December 7, 2024 • 47 mins
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!
Thanks for joining us at Creative Crossroads! Keep creating and we'll see you again soon!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (00:00):
Welcome back to Creative Crossroads,
(00:01):
everybody.
I'm Ellyn and my buddy Catherineis here and today we're
welcoming a very special guest.
Our guest is Dori Patrick.
Dori is a mixed media artistfrom Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
She has done all kinds ofinteresting things and dabbles
in all kinds of things,including owning a storefront
(00:21):
for about 12 years in Iowacalled the Dreaming Bear.
And it sounds like it was a verycollaborative space, a make and
take art studio where she hostedcreative workshops and parties.
We're excited to get to knowmore about Dori and her creative
process as part of our series.
Welcome Dori.
We're glad you're here.
Dori Patrick (00:43):
Thanks so much, you guys.
I'm happy to be here.
Oh,
Catherine Dutton (00:48):
And to kind of kick off our conversation, we're
going to throw you a questionthat we didn't give you in
advance, which is, I know, whatdoes it mean to you to be
creative?
Yeah.
Dori Patrick (01:03):
boy.
That's a really good question.
I think there are, I think forme, it is just this need to
express myself with my hands.
I have always, always, alwayshad this compulsion to, I guess
(01:25):
compulsion might be.
The best word for it.
It's I cannot not make thingslike I don't understand.
I don't understand people whojust sit and watch TV and, you
know, don't have something busygoing with their hands or
something.
So for me, it's just, I think itreally is just ingrained in me.
(01:46):
I grew up in a create prettycreative family.
My mom is a very accomplishedseamstress.
Like we're talking, she made herown wedding dress, kind of
accomplished seamstress.
So, and that skill totallyskipped over me.
I am, I am not that talented,but there were always scraps.
(02:13):
around for for us kids to playwith.
You know, my dad was very handywith gardening and building
things and, you know, bringingsome of my mom's visions to life
in the house.
Like if she needed, you know, ashelf built or whatever.
So there were always scrapsaround and we were always
playing and gluing and cuttingand and I just grew up just
(02:38):
loving, I have always lovedmaking.
I have, I know a lot of peoplewho say, They don't think of
themselves as creative.
And that always kind of starts alittle fight with me because I,
I definitely believe everybodyis, there just are different
ways of being creative, right?
(02:58):
Like, just because you don'tpaint or you don't draw
realistically or whatnot,doesn't mean you're not.
There are so many ways to becreative.
So, I try to remind my friendswho think that they're not that.
You know, that recipe you just,you know, you made off the fly.
That's creative.
(03:19):
You know, that poem you justwrote.
That's creative.
There is such a broad spectrumof 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 littletime during the day to, you
(03:40):
know, even if I'm just likegluing something into a journal
or.
whatever, 10 minutes a day.
It just helps ground me.
I guess that's the best way todescribe it.
Like, I just have always doneit.
I can't imagine not ever doingit.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (03:57):
Do you think the way you created as a child
with just whatever was around doyou think that has impacted the
way you create now?
Dori Patrick (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
A little bit.
You know, it's, growing up istough y'all.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (04:17):
Amen
Dori Patrick (04:18):
anybody who's
Catherine Dutton (04:19):
you
Dori Patrick (04:22):
Ask anybody who's done it.
There is.
There's a time.
I don't know.
Maybe it happens right aboutmiddle school or high school
where you become just a lot moreself conscious and more of a
need to just sort of blend inand be like everybody else
because you just want to get by,so I think there was.
(04:42):
I think it has taken aninteresting trajectory.
I think I sort of bucked that alittle bit, maybe in my teenage
and young adult years and reallyrealize that this is just what
makes me happy.
And this is just what I have todo.
I struggled a lot as a youngadult working in crappy job jobs
(05:10):
that didn't, you know, didn'tmake me happy.
But I had babies, I had to paythe bills, you know, you know,
the drill.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:17):
Yes.
Dori Patrick (05:18):
And it just, it just It was just calling to me.
I can't even, it started as awhisper and then it just got
louder and louder and I kind offound my way awkwardly and
messily to where I am today.
(05:39):
Yeah, yeah, and I lost, totallylost track of what the original
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:44):
No, that's okay.
That's fine.
We'll go where we go.
But I was thinking, so it seemslike what you create now, and if
people haven't seen it, we'lladd some links so they can check
your work out, but it seems likeyou create what, what brings you
joy.
Do you ever feel like you haveto create what people want, or
(06:04):
do you just create what Doriwants?
Dori Patrick (06:07):
Sometimes I do but mostly I don't mostly I do
whatever I want to do and that'sa really great place to be but
for instance We were talkingbefore we hit record this
painting behind me.
This was a part of a projectthat I was applying for.
(06:27):
And that, you know, put someconstraints on your brain of
here's what they are lookingfor, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.
But I still had to have it.
have my voice.
And so I am more in tune nowthan I used to be of what makes
it me.
I kind of know that now, butthat takes a, that takes years
(06:51):
of practice.
And I mean, you know, it's just,you start to figure out who you
are and what your style is andwhat you gravitate towards.
And You can't help.
You just can't help but do it.
And you know, I have times inthe studio where I'm making
something and I'm like, what areyou even doing here, Dori?
(07:14):
This is like, this does notfeel, you know, we all do.
I think there's a misconceptionthat Artists are always just
hitting the nail on the headevery single time, and that is
not how it works.
It's a lot.
There are a lot of failures, alot of start overs.
Some things work out, somedon't.
(07:35):
You just, you're just along forthe ride, really, on a daily
basis.
Catherine Dutton (07:40):
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 processof finding your voice?
Mm hmm.
Mm
Dori Patrick (07:57):
maybe.
I, I don't think, I think that Iwas not aware that it is a
process.
I think I remember an instructortelling us In a class once pay
attention to what you payattention to and that has stuck
(08:20):
with me for ever.
It still is a reminder thatcomes up in my life daily.
So I started thinking, okay,what is the artwork that I love?
What is, what are the thingsthat might make my eyeballs
happy?
You know, I admire all talents.
(08:40):
I admire sculptors who can makerealistic human figures.
I, I respect all of that.
The stuff that excites me?
I started paying attention tothat.
And for me, it's quirky, it'scolorful, it's crooked.
It's ripped up and stitched backtogether again.
(09:04):
So I started really payingattention to the things that.
Made my little heart go pitterpat, I guess.
And that is where, and there wasa disjoint there in the
beginning, when I was young andnot quite sure and trying to
please people, you know, I wouldsay yes to everything because I
(09:26):
just needed to make the moneyand As the years go by, you kind
of figure out what gels withyour type of art, and I don't do
a whole lot of commissions.
I rarely do them, becausethere's something that kind of
shuts down in my brain, that Ifeel like that person has a, a
(09:52):
preconceived notion of what thisis going to be.
And then I'm like, Oh, well,I've got to make that
preconceived notion come to lifefor them.
Right.
And I just lose it.
And then I put it off and I putit off and it's, so I'm better
now about kind of knowing whatkind of projects work out for
me.
But and then my art startedcatching up.
(10:13):
To what I was attracted to, youknow, at first I was like, I
love the wonky stuff.
I love this quirky stuff, but Iwas over here painting straight
lines and filling it inperfectly.
And then I was like, well, whydon't I like this?
Well, dummy, you're not, you'renot paying attention.
(10:35):
to what delights you.
Take that little house youpainted and, you know, rip it up
or make it crooked or somethinglike that.
So it took some time to kind offigure that out.
And now I just, I know what Ilove and I can just zero in and
if something's too precious, Iknow what I have to do.
(10:57):
It's just that practice,practice, I know nobody likes to
hear that, but it is hours andhours of just working and
working and trying over and overagain.
And then it comes to you.
I really, I promise it does.
Catherine Dutton (11:18):
I love that.
When you sit down to, to create,do you, how do you, how do you
decide what you're going tocreate?
Do you have days where you'relike, I know I'm doing this, or
do you have days where you'reuninspired?
And if you are, what do you dowhen that happens?
Dori Patrick (11:35):
It varies a little bit.
Some days I know exactly whatI'm going to do because I have,
I may have an like right now onmy studio table.
And it's such a disaster.
I would show it to you, but I'membarrassed at how messy it is.
But right now I'm working onglass items.
So I I'm using up stuff.
(11:55):
So I have some little glass gemsI'm painting up.
