Travel and Chocolate: When Books Inspire

May 24, 2018 | Coleen Patrick

Lately I’ve been devouring travel memoirs. And they’re fueling my wanderlust.

From a trip to Scotland last year. A very rare bird in Loch Lomond.

I love that about books. The ability to influence and inspire.

I was around eleven when I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The chocolate river. The candy (side note: twenty years later a made up story about a candy store would be my kids most requested bedtime story).

The story hooked me. Oh, and the chocolate bar that you could grab right out of your tv?

Magical. And I wanted some of that magic.

At the time we lived on a Coast Guard base in New Orleans and there was a tiny convenience store on the corner. They had candy bars.

I scraped together some money (sorry dad, I dipped into that change jar in your armoire).

And then, naturally, I sent my nine year old sister to get me the candy bar. I had a book to finish. (Thank you, B!)

I love that I can immerse in another world via a book, but it really does feel like magic when you nurture the opportunity to bring some of that story world into your real life.

And then those new memories inspire your own creative work…

And so on. Ad infinitum.

Bird is waving hello (there is a chocolate bar behind that other wing, I’m sure of it.

If you like travel memoirs, I enjoyed these:

At Home in the World, by Tsh Oxenreider

My Part-Time Paris Life by Lisa Anselmo

The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World by Torre DeRoche

Where I’m off to next:

A cabin in the woods. For real. I’m doing a short–solo– writing, hiking trip. I’ll keep you posted! Follow me on Instagram for real(er) time updates.

Then this summer, we’re off to ALASKA. We’ll be stopping in all the usual places so if you have a favorite coffee shop, hike or food must eat, let me know!

Also, if you have a must read, perhaps one that inspired you to action, I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Spring (and reading) friends!!

Shoo Fly, I’m Writing

April 28, 2017 | Coleen Patrick

How do you conquer the blank page? Are you a cat or a dog (or perhaps a bug aficionado) person? We don’t have any pets right now, other than some free loading spiders in the garage, but I spend a lot of time drawing animals.

Hope you have a smashing weekend! *

HAPPY FRIDAY!

* No creatures were harmed in the making of this cartoon. 🙂

P.S. – Just listed 2 new illustrated cards in my Etsy shop! For the rest of April take 10% off your order with this coupon code: SPRINGCOLEEN10

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

Hey all!

Just popping in to wish you a Happy Halloween…

As is my tradition (um, starting today), I’m going with the something cute

and something scary Halloween greeting

Although I imagine seeing my post in your inbox probably startled you.

But had to be done, because I miss you guys!

Anyway here’s something cute

Pencil, ink, gouache, digital color, and English breakfast tea (for me, not the art)

Okay

now brace yourself

next up, something super chilling

a practical crime scene on my sliding glass door this month

Nikon camera, 18-55 mm lens, and a rapid, and possibly a bit skippy, heartbeat

Yeah.

The circle of life

(wrapped around a fly).

I can’t sugar coat that for you

unless you show up at my door tonight in costume

(but only tonight)

So just in case here’s something to distract and soothe you

Hopefully I’ve calmed you enough to share in the comments your favorite Halloween costume.

Here’s a witchy throwback (way back) of a costumed me.

Happy Monday!

The (Hefty) Possibility of Summer

August 15, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

One of my favorite summer memories involves a garbage bag.

Classic summer, right? 😉

Okay so maybe not. But if you will, picture two large plastic bags on the grass, with a green garden hose coiled nearby.

And these two ~~trouble makers problem solvers~~ pursuers of possibility (who did not live near a pool at the time)

My sister B and me, Lake Michigan

Then add water. Up to our chins. Until we are blowing bubbles across the surface of our

non-Olympic regulation size Hefty pools.

And we’re grinning.

Because we really, really wanted to go swimming.

And so we found a way. Mostly. Even if that meant we gripped the edges of our bags

to keep our personal pools intact.

Ah, summer and possibility. They go together like garbage bags and swimming.

Even now I feel there’s something about the sun popping up early and sticking around way after dinner that promotes more adventure.

“Hey, you wanna go swimming?”

But this summer I keep thinking, do it for the process

Because it’s nice to swim (whatever your pool may be)

and blow bubbles on the surface

or go for a hike, or take photos of hummingbirds in your backyard

or write a story, draw a picture