to facilitate others making. Yeah. Do you think that informed how you've become a creator now?

Dori Patrick: 32:53

yeah, because showing somebody how to do something is different than sitting down and doing it yourself. When you are stopping and explaining It's different. It's like, oh, and I was always surprised at how little some people, there are, this blew my mind when I found out there were families that didn't just have scraps laying around that they would play with. I'm like, what are you, what? Like one girl didn't even know how glue worked. And I was like, Okay, we're going to show you how glue works.

Catherine Dutton: 33:31

Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 33:32

Wow.

Dori Patrick: 33:33

it, it, it opened my eyes to how lucky I was in that respect, but it also felt really good to, you know, to show people simple things that they were intimidated by at first, and then they realized. I can do this. I'm like, yeah, you can do this. Of course you can do this. So it was so fun to cheer them on and see what they would come up with. Yeah, it was so satisfying. But like I said, the energy it takes. for that to continue on and on really held me back personally. So when it was time to be done, it was time to be done. And it was just, it was a good season. And now I'm in this season.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 34:25

I imagine when you closed, you had all this community and then you went to being alone. Did you find other ways to weave community into your, into your process, into your days? Mm hmm. Bye. Bye.

Dori Patrick: 34:38

Eventually I did. You guys, when we finally closed the doors and we got everything out of there, I came home, I got sick. I was so sick. I was sick for like two weeks. I think I was just worn out. So I really, I loved just coming home and resting and having that quiet. I think I was just so ready for that quiet. that quiet time. So I wasn't really craving it at first. I was quite, I was happy to just, I remember when I did have the store, if I would get sick, I would cry and say, because when you have a store, you know, life goes on. You can't just, you've got to be there, got to be there when you say you're going to be there. And I remember saying, I just want to be sick. At home

Catherine Dutton: 35:35

Yeah. Yeah.

Dori Patrick: 35:39

alone I know that's silly. I shouldn't complain about

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 35:42

Not at all.

Catherine Dutton: 35:43

Oh, no.

Dori Patrick: 35:44

Yeah. So the first, yeah, the first few weeks I was sick and I was recovering from that, and then I went on this. Coffee date extravaganza. All my girlfriends that I never had time to see. Family members I never had time to see. I mean, my calendar was like boom, boom, boom, boom. I had coffee dates galore. And then about a month, about a month later, I was like, I really should probably start being useful. of, but it was fun. It was just, it was what I needed. It's set, you know, kind of reset me. And then hubby helped me get the studio set up at home. And I've been here ever since. And, you know, sometimes I think about having a space. I don't really want to have a store. I don't, that doesn't appeal to me anymore. Cause I love the freedom of coming and going when I want to do that. But sometimes I think about, you know, renting a bigger studio space and doing the classes and stuff. And then I think. I just, I love being home with my dogs. So, we'll see. Never say never, right?

Catherine Dutton: 36:59

You just never know where life is going to take you. Do you?

Dori Patrick: 37:02

Right. Right.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 37:04

we've got a whole, we've got a whole win. We win the lottery plan of the

Dori Patrick: 37:09

Oh, yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 37:10

center. We're gonna build. We, we could let you in on that

Dori Patrick: 37:15

Yes. Please do. Remember me in your will, please.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 37:20

No. We want you to come play with us

Dori Patrick: 37:22

Oh, I will. I will. I'm there.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 37:28

That would be fun. Do you, when you're, when you're creating in your studio, is it quiet? Do you watch TV? Do you listen to something, podcasts, music?

Dori Patrick: 37:37

All of the above. All of the above. I, at first, I really, like the first few months, I really, I think I was just craving quiet. I just wanted quiet. So when I first came home, it was just quiet. I just wanted quiet. I didn't want chitter chatter. I didn't want chitter chatter. Yeah. But now I, so I have a TV in my studio. I am a confessed self not self. So I don't know what I'm trying to say. I am a self confessed true crime junkie. So I listened to some of the podcasts on true crime and stuff. But when I need to really. Like get that abstract painting moved along or something. That's when music really, music will kind of break through just about any mental block that I have. So if I'm really stuck, I just crank up some rock music or some, you know, whatever. And that always, always helps. But late, yeah, lately I've got a lot of chitter chatter going on. In the studio. I like listening to something as I work. Yeah.

Catherine Dutton: 38:55

What, what do you like to look at or to listen to that helps inspire you? Are there podcasts, you said true crime, but like, which ones do

Dori Patrick: 39:07

I yeah. Yeah, you don't want yet. Don't do that. That's not inspiring.

Catherine Dutton: 39:12

Ah, I gotcha. Okay.

Dori Patrick: 39:13

I yeah, yeah. I'm not sure why I'm drawing a blank, but I have a blank. Playlist and I would be happy to send some songs to you guys if you want to know what they are, but I love like a real up tempo rock music when I'm really wanting to get some stuff done. That seems to work. My husband and I do, uh, weightlifting at our gym here and it's that kind of music. It's like that music that just like gets your heart pumping and gets your arms moving. I'm not much of a peaceful, quiet music person, unless I want to come down for the night, you know? But as far as like what inspires me, I, eh, inspiration is everywhere. It's everywhere. Like, I, sometimes I'm overwhelmed. I have more ideas than I can handle. I have probably years to live and isn't that a wonderful bounty to be thankful for?