I'm getting ready for a holidaybazaar next month.
And then I'm like, well, I'vegot these vases.
So while I have the glass paintout, I'll get going on these.
So.
There are days where I show uplike this afternoon.
I'll show up in there.
I know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to work on these vasesbecause I do things in batches
(12:17):
and I know what I'm going to do.
There are other days where Ishow up.
And I don't have the foggiest,but I know there's a show coming
up and I better make somethingso that my poor husband doesn't
drive me five hours away and wehave nothing to sell.
So there are, there are thingsthat motivate you too, you know,
(12:38):
deadlines.
But yeah, so when I get stuck I,if I'm really, really stuck, I
will set a timer on my phone andjust tell myself, okay, Dori,
you can do anything for 20minutes.
Just move your hand for 20minutes and let's see where that
(13:01):
gets us.
And so I will just, whatever itis, I may grab a piece of paper
and just start working on anabstract or move, just doing
something.
And usually by the end of that20 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
(13:24):
something, you know, it's alittle harder to get going and
I'll do the timer again, youknow, I'll just say, okay, you
can do this for another 20minutes or, you know, if it's
really, really bad, I just dropeverything.
I'll go take the dogs for a walkor go work in the yard, just
like completely remove myselfand then come back.
(13:48):
And it's usually not as bad as Ithought it was.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (13:53):
So do you, you mentioned your glass project
that you're working on rightnow, do you typically work on
one thing at a time or do youhave multiple things going on?
Dori Patrick (14:03):
I always have multiple things going on.
For two reasons.
Number one, it keeps you fromfussing and overworking one
piece.
You know, if you've got onething and that's taken all your
energy and all your love, it'slike, It becomes too precious.
(14:25):
It's too.
You got too much invested inthat one piece.
And if it's not a masterpiece,well, then your whole day is
gone, you know, so, but when youwork in multiples, there's
something about adding a littleto this.
Moving it aside, adding a littleto this, like I just had a vase
yesterday tip over and roll inthrough like my little paint
(14:50):
palette thing that I was usingand it like made these cool
splotches and I was like, okay,universe, there we go.
So I just took all my vases andstarted like, Okay.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:00):
Oh
Dori Patrick (15:01):
You know,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:02):
that's great,
Catherine Dutton (15:03):
love that.
Dori Patrick (15:04):
I swear.
Yeah, yeah.
So, and there's another reason.
Oh, the other reason I dobatches 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 totravel with me when I have art
(15:25):
festivals or shows or whatnot.
He is my driver and my, mynavigator and my everything.
He, he's a snack getter.
You know, he gets the snacks for
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:37):
that's important.
Dori Patrick (15:39):
yeah, yeah.
So, I need to have, I need tohave, be ready for a show.
I never feel ready for a show.
There are always like 10 moreideas I wanted to get done
before the, you know, before wetravel, but I want to have as
much done as I possibly can.
And when you're working inmultiples, you can make that
(16:01):
happen.
Like it takes longer, you know,you're working through five or
six paintings at a time, butthen 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 touchingmultiple items in a day because
(16:21):
if I get too focused on onepiece, it's a disaster.
It's like, you can tell, you cantell I have like painted it
within an inch of its life.
And I, yeah.
You've gotta step back.
Catherine Dutton (16:38):
So how do you know when one of your projects
is finished?
Dori Patrick (16:45):
Uh, like a piece?
Like a painting?
Yeah.
I think I, I, I'm getting betterat it.
I, when I see myself slowingdown in things, I, I can't think
of things to do with it.
I guess.
So most of my paintings startoff just making a mess.
(17:07):
I do lots of layering.
I use modeling paste fortexture.
I layer, layer, layer, layer.
And then as I slow down and Istart to see something evolve,
I'm more thoughtful on thosefinal layers of finishing them
up and trying not to overworkthem.
(17:29):
So.
I kind of have this feelingthat, okay, if you're slowing
down and you can't think ofsomething to do to this right
now, let's set it aside.
We'll look at it another day.
And then sometimes, you know, acouple days later, I'll look at
it and go, Oh wow, that's done.
I don't need to mess with this.
(17:51):
Or I'll just, I'll know what todo.
But you know what?
A painting could just.
go on forever.
It could, you know, a paintingcould just have so many
iterations.
It could never be done.
So sometimes it's just a matterof, I've got a show next week.
This has to be done.
(18:12):
This is done, you know, and Idon't, I don't love every single
thing.
I'm not in love with everythingI make.
I have a lot of joy when I'mmaking, but I have certain
pieces that I love more thanothers.
And I'll tell you what, thepieces that I do not like as
much always go first.
Catherine Dutton (18:35):
Interesting.
Dori Patrick (18:37):
crazy.
It's crazy.
And I never let people knowthat.
Of course you don't want to everlet people know that.
But I was just, it's sointeresting.
And my husband, and my husbandknows because he does the shows
with me I'll be like, Oh, Idon't know about, I don't know
about this one.
So he knows and then boom,somebody's like, I love that.
(18:59):
So who, so that teaches me tosay, who am I to judge?
Who am I to judge?
You know, I don't need to loveevery 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, youguys, that is so freeing, to
(19:24):
just, yeah, yeah, it's likesomebody will love it, someday,
somebody will find it and loveit, and it always works out, so,
yeah, I'm sorry, I'm going offon a
Ellyn Zinsmeister (19:37):
No, it's
Catherine Dutton (19:38):
I love that.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (19:41):
So you don't ever walk away and abandon an
idea?
You finish it and hope somebodywill love it?
Dori Patrick (19:48):
Most things, most things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, at the end of a showseason, there are always what we
call the stragglers.
You know, the paintings that didnot make, did not find a home by
the end of the summer.
And sometimes, It's something Iabsolutely love and I'm like,
(20:09):
well, fine, I'll just keep thisand, you know, I'll move it
around in my house.
But other times I also willjust, I'll put it in my supply
closet and when the time isright, I'll paint over it.
And Another thing, those paintovers, those paint overs are
some of my favorite piecesbecause they've got all that
(20:31):
juicy history underneath, youknow, and I always try to let a
little bit of it show through sothat you can see where it's
been.
But those are some of myfavorites.
The things that don't work out,don't sell, Paint over boom.
Catherine Dutton (20:49):
cool.
Dori Patrick (20:50):
really technical.
Paint over boom.
That's
Catherine Dutton (20:53):
I love it.
Dori Patrick (20:54):
right.
Mic drop.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (20:57):
It's giving us something to think about.
Cause, yeah.
I mean, I've had once or twicewith a quilt where I've
literally Finished a quilt topand then gone, you know, and
chopped it up and done somethingdifferent with it, but not very
often and it's probablysomething I should think about
more often.
That's
Dori Patrick (21:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, of course, I'm sure, youknow, paint, paint is so easy to
start over with.
It's not I mean, I, I supposeit's probably a different
approach with fabric andstitching, but yeah, like
nothing has to be forever.
You can just.
And that's the great thing aboutbeing your own boss, you know?
(21:39):
Nobody's here to tell me what todo.
If I want to tear this up, I'lltear it up.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (21:44):
So, tell us more.
You said your space is messyright now.
Tell us about where you createand is it, is it usually messy
or?
Do you reach a breaking point?
Dori Patrick (21:56):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Uh, yeah.
I I try to clean it up everynight.
Cause that does drive me kind ofcrazy.
I am not a neat freak, but I'vegot to know where stuff is or I
go pretty crazy.
So I currently work in the backof our house.
We have an addition.
(22:18):
It used to be so I have twogrown children and we are empty
nesters.
They are, they have flown thecoop.
And so the, the second, thatsecond 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 doinggreat.
(22:40):
But so I've taken over the backfamily 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 offof it and a little closet, which
is packed to the gills with allmy stuff.
But so when I closed thedreaming bear, that was in the
(23:01):
spring of 2016.
So all those years I had thatstudio, you know, that
storefront, and it was quite achallenge to adjust from.
Greeting the public every dayand keeping having all the space
in the world to figuring out howto come home to a much smaller
(23:23):
space and just figure that newlife out.
But it's a great.
It's great for me.
There's linoleum.
There's like old linoleum on thefloors.
So I don't have to be carefulwith the paint.
I love that.
We really should probablyreplace the floors one of these
days, but if I'm going to slopthem up, what's the point,
(23:46):
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 doa purge of my supplies, but I
haven't done that yet.
Because you never know whenyou're going to need something,
right?
Yeah.
You don't wanna, don't wannapart with that little thing.
(24:08):
So I have an area for painting.
I have two big restaurant worktables.
You know, like the metal, uh,workbench type tables.
And they're really nice andlightweight, so I can move them
around to configure them how Ineed them.
So I mostly paint there.
I'm not much of an easelpainter.
(24:29):
Unless I'm, you know, working onsomething big.
But then around the room isshelves full of stuff.
Just Full of stuff.
And I usually, at the end of theday, I, I love to put things
away because I don't like cominginto a room all haphazard.
(24:51):
What's nice about having my ownspace is if I am in the middle
of something, like these glassitems, I can just leave it out.
You know, it's not like, not inanybody's way.
I can just leave it out and Ican come to it the next day.
But I do love a good.
Clean up just helps with myyeah, but this week it's pretty
(25:15):
bad and my We have a back doorWe have a back door that goes
off of my studio.
And so that is where the doggiesget let out So I am also in
addition to work the studioworker.
I am the doggie care pottyperson.
(25:36):
So I'm always the one lettingthem out and bringing them in
and that kind of thing.
So it's kind of a fun little Funlittle routine to be able to
just hang out with my dogs andmake stuff, you know?
Ellyn Zinsmeister (25:51):
That's
Catherine Dutton (25:51):
love that.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (25:53):
Can we talk a little bit more about your shop?
About the Dreaming Bear and whatinspired you to open that?
And how that was important toyou?
Dori Patrick (26:03):
Yeah yeah, so I opened the Dreaming Bear in 2004
the spring of 2004 and itactually started in one little
teeny tiny little cottage andthen this space across the
street opened up.
And it was much, much bigger.
So I was really only in theteeny tiny space for about five
(26:24):
or six months before this bigspace opened up.
So we moved it across the streetand I had visited, uh, St.
Louis and they have a place, Ithink it's called You Can Do.
And it was, we were on vacationwith the kids and it was this
fun place where you could dropin, you didn't need an
(26:44):
appointment and you could makestuff.
They had all kinds of suppliesand things, and I thought, my
God, this is so fun.
We could totally do somethinglike this back home.
At the time, we didn't haveanything like that.
Things have been popping upnowadays, but back then there
was nothing like that.
(27:05):
And in my gift shop, I sold mywork, and also I sold a lot of
things.
Handmade items from other localpeople and just, it was fun,
colorful gifts, things that madeyou laugh, you know, like silly,
silly gifts.
And we had a really greatreputation for just being like
(27:26):
this, the place you went for funand I, the girls that worked for
us.
I always told them, you're thehostess of a party here.
So when people come in, this isa party, and you're including
them in your party.
And it really was like that.
Like, we just, we had so muchfun.
(27:46):
We did birthday parties forkids.
We did wine nights for ladies.
It was a lot of you know, I wasglued to my calendar all the
time because my biggest fear waslike.
I can, I cannot forget a single,you know, because people are
planning on having, we wouldhave bachelorette parties there
(28:09):
and, you know, all kinds of, wehad painting supplies, mosaic
supplies, we had a glitter bar,we had, I mean, you name
Catherine Dutton (28:19):
They're far.
Dori Patrick (28:20):
it, it was, yeah, yeah, I know, I would come, you
guys, I would come home.
And like, you'll get into myjammies at the end of the day
and like glitter would fall outof my clothes.
You know how glitter is, it justlike gets everywhere.
But yeah, and so we were able todo a lot of cool community
(28:41):
outreach projects too.
We had the space so we wouldhave a local shelter come and,
you know, Show us how to makethe little fleece blankets for
doggies that are in shelters.
And so we had a fun day doingthat.
I would host Kids through Idon't know if you have
foundation to where you guys areif you or if that's just
Ellyn Zinsmeister (29:04):
that is.
Oh,
Dori Patrick (29:05):
Regional thing it's it's an emergency.
They provide emergency servicesfor people who need to get out
of dangerous situations and sothey are sometimes a liaison for
a child and Between like gettingthem their foster care.
So there I worked a lot with,yeah, I worked a lot with the
(29:26):
kids in the middle school tohigh school age, they would
come, we got a grant and to payfor these kids to come and do
art with us.
And that was, that was.
mind blowing.
I mean, it's, there's some kidshaving a hard, hard time and for
(29:46):
them to just have a couple ofhours of creative freedom was
really, it was very meaningfulto me to provide that for them.
So yeah, so the Dreaming Bearwas like this party all the time
and the years went by and I Asthe years we were there, let's
(30:10):
see, we were open for 12 yearstotal.
And probably by that 11th year,I was really like.
Getting worn out.
I had some health problems thatwe were trying to figure out and
I also just never had time toPlot like to do my own thing It
was all what you're alwaysthinking about the next workshop
(30:33):
the next project we could dowith people You know, you're
always thinking about otherpeople and there was just no
time to for me, so I I didn'teven really start figuring out
my style until we closed thatstore 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
(30:55):
to really, like, I sat down andwent, I don't even know how to.
Like, I was so used to leadingeveryone in a project that it
really, it took me some time tofigure out how to do my, my own
thing.
But I, so we had an exitstrategy and we closed in the
spring of 2016 and we went outwith a bang.
(31:18):
It was like the biggest partyyou'd ever see and,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (31:22):
Awesome.
Dori Patrick (31:23):
still have young ladies come up to me and say, I
had my birthday party at theDreaming Baron.
That just means so much to me.
Yeah, it's cool.
You know, it's kind of funnywhen you're done with something,
you're done.
You're just like, I am done withthis.
Catherine Dutton (31:40):
Mm hmm.
Dori Patrick (31:41):
And I was like, trying to stay positive.
But now I can look back on it.
And it was such a great, it wassuch a great place, a great time
for all of us.
So yeah, I have that retail,that retail background, which I
(32:02):
think helps me at the shows andstuff.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (32:04):
Oh, sure.
Catherine Dutton (32:05):
yeah.
And it sounds like that was anopportunity for you to
facilitate others making.
Yeah.
Do you think that informed howyou've become a creator now?
Dori Patrick (32:19):
yeah, because showing somebody how to do
something is different thansitting down and doing it
yourself.
When you are stopping andexplaining It's different.
It's like, oh, and I was alwayssurprised at how little some
(32:40):
people, there are, this blew mymind when I found out there were
families that didn't just havescraps laying around that they
would play with.
I'm like, what are you, what?
Like one girl didn't even knowhow glue worked.
And I was like, Okay, we'regoing to show you how glue
works.
Catherine Dutton (32:57):
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (32:58):
Wow.
Dori Patrick (32:59):
it, it, it opened my eyes to how lucky I was in
that respect, but it also feltreally good to, you know, to
show people simple things thatthey were intimidated by at
first, and then they realized.
I can do this.
I'm like, yeah, you can do this.
(33:21):
Of course you can do this.
So it was so fun to cheer themon and see what they would come
up with.
Yeah, it was so satisfying.
But like I said, the energy ittakes.
for that to continue on and onreally held me back personally.
(33:41):
So when it was time to be done,it was time to be done.
And it was just, it was a goodseason.
And now I'm in this season.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:51):
I imagine when you closed, you had all
this community and then you wentto being alone.
Did you find other ways to weavecommunity into your, into your
process, into your days?
Mm hmm.
Bye.
Bye.
Dori Patrick (34:04):
Eventually I did.
You guys, when we finally closedthe doors and we got everything
out of there, I came home, I gotsick.
I was so sick.
I was sick for like two weeks.
I think I was just worn out.
So I really, I loved just cominghome and resting and having that
(34:29):
quiet.
I think I was just so ready forthat quiet.
that quiet time.
So I wasn't really craving it atfirst.
I was quite, I was happy tojust, 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.
(34:51):
You can't just, you've got to bethere, got to be there when you
say you're going to be there.
And I remember saying, I justwant to be sick.
At home
Catherine Dutton (35:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dori Patrick (35:05):
alone I know that's silly.
I shouldn't complain about
Ellyn Zinsmeister (35:08):
Not at all.
Catherine Dutton (35:09):
Oh, no.
Dori Patrick (35:10):
Yeah.
So the first, yeah, the firstfew weeks I was sick and I was
recovering from that, and then Iwent on this.
Coffee date extravaganza.
All my girlfriends that I neverhad time to see.
Family members I never had timeto see.