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 40:21

That's

Dori Patrick: 40:21

I really do. I have, I have figured out how to train my eyeballs to take inspiration wherever I am. So I've been fortunate to take some really fabulous once in a lifetime trips, but I can also Go down to the grocery store and I'll overhear some lady saying something silly. And I think, Oh my God, I got to put that on a painting, you know, or so I think it's just learning how to tune in your ears and your eyeballs, wherever you are. And it's totally possible. Someone who I find really inspiring. I don't, maybe you guys have heard of her. Her name is Sandy Hester. Have you heard of Sandy Hester? She's from, I think she's from Nashville. She's painter. She mostly paints. She does mixed media work, but some, she is a YouTuber and she has some videos about how she gathers inspiration wherever she is. And how you can look at a scene and you don't have to paint that scene just the way it looks. You can take the things that you love from that scene and create your own vision of it. And that really, that put a light bulb on for me. You know, I thought, well, that makes sense. Like, of course, you can just take, but you know, sometimes you just need somebody to show you or to tell you to get your, to get you on a new track. I find her very inspiring and museums are so inspiring. Whenever I travel, I try to get to the local, uh, art museums. I love nature. I love walking my dogs outside. That's fun. It's everywhere. Our world is just so rich and abundant with fodder for us to feed off of that there's no shortage. Yeah.

Catherine Dutton: 42:28

When you come across that inspiration, how do you like capture that for yourself? Do you

Dori Patrick: 42:35

Well, I, yeah, I wish I was better. I have a brain. I have a brain. And that tends to whoop, and then if I don't write it down, it'll zip right back out. So I have a habit of writing in, sometimes on a scrap of paper. I do have a notebook that I, I keep with me, I try to. Our phones are so wonderful. So snapping a photo will help me to remember an idea. Yeah, I have a notebook that I just sort of collect things. And if I'm honest, sometimes I look back and I'm like, what did these three words even? What was I thinking? So I wish I had, you know, given myself a little more detail, but You know, the really good ones, I think, stick with you, and then when it's time to bring them to life, you can do so.

Catherine Dutton: 43:33

I

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 43:35

cool. I think we, I think we've hit all our, Our major points. What do you think, Catherine?

Catherine Dutton: 43:42

think we have. Do you have any other questions? Do you have anything else that you'd like to share before we wrap this up today? Yeah,

Dori Patrick: 43:53

encourage anybody who has any further questions for me, please feel free to reach out. I love making new friends. I am not an expert. I'm not an expert on much. I know a little bit about a lot of stuff. So I don't but I love, I love talking about creativity. I love encouraging people. I love seeing what other creatives are doing. I think that's one really great thing about this. age we're living in. It's, you know, I grew up, I'm a kid of the 80s. I didn't, we didn't have all this fabulous technology. And I think it is just such a wonderful tool that can be used for good, you know. So I love, I love meeting new people. I do hope you'll win the lottery and get that retreat center. And, uh,

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 44:46

We'll keep you

Dori Patrick: 44:47

I'm going to hang all my hopes on this now.

Catherine Dutton: 44:50

we will be

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 44:51

to the club.

Catherine Dutton: 44:52

broadly.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 44:54

Welcome to the club. Yes. We have lots of

Dori Patrick: 44:58

And I appreciate

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 45:00

yeah, we discuss that at great depth.

Dori Patrick: 45:03

I love it. I love it. I am. I have some ideas. I, you know, I think when I closed my store, I just so desperately needed to rest and to not teach. And I'm kind of coming out of that shell again and feeling like I, I love those personal connections with people at workshops, retreats. So I'm kind of thinking up some stuff. I'm not ready to announce anything just yet, but I think that. I mean, when, you know, when creative people get together, it's like, shazam.

Catherine Dutton: 45:38

It's really fun. Yeah,

Dori Patrick: 45:39

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you so much for reaching out. I

Catherine Dutton: 45:45

Oh, thank you so much for joining us today. We have just really loved hearing. I have, I feel like I have learned from you today. So thank you so much. And I feel inspired to go create this afternoon. I'm,

Dori Patrick: 46:02

Do it. Do it.

Catherine Dutton: 46:05

I'm, I'm

Dori Patrick: 46:06

Do it. Yeah. What are you guys working on?

Catherine Dutton: 46:08

I'm doing the fodder challenge this month. And so there's a new one that's out today. So I'm going to draw tiny faces this afternoon.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 46:16

We've been doing some of that together. We, we tend to do art days together to break up the, the business stuff that we've been doing. It's like, no, let's schedule an art day. We need to,

Catherine Dutton: 46:26

Yeah.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 46:26

to not lose that. So,

Dori Patrick: 46:28

Yes. Yeah. And that's creative. People need that time to not be on all the time or productive all the time. You need that time to play. That's how you find, that's how you make new discoveries. You've got to do it.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 46:47

absolutely.

Dori Patrick: 46:48

awesome. Well, thank you so much, you guys.

Ellyn Zinsmeister: 46:51

No, thanks for coming and have a great day, Dori.