I mean, my calendar was likeboom, boom, boom, boom.
(35:32):
I had coffee dates galore.
And then about a month, about amonth later, I was like, I
really should probably startbeing useful.
of, but it was fun.
It was just, it was what Ineeded.
It's set, you know, kind ofreset me.
And then hubby helped me get thestudio set up at home.
(35:55):
And I've been here ever since.
And, you know, sometimes I thinkabout having a space.
I don't really want to have astore.
I don't, that doesn't appeal tome anymore.
Cause I love the freedom ofcoming and going when I want to
do that.
But sometimes I think about, youknow, renting a bigger studio
space and doing the classes andstuff.
(36:16):
And then I think.
I just, I love being home withmy dogs.
So, we'll see.
Never say never, right?
Catherine Dutton (36:25):
You just never know where life is going to take
you.
Do you?
Dori Patrick (36:28):
Right.
Right.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:30):
we've got a whole, we've got a whole win.
We win the lottery plan of the
Dori Patrick (36:35):
Oh, yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:36):
center.
We're gonna build.
We, we could let you in on that
Dori Patrick (36:41):
Yes.
Please do.
Remember me in your will,please.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:46):
No.
We want you to come play with us
Dori Patrick (36:48):
Oh, I will.
I will.
I'm there.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:54):
That would be fun.
Do you, when you're, when you'recreating in your studio, is it
quiet?
Do you watch TV?
Do you listen to something,podcasts, music?
Dori Patrick (37:03):
All of the above.
All of the above.
I, at first, I really, like thefirst few months, I really, I
think I was just craving quiet.
I just wanted quiet.
So when I first came home, itwas 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 mystudio.
(37:26):
I am a confessed self not self.
So I don't know what I'm tryingto say.
I am a self confessed true crimejunkie.
So I listened to some of thepodcasts on true crime and
stuff.
But when I need to really.
(37:47):
Like get that abstract paintingmoved along or something.
That's when music really, musicwill kind of break through just
about any mental block that Ihave.
So if I'm really stuck, I justcrank up some rock music or
some, you know, whatever.
(38:07):
And that always, always helps.
But late, yeah, lately I've gota lot of chitter chatter going
on.
In the studio.
I like listening to something asI work.
Yeah.
Catherine Dutton (38:21):
What, what do you like to look at or to listen
to that helps inspire you?
Are there podcasts, you saidtrue crime, but like, which ones
do
Dori Patrick (38:33):
I yeah.
Yeah, you don't want yet.
Don't do that.
That's not inspiring.
Catherine Dutton (38:38):
Ah, I gotcha.
Okay.
Dori Patrick (38:39):
I yeah, yeah.
I'm not sure why I'm drawing ablank, but I have a blank.
Playlist and I would be happy tosend 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 reallywanting to get some stuff done.
(39:04):
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 justlike 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 inspiresme, I, eh, inspiration is
(39:30):
everywhere.
It's everywhere.
Like, I, sometimes I'moverwhelmed.
I have more ideas than I canhandle.
I have probably years to liveand isn't that a wonderful
bounty to be thankful for?
Ellyn Zinsmeister (39:47):
That's
Dori Patrick (39:47):
I really do.
I have, I have figured out howto train my eyeballs to take
inspiration wherever I am.
So I've been fortunate to takesome really fabulous once in a
lifetime trips, but I can alsoGo down to the grocery store and
(40:08):
I'll overhear some lady sayingsomething silly.
And I think, Oh my God, I got toput that on a painting, you
know, or so I think it's justlearning how to tune in your
ears and your eyeballs, whereveryou are.
And it's totally possible.
Someone who I find reallyinspiring.
(40:29):
I don't, maybe you guys haveheard of her.
Her name is Sandy Hester.
Have you heard of Sandy Hester?
She's from, I think she's fromNashville.
She's painter.
She mostly paints.
She does mixed media work, butsome, she is a YouTuber and she
has some videos about how shegathers inspiration wherever she
(40:50):
is.
And how you can look at a sceneand you don't have to paint that
scene just the way it looks.
You can take the things that youlove from that scene and create
your own vision of it.
And that really, that put alight bulb on for me.
You know, I thought, well, thatmakes sense.
(41:13):
Like, of course, you can justtake, but you know, sometimes
you just need somebody to showyou or to tell you to get your,
to get you on a new track.
I find her very inspiring andmuseums are so inspiring.
Whenever I travel, I try to getto the local, uh, art museums.
(41:34):
I love nature.
I love walking my dogs outside.
That's fun.
It's everywhere.
Our world is just so rich andabundant with fodder for us to
feed off of that there's noshortage.
Yeah.
Catherine Dutton (41:54):
When you come across that inspiration, how do
you like capture that foryourself?
Do you
Dori Patrick (42:01):
Well, I, yeah, I wish I was better.
I have a brain.
I have a brain.
And that tends to whoop, andthen 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, Ikeep with me, I try to.
(42:24):
Our phones are so wonderful.
So snapping a photo will help meto remember an idea.
Yeah, I have a notebook that Ijust sort of collect things.
And if I'm honest, sometimes Ilook back and I'm like, what did
these three words even?
What was I thinking?
So I wish I had, you know, givenmyself a little more detail, but
(42:48):
You know, the really good ones,I think, stick with you, and
then when it's time to bringthem to life, you can do so.
Catherine Dutton (42:59):
I
Ellyn Zinsmeister (43:01):
cool.
I think we, I think we've hitall our, Our major points.
What do you think, Catherine?
Catherine Dutton (43:08):
think we have.
Do you have any other questions?
Do you have anything else thatyou'd like to share before we
wrap this up today?
Yeah,
Dori Patrick (43:19):
encourage anybody who has any further questions
for me, please feel free toreach 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 lotof stuff.
So I don't but I love, I lovetalking about creativity.
I love encouraging people.
(43:40):
I love seeing what othercreatives are doing.
I think that's one really greatthing about this.
age we're living in.
It's, you know, I grew up, I'm akid of the 80s.
I didn't, we didn't have allthis fabulous technology.
And I think it is just such awonderful tool that can be used
(44:02):
for good, you know.
So I love, I love meeting newpeople.
I do hope you'll win the lotteryand get that retreat center.
And, uh,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:12):
We'll keep you
Dori Patrick (44:13):
I'm going to hang all my hopes on this now.
Catherine Dutton (44:16):
we will be
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:17):
to the club.
Catherine Dutton (44:18):
broadly.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:20):
Welcome to the club.
Yes.
We have lots of
Dori Patrick (44:24):
And I appreciate
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:26):
yeah, we discuss that at great depth.
Dori Patrick (44:29):
I love it.
I love it.
I am.
I have some ideas.
I, you know, I think when Iclosed my store, I just so
desperately needed to rest andto not teach.
And I'm kind of coming out ofthat shell again and feeling
like I, I love those personalconnections with people at
(44:50):
workshops, retreats.
So I'm kind of thinking up somestuff.
I'm not ready to announceanything just yet, but I think
that.
I mean, when, you know, whencreative people get together,
it's like, shazam.
Catherine Dutton (45:04):
It's really fun.
Yeah,
Dori Patrick (45:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And thank you so much forreaching out.
I
Catherine Dutton (45:11):
Oh, thank you so much for joining us today.
We have just really lovedhearing.
I have, I feel like I havelearned from you today.
So thank you so much.
And I feel inspired to go createthis afternoon.
I'm,
Dori Patrick (45:28):
Do it.
Do it.
Catherine Dutton (45:31):
I'm, I'm
Dori Patrick (45:32):
Do it.
Yeah.
What are you guys working on?
Catherine Dutton (45:34):
I'm doing the fodder challenge this month.
And so there's a new one that'sout today.
So I'm going to draw tiny facesthis afternoon.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (45:42):
We've been doing some of that together.
We, we tend to do art daystogether to break up the, the
business stuff that we've beendoing.
It's like, no, let's schedule anart day.
We need to,
Catherine Dutton (45:52):
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (45:52):
to not lose that.
So,
Dori Patrick (45:54):
Yes.
Yeah.
And that's creative.
People need that time to not beon all the time or productive
all the time.
You need that time to play.
That's how you find, that's howyou make new discoveries.
You've got to do it.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (46:13):
absolutely.
Dori Patrick (46:14):
awesome.
Well, thank you so much, youguys.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (46:17):
No, thanks for coming and have a great day,
Dori.
Welcome back to Creative Crossroads,
(00:01):
everybody.
I'm Ellyn and my buddy Catherineis here and today we're
welcoming a very special guest.
Our guest is Dori Patrick.
Dori is a mixed media artistfrom Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
She has done all kinds ofinteresting things and dabbles
in all kinds of things,including owning a storefront
(00:21):
for about 12 years in Iowacalled the Dreaming Bear.
And it sounds like it was a verycollaborative space, a make and
take art studio where she hostedcreative workshops and parties.
We're excited to get to knowmore about Dori and her creative
process as part of our series.
Welcome Dori.
We're glad you're here.
Dori Patrick (00:43):
Thanks so much, you guys.
I'm happy to be here.
Oh,
Catherine Dutton (00:48):
And to kind of kick off our conversation, we're
going to throw you a questionthat we didn't give you in
advance, which is, I know, whatdoes it mean to you to be
creative?
Yeah.
Dori Patrick (01:03):
boy.
That's a really good question.
I think there are, I think forme, it is just this need to
express myself with my hands.
I have always, always, alwayshad this compulsion to, I guess
(01:25):
compulsion might be.
The best word for it.
It's I cannot not make thingslike I don't understand.
I don't understand people whojust sit and watch TV and, you
know, don't have something busygoing with their hands or
something.
So for me, it's just, I think itreally is just ingrained in me.
(01:46):
I grew up in a create prettycreative family.
My mom is a very accomplishedseamstress.
Like we're talking, she made herown wedding dress, kind of
accomplished seamstress.
So, and that skill totallyskipped over me.
I am, I am not that talented,but there were always scraps.
(02:13):
around for for us kids to playwith.
You know, my dad was very handywith gardening and building
things and, you know, bringingsome of my mom's visions to life
in the house.
Like if she needed, you know, ashelf built or whatever.
So there were always scrapsaround and we were always
playing and gluing and cuttingand and I just grew up just
(02:38):
loving, I have always lovedmaking.
I have, I know a lot of peoplewho say, They don't think of
themselves as creative.
And that always kind of starts alittle fight with me because I,
I definitely believe everybodyis, there just are different
ways of being creative, right?
(02:58):
Like, just because you don'tpaint or you don't draw
realistically or whatnot,doesn't mean you're not.
There are so many ways to becreative.
So, I try to remind my friendswho think that they're not that.
You know, that recipe you just,you know, you made off the fly.
That's creative.
(03:19):
You know, that poem you justwrote.
That's creative.
There is such a broad spectrumof 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 littletime during the day to, you
(03:40):
know, even if I'm just likegluing something into a journal
or.
whatever, 10 minutes a day.
It just helps ground me.
I guess that's the best way todescribe it.
Like, I just have always doneit.
I can't imagine not ever doingit.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (03:57):
Do you think the way you created as a child
with just whatever was around doyou think that has impacted the
way you create now?
Dori Patrick (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
A little bit.
You know, it's, growing up istough y'all.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (04:17):
Amen
Dori Patrick (04:18):
anybody who's
Catherine Dutton (04:19):
you
Dori Patrick (04:22):
Ask anybody who's done it.
There is.
There's a time.
I don't know.
Maybe it happens right aboutmiddle school or high school
where you become just a lot moreself conscious and more of a
need to just sort of blend inand be like everybody else
because you just want to get by,so I think there was.
(04:42):
I think it has taken aninteresting trajectory.
I think I sort of bucked that alittle bit, maybe in my teenage
and young adult years and reallyrealize that this is just what
makes me happy.
And this is just what I have todo.
I struggled a lot as a youngadult working in crappy job jobs
(05:10):
that didn't, you know, didn'tmake me happy.
But I had babies, I had to paythe bills, you know, you know,
the drill.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:17):
Yes.
Dori Patrick (05:18):
And it just, it just It was just calling to me.
I can't even, it started as awhisper and then it just got
louder and louder and I kind offound my way awkwardly and
messily to where I am today.
(05:39):
Yeah, yeah, and I lost, totallylost track of what the original
Ellyn Zinsmeister (05:44):
No, that's okay.
That's fine.
We'll go where we go.
But I was thinking, so it seemslike what you create now, and if
people haven't seen it, we'lladd some links so they can check
your work out, but it seems likeyou create what, what brings you
joy.
Do you ever feel like you haveto create what people want, or
(06:04):
do you just create what Doriwants?
Dori Patrick (06:07):
Sometimes I do but mostly I don't mostly I do
whatever I want to do and that'sa really great place to be but
for instance We were talkingbefore we hit record this
painting behind me.
This was a part of a projectthat I was applying for.
(06:27):
And that, you know, put someconstraints on your brain of
here's what they are lookingfor, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.
But I still had to have it.
have my voice.
And so I am more in tune nowthan I used to be of what makes
it me.
I kind of know that now, butthat takes a, that takes years
(06:51):
of practice.
And I mean, you know, it's just,you start to figure out who you
are and what your style is andwhat you gravitate towards.
And You can't help.
You just can't help but do it.
And you know, I have times inthe studio where I'm making
something and I'm like, what areyou even doing here, Dori?
(07:14):
This is like, this does notfeel, you know, we all do.
I think there's a misconceptionthat Artists are always just
hitting the nail on the headevery single time, and that is
not how it works.
It's a lot.
There are a lot of failures, alot of start overs.
Some things work out, somedon't.
(07:35):
You just, you're just along forthe ride, really, on a daily
basis.
Catherine Dutton (07:40):
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 processof finding your voice?
Mm hmm.
Mm
Dori Patrick (07:57):
maybe.
I, I don't think, I think that Iwas not aware that it is a
process.
I think I remember an instructortelling us In a class once pay
attention to what you payattention to and that has stuck
(08:20):
with me for ever.
It still is a reminder thatcomes up in my life daily.
So I started thinking, okay,what is the artwork that I love?
What is, what are the thingsthat might make my eyeballs
happy?
You know, I admire all talents.
(08:40):
I admire sculptors who can makerealistic human figures.
I, I respect all of that.
The stuff that excites me?
I started paying attention tothat.
And for me, it's quirky, it'scolorful, it's crooked.
It's ripped up and stitched backtogether again.
(09:04):
So I started really payingattention to the things that.
Made my little heart go pitterpat, I guess.
And that is where, and there wasa disjoint there in the
beginning, when I was young andnot quite sure and trying to
please people, you know, I wouldsay yes to everything because I
(09:26):
just needed to make the moneyand As the years go by, you kind
of figure out what gels withyour type of art, and I don't do
a whole lot of commissions.
I rarely do them, becausethere's something that kind of
shuts down in my brain, that Ifeel like that person has a, a
(09:52):
preconceived notion of what thisis going to be.
And then I'm like, Oh, well,I've got to make that
preconceived notion come to lifefor them.
Right.
And I just lose it.
And then I put it off and I putit off and it's, so I'm better
now about kind of knowing whatkind of projects work out for
me.
But and then my art startedcatching up.
(10:13):
To what I was attracted to, youknow, at first I was like, I
love the wonky stuff.
I love this quirky stuff, but Iwas over here painting straight
lines and filling it inperfectly.
And then I was like, well, whydon't I like this?
Well, dummy, you're not, you'renot paying attention.
(10:35):
to what delights you.
Take that little house youpainted and, you know, rip it up
or make it crooked or somethinglike that.
So it took some time to kind offigure that out.
And now I just, I know what Ilove and I can just zero in and
if something's too precious, Iknow what I have to do.
(10:57):
It's just that practice,practice, I know nobody likes to
hear that, but it is hours andhours of just working and
working and trying over and overagain.
And then it comes to you.
I really, I promise it does.
Catherine Dutton (11:18):
I love that.
When you sit down to, to create,do you, how do you, how do you
decide what you're going tocreate?
Do you have days where you'relike, I know I'm doing this, or
do you have days where you'reuninspired?
And if you are, what do you dowhen that happens?
Dori Patrick (11:35):
It varies a little bit.
Some days I know exactly whatI'm going to do because I have,
I may have an like right now onmy studio table.
And it's such a disaster.
I would show it to you, but I'membarrassed at how messy it is.
But right now I'm working onglass items.
So I I'm using up stuff.
(11:55):
So I have some little glass gemsI'm painting up.
I'm getting ready for a holidaybazaar next month.
And then I'm like, well, I'vegot these vases.
So while I have the glass paintout, I'll get going on these.
So.
There are days where I show uplike this afternoon.
I'll show up in there.
I know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to work on these vasesbecause I do things in batches
(12:17):
and I know what I'm going to do.
There are other days where Ishow up.
And I don't have the foggiest,but I know there's a show coming
up and I better make somethingso that my poor husband doesn't
drive me five hours away and wehave nothing to sell.
So there are, there are thingsthat motivate you too, you know,
(12:38):
deadlines.
But yeah, so when I get stuck I,if I'm really, really stuck, I
will set a timer on my phone andjust tell myself, okay, Dori,
you can do anything for 20minutes.
Just move your hand for 20minutes and let's see where that
(13:01):
gets us.
And so I will just, whatever itis, I may grab a piece of paper
and just start working on anabstract or move, just doing
something.
And usually by the end of that20 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
(13:24):
something, you know, it's alittle harder to get going and
I'll do the timer again, youknow, I'll just say, okay, you
can do this for another 20minutes or, you know, if it's
really, really bad, I just dropeverything.
I'll go take the dogs for a walkor go work in the yard, just
like completely remove myselfand then come back.
(13:48):
And it's usually not as bad as Ithought it was.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (13:53):
So do you, you mentioned your glass project
that you're working on rightnow, do you typically work on
one thing at a time or do youhave multiple things going on?
Dori Patrick (14:03):
I always have multiple things going on.
For two reasons.
Number one, it keeps you fromfussing and overworking one
piece.
You know, if you've got onething and that's taken all your
energy and all your love, it'slike, It becomes too precious.
(14:25):
It's too.
You got too much invested inthat one piece.
And if it's not a masterpiece,well, then your whole day is
gone, you know, so, but when youwork in multiples, there's
something about adding a littleto this.
Moving it aside, adding a littleto this, like I just had a vase
yesterday tip over and roll inthrough like my little paint
(14:50):
palette thing that I was usingand it like made these cool
splotches and I was like, okay,universe, there we go.
So I just took all my vases andstarted like, Okay.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:00):
Oh
Dori Patrick (15:01):
You know,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:02):
that's great,
Catherine Dutton (15:03):
love that.
Dori Patrick (15:04):
I swear.
Yeah, yeah.
So, and there's another reason.
Oh, the other reason I dobatches 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 totravel with me when I have art
(15:25):
festivals or shows or whatnot.
He is my driver and my, mynavigator and my everything.
He, he's a snack getter.
You know, he gets the snacks for
Ellyn Zinsmeister (15:37):
that's important.
Dori Patrick (15:39):
yeah, yeah.
So, I need to have, I need tohave, be ready for a show.
I never feel ready for a show.
There are always like 10 moreideas I wanted to get done
before the, you know, before wetravel, but I want to have as
much done as I possibly can.
And when you're working inmultiples, you can make that
(16:01):
happen.
Like it takes longer, you know,you're working through five or
six paintings at a time, butthen 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 touchingmultiple items in a day because
(16:21):
if I get too focused on onepiece, it's a disaster.
It's like, you can tell, you cantell I have like painted it
within an inch of its life.
And I, yeah.
You've gotta step back.
Catherine Dutton (16:38):
So how do you know when one of your projects
is finished?
Dori Patrick (16:45):
Uh, like a piece?
Like a painting?
Yeah.
I think I, I, I'm getting betterat it.
I, when I see myself slowingdown in things, I, I can't think
of things to do with it.
I guess.
So most of my paintings startoff just making a mess.
(17:07):
I do lots of layering.
I use modeling paste fortexture.
I layer, layer, layer, layer.
And then as I slow down and Istart to see something evolve,
I'm more thoughtful on thosefinal layers of finishing them
up and trying not to overworkthem.
(17:29):
So.
I kind of have this feelingthat, okay, if you're slowing
down and you can't think ofsomething to do to this right
now, let's set it aside.
We'll look at it another day.
And then sometimes, you know, acouple days later, I'll look at
it and go, Oh wow, that's done.
I don't need to mess with this.
(17:51):
Or I'll just, I'll know what todo.
But you know what?
A painting could just.
go on forever.
It could, you know, a paintingcould just have so many
iterations.
It could never be done.
So sometimes it's just a matterof, I've got a show next week.
This has to be done.
(18:12):
This is done, you know, and Idon't, I don't love every single
thing.
I'm not in love with everythingI make.
I have a lot of joy when I'mmaking, but I have certain
pieces that I love more thanothers.
And I'll tell you what, thepieces that I do not like as
much always go first.
Catherine Dutton (18:35):
Interesting.
Dori Patrick (18:37):
crazy.
It's crazy.
And I never let people knowthat.
Of course you don't want to everlet people know that.
But I was just, it's sointeresting.
And my husband, and my husbandknows because he does the shows
with me I'll be like, Oh, Idon't know about, I don't know
about this one.
So he knows and then boom,somebody's like, I love that.
(18:59):
So who, so that teaches me tosay, who am I to judge?
Who am I to judge?
You know, I don't need to loveevery 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, youguys, that is so freeing, to
(19:24):
just, yeah, yeah, it's likesomebody will love it, someday,
somebody will find it and loveit, and it always works out, so,
yeah, I'm sorry, I'm going offon a
Ellyn Zinsmeister (19:37):
No, it's
Catherine Dutton (19:38):
I love that.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (19:41):
So you don't ever walk away and abandon an
idea?
You finish it and hope somebodywill love it?
Dori Patrick (19:48):
Most things, most things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, at the end of a showseason, there are always what we
call the stragglers.
You know, the paintings that didnot make, did not find a home by
the end of the summer.
And sometimes, It's something Iabsolutely love and I'm like,
(20:09):
well, fine, I'll just keep thisand, you know, I'll move it
around in my house.
But other times I also willjust, I'll put it in my supply
closet and when the time isright, I'll paint over it.
And Another thing, those paintovers, those paint overs are
some of my favorite piecesbecause they've got all that
(20:31):
juicy history underneath, youknow, and I always try to let a
little bit of it show through sothat you can see where it's
been.
But those are some of myfavorites.
The things that don't work out,don't sell, Paint over boom.
Catherine Dutton (20:49):
cool.
Dori Patrick (20:50):
really technical.
Paint over boom.
That's
Catherine Dutton (20:53):
I love it.
Dori Patrick (20:54):
right.
Mic drop.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (20:57):
It's giving us something to think about.
Cause, yeah.
I mean, I've had once or twicewith a quilt where I've
literally Finished a quilt topand then gone, you know, and
chopped it up and done somethingdifferent with it, but not very
often and it's probablysomething I should think about
more often.
That's
Dori Patrick (21:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, of course, I'm sure, youknow, paint, paint is so easy to
start over with.
It's not I mean, I, I supposeit's probably a different
approach with fabric andstitching, but yeah, like
nothing has to be forever.
You can just.
And that's the great thing aboutbeing your own boss, you know?
(21:39):
Nobody's here to tell me what todo.
If I want to tear this up, I'lltear it up.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (21:44):
So, tell us more.
You said your space is messyright now.
Tell us about where you createand is it, is it usually messy
or?
Do you reach a breaking point?
Dori Patrick (21:56):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Uh, yeah.
I I try to clean it up everynight.
Cause that does drive me kind ofcrazy.
I am not a neat freak, but I'vegot to know where stuff is or I
go pretty crazy.
So I currently work in the backof our house.
We have an addition.
(22:18):
It used to be so I have twogrown children and we are empty
nesters.
They are, they have flown thecoop.
And so the, the second, thatsecond 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 doinggreat.
(22:40):
But so I've taken over the backfamily 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 offof it and a little closet, which
is packed to the gills with allmy stuff.
But so when I closed thedreaming bear, that was in the
(23:01):
spring of 2016.
So all those years I had thatstudio, you know, that
storefront, and it was quite achallenge to adjust from.
Greeting the public every dayand keeping having all the space
in the world to figuring out howto come home to a much smaller
(23:23):
space and just figure that newlife out.
But it's a great.
It's great for me.
There's linoleum.
There's like old linoleum on thefloors.
So I don't have to be carefulwith the paint.
I love that.
We really should probablyreplace the floors one of these
days, but if I'm going to slopthem up, what's the point,
(23:46):
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 doa purge of my supplies, but I
haven't done that yet.
Because you never know whenyou're going to need something,
right?
Yeah.
You don't wanna, don't wannapart with that little thing.
(24:08):
So I have an area for painting.
I have two big restaurant worktables.
You know, like the metal, uh,workbench type tables.
And they're really nice andlightweight, so I can move them
around to configure them how Ineed them.
So I mostly paint there.
I'm not much of an easelpainter.
(24:29):
Unless I'm, you know, working onsomething big.
But then around the room isshelves full of stuff.
Just Full of stuff.
And I usually, at the end of theday, I, I love to put things
away because I don't like cominginto a room all haphazard.
(24:51):
What's nice about having my ownspace is if I am in the middle
of something, like these glassitems, I can just leave it out.
You know, it's not like, not inanybody's way.
I can just leave it out and Ican come to it the next day.
But I do love a good.
Clean up just helps with myyeah, but this week it's pretty
(25:15):
bad and my We have a back doorWe have a back door that goes
off of my studio.
And so that is where the doggiesget let out So I am also in
addition to work the studioworker.
I am the doggie care pottyperson.
(25:36):
So I'm always the one lettingthem out and bringing them in
and that kind of thing.
So it's kind of a fun little Funlittle routine to be able to
just hang out with my dogs andmake stuff, you know?
Ellyn Zinsmeister (25:51):
That's
Catherine Dutton (25:51):
love that.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (25:53):
Can we talk a little bit more about your shop?
About the Dreaming Bear and whatinspired you to open that?
And how that was important toyou?
Dori Patrick (26:03):
Yeah yeah, so I opened the Dreaming Bear in 2004
the spring of 2004 and itactually started in one little
teeny tiny little cottage andthen this space across the
street opened up.
And it was much, much bigger.
So I was really only in theteeny tiny space for about five
(26:24):
or six months before this bigspace opened up.
So we moved it across the streetand I had visited, uh, St.
Louis and they have a place, Ithink it's called You Can Do.
And it was, we were on vacationwith the kids and it was this
fun place where you could dropin, you didn't need an
(26:44):
appointment and you could makestuff.
They had all kinds of suppliesand things, and I thought, my
God, this is so fun.
We could totally do somethinglike this back home.
At the time, we didn't haveanything like that.
Things have been popping upnowadays, but back then there
was nothing like that.
(27:05):
And in my gift shop, I sold mywork, and also I sold a lot of
things.
Handmade items from other localpeople and just, it was fun,
colorful gifts, things that madeyou laugh, you know, like silly,
silly gifts.
And we had a really greatreputation for just being like
(27:26):
this, the place you went for funand I, the girls that worked for
us.
I always told them, you're thehostess of a party here.
So when people come in, this isa party, and you're including
them in your party.
And it really was like that.
Like, we just, we had so muchfun.
(27:46):
We did birthday parties forkids.
We did wine nights for ladies.
It was a lot of you know, I wasglued to my calendar all the
time because my biggest fear waslike.
I can, I cannot forget a single,you know, because people are
planning on having, we wouldhave bachelorette parties there
(28:09):
and, you know, all kinds of, wehad painting supplies, mosaic
supplies, we had a glitter bar,we had, I mean, you name
Catherine Dutton (28:19):
They're far.
Dori Patrick (28:20):
it, it was, yeah, yeah, I know, I would come, you
guys, I would come home.
And like, you'll get into myjammies at the end of the day
and like glitter would fall outof my clothes.
You know how glitter is, it justlike gets everywhere.
But yeah, and so we were able todo a lot of cool community
(28:41):
outreach projects too.
We had the space so we wouldhave a local shelter come and,
you know, Show us how to makethe little fleece blankets for
doggies that are in shelters.
And so we had a fun day doingthat.
I would host Kids through Idon't know if you have
foundation to where you guys areif you or if that's just
Ellyn Zinsmeister (29:04):
that is.
Oh,
Dori Patrick (29:05):
Regional thing it's it's an emergency.
They provide emergency servicesfor people who need to get out
of dangerous situations and sothey are sometimes a liaison for
a child and Between like gettingthem their foster care.
So there I worked a lot with,yeah, I worked a lot with the
(29:26):
kids in the middle school tohigh school age, they would
come, we got a grant and to payfor these kids to come and do
art with us.
And that was, that was.
mind blowing.
I mean, it's, there's some kidshaving a hard, hard time and for
(29:46):
them to just have a couple ofhours of creative freedom was
really, it was very meaningfulto me to provide that for them.
So yeah, so the Dreaming Bearwas like this party all the time
and the years went by and I Asthe years we were there, let's
(30:10):
see, we were open for 12 yearstotal.
And probably by that 11th year,I was really like.
Getting worn out.
I had some health problems thatwe were trying to figure out and
I also just never had time toPlot like to do my own thing It
was all what you're alwaysthinking about the next workshop
(30:33):
the next project we could dowith people You know, you're
always thinking about otherpeople and there was just no
time to for me, so I I didn'teven really start figuring out
my style until we closed thatstore 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
(30:55):
to really, like, I sat down andwent, I don't even know how to.
Like, I was so used to leadingeveryone in a project that it
really, it took me some time tofigure out how to do my, my own
thing.
But I, so we had an exitstrategy and we closed in the
spring of 2016 and we went outwith a bang.
(31:18):
It was like the biggest partyyou'd ever see and,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (31:22):
Awesome.
Dori Patrick (31:23):
still have young ladies come up to me and say, I
had my birthday party at theDreaming Baron.
That just means so much to me.
Yeah, it's cool.
You know, it's kind of funnywhen you're done with something,
you're done.
You're just like, I am done withthis.
Catherine Dutton (31:40):
Mm hmm.
Dori Patrick (31:41):
And I was like, trying to stay positive.
But now I can look back on it.
And it was such a great, it wassuch a great place, a great time
for all of us.
So yeah, I have that retail,that retail background, which I
(32:02):
think helps me at the shows andstuff.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (32:04):
Oh, sure.
Catherine Dutton (32:05):
yeah.
And it sounds like that was anopportunity for you to
facilitate others making.
Yeah.
Do you think that informed howyou've become a creator now?
Dori Patrick (32:19):
yeah, because showing somebody how to do
something is different thansitting down and doing it
yourself.
When you are stopping andexplaining It's different.
It's like, oh, and I was alwayssurprised at how little some
(32:40):
people, there are, this blew mymind when I found out there were
families that didn't just havescraps laying around that they
would play with.
I'm like, what are you, what?
Like one girl didn't even knowhow glue worked.
And I was like, Okay, we'regoing to show you how glue
works.
Catherine Dutton (32:57):
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (32:58):
Wow.
Dori Patrick (32:59):
it, it, it opened my eyes to how lucky I was in
that respect, but it also feltreally good to, you know, to
show people simple things thatthey were intimidated by at
first, and then they realized.
I can do this.
I'm like, yeah, you can do this.
(33:21):
Of course you can do this.
So it was so fun to cheer themon and see what they would come
up with.
Yeah, it was so satisfying.
But like I said, the energy ittakes.
for that to continue on and onreally held me back personally.
(33:41):
So when it was time to be done,it was time to be done.
And it was just, it was a goodseason.
And now I'm in this season.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (33:51):
I imagine when you closed, you had all
this community and then you wentto being alone.
Did you find other ways to weavecommunity into your, into your
process, into your days?
Mm hmm.
Bye.
Bye.
Dori Patrick (34:04):
Eventually I did.
You guys, when we finally closedthe doors and we got everything
out of there, I came home, I gotsick.
I was so sick.
I was sick for like two weeks.
I think I was just worn out.
So I really, I loved just cominghome and resting and having that
(34:29):
quiet.
I think I was just so ready forthat quiet.
that quiet time.
So I wasn't really craving it atfirst.
I was quite, I was happy tojust, 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.
(34:51):
You can't just, you've got to bethere, got to be there when you
say you're going to be there.
And I remember saying, I justwant to be sick.
At home
Catherine Dutton (35:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dori Patrick (35:05):
alone I know that's silly.
I shouldn't complain about
Ellyn Zinsmeister (35:08):
Not at all.
Catherine Dutton (35:09):
Oh, no.
Dori Patrick (35:10):
Yeah.
So the first, yeah, the firstfew weeks I was sick and I was
recovering from that, and then Iwent on this.
Coffee date extravaganza.
All my girlfriends that I neverhad time to see.
Family members I never had timeto see.
I mean, my calendar was likeboom, boom, boom, boom.
(35:32):
I had coffee dates galore.
And then about a month, about amonth later, I was like, I
really should probably startbeing useful.
of, but it was fun.
It was just, it was what Ineeded.
It's set, you know, kind ofreset me.
And then hubby helped me get thestudio set up at home.
(35:55):
And I've been here ever since.
And, you know, sometimes I thinkabout having a space.
I don't really want to have astore.
I don't, that doesn't appeal tome anymore.
Cause I love the freedom ofcoming and going when I want to
do that.
But sometimes I think about, youknow, renting a bigger studio
space and doing the classes andstuff.
(36:16):
And then I think.
I just, I love being home withmy dogs.
So, we'll see.
Never say never, right?
Catherine Dutton (36:25):
You just never know where life is going to take
you.
Do you?
Dori Patrick (36:28):
Right.
Right.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:30):
we've got a whole, we've got a whole win.
We win the lottery plan of the
Dori Patrick (36:35):
Oh, yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:36):
center.
We're gonna build.
We, we could let you in on that
Dori Patrick (36:41):
Yes.
Please do.
Remember me in your will,please.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:46):
No.
We want you to come play with us
Dori Patrick (36:48):
Oh, I will.
I will.
I'm there.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (36:54):
That would be fun.
Do you, when you're, when you'recreating in your studio, is it
quiet?
Do you watch TV?
Do you listen to something,podcasts, music?
Dori Patrick (37:03):
All of the above.
All of the above.
I, at first, I really, like thefirst few months, I really, I
think I was just craving quiet.
I just wanted quiet.
So when I first came home, itwas 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 mystudio.
(37:26):
I am a confessed self not self.
So I don't know what I'm tryingto say.
I am a self confessed true crimejunkie.
So I listened to some of thepodcasts on true crime and
stuff.
But when I need to really.
(37:47):
Like get that abstract paintingmoved along or something.
That's when music really, musicwill kind of break through just
about any mental block that Ihave.
So if I'm really stuck, I justcrank up some rock music or
some, you know, whatever.
(38:07):
And that always, always helps.
But late, yeah, lately I've gota lot of chitter chatter going
on.
In the studio.
I like listening to something asI work.
Yeah.
Catherine Dutton (38:21):
What, what do you like to look at or to listen
to that helps inspire you?
Are there podcasts, you saidtrue crime, but like, which ones
do
Dori Patrick (38:33):
I yeah.
Yeah, you don't want yet.
Don't do that.
That's not inspiring.
Catherine Dutton (38:38):
Ah, I gotcha.
Okay.
Dori Patrick (38:39):
I yeah, yeah.
I'm not sure why I'm drawing ablank, but I have a blank.
Playlist and I would be happy tosend 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 reallywanting to get some stuff done.
(39:04):
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 justlike 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 inspiresme, I, eh, inspiration is
(39:30):
everywhere.
It's everywhere.
Like, I, sometimes I'moverwhelmed.
I have more ideas than I canhandle.
I have probably years to liveand isn't that a wonderful
bounty to be thankful for?
Ellyn Zinsmeister (39:47):
That's
Dori Patrick (39:47):
I really do.
I have, I have figured out howto train my eyeballs to take
inspiration wherever I am.
So I've been fortunate to takesome really fabulous once in a
lifetime trips, but I can alsoGo down to the grocery store and
(40:08):
I'll overhear some lady sayingsomething silly.
And I think, Oh my God, I got toput that on a painting, you
know, or so I think it's justlearning how to tune in your
ears and your eyeballs, whereveryou are.
And it's totally possible.
Someone who I find reallyinspiring.
(40:29):
I don't, maybe you guys haveheard of her.
Her name is Sandy Hester.
Have you heard of Sandy Hester?
She's from, I think she's fromNashville.
She's painter.
She mostly paints.
She does mixed media work, butsome, she is a YouTuber and she
has some videos about how shegathers inspiration wherever she
(40:50):
is.
And how you can look at a sceneand you don't have to paint that
scene just the way it looks.
You can take the things that youlove from that scene and create
your own vision of it.
And that really, that put alight bulb on for me.
You know, I thought, well, thatmakes sense.
(41:13):
Like, of course, you can justtake, but you know, sometimes
you just need somebody to showyou or to tell you to get your,
to get you on a new track.
I find her very inspiring andmuseums are so inspiring.
Whenever I travel, I try to getto the local, uh, art museums.
(41:34):
I love nature.
I love walking my dogs outside.
That's fun.
It's everywhere.
Our world is just so rich andabundant with fodder for us to
feed off of that there's noshortage.
Yeah.
Catherine Dutton (41:54):
When you come across that inspiration, how do
you like capture that foryourself?
Do you
Dori Patrick (42:01):
Well, I, yeah, I wish I was better.
I have a brain.
I have a brain.
And that tends to whoop, andthen 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, Ikeep with me, I try to.
(42:24):
Our phones are so wonderful.
So snapping a photo will help meto remember an idea.
Yeah, I have a notebook that Ijust sort of collect things.
And if I'm honest, sometimes Ilook back and I'm like, what did
these three words even?
What was I thinking?
So I wish I had, you know, givenmyself a little more detail, but
(42:48):
You know, the really good ones,I think, stick with you, and
then when it's time to bringthem to life, you can do so.
Catherine Dutton (42:59):
I
Ellyn Zinsmeister (43:01):
cool.
I think we, I think we've hitall our, Our major points.
What do you think, Catherine?
Catherine Dutton (43:08):
think we have.
Do you have any other questions?
Do you have anything else thatyou'd like to share before we
wrap this up today?
Yeah,
Dori Patrick (43:19):
encourage anybody who has any further questions
for me, please feel free toreach 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 lotof stuff.
So I don't but I love, I lovetalking about creativity.
I love encouraging people.
(43:40):
I love seeing what othercreatives are doing.
I think that's one really greatthing about this.
age we're living in.
It's, you know, I grew up, I'm akid of the 80s.
I didn't, we didn't have allthis fabulous technology.
And I think it is just such awonderful tool that can be used
(44:02):
for good, you know.
So I love, I love meeting newpeople.
I do hope you'll win the lotteryand get that retreat center.
And, uh,
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:12):
We'll keep you
Dori Patrick (44:13):
I'm going to hang all my hopes on this now.
Catherine Dutton (44:16):
we will be
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:17):
to the club.
Catherine Dutton (44:18):
broadly.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:20):
Welcome to the club.
Yes.
We have lots of
Dori Patrick (44:24):
And I appreciate
Ellyn Zinsmeister (44:26):
yeah, we discuss that at great depth.
Dori Patrick (44:29):
I love it.
I love it.
I am.
I have some ideas.
I, you know, I think when Iclosed my store, I just so
desperately needed to rest andto not teach.
And I'm kind of coming out ofthat shell again and feeling
like I, I love those personalconnections with people at
(44:50):
workshops, retreats.
So I'm kind of thinking up somestuff.
I'm not ready to announceanything just yet, but I think
that.
I mean, when, you know, whencreative people get together,
it's like, shazam.
Catherine Dutton (45:04):
It's really fun.
Yeah,
Dori Patrick (45:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And thank you so much forreaching out.
I
Catherine Dutton (45:11):
Oh, thank you so much for joining us today.
We have just really lovedhearing.
I have, I feel like I havelearned from you today.
So thank you so much.
And I feel inspired to go createthis afternoon.
I'm,
Dori Patrick (45:28):
Do it.
Do it.
Catherine Dutton (45:31):
I'm, I'm
Dori Patrick (45:32):
Do it.
Yeah.
What are you guys working on?
Catherine Dutton (45:34):
I'm doing the fodder challenge this month.
And so there's a new one that'sout today.
So I'm going to draw tiny facesthis afternoon.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (45:42):
We've been doing some of that together.
We, we tend to do art daystogether to break up the, the
business stuff that we've beendoing.
It's like, no, let's schedule anart day.
We need to,
Catherine Dutton (45:52):
Yeah.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (45:52):
to not lose that.
So,
Dori Patrick (45:54):
Yes.
Yeah.
And that's creative.
People need that time to not beon all the time or productive
all the time.
You need that time to play.
That's how you find, that's howyou make new discoveries.
You've got to do it.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (46:13):
absolutely.
Dori Patrick (46:14):
awesome.
Well, thank you so much, youguys.
Ellyn Zinsmeister (46:17):
No, thanks for coming and have a great day,
Dori.
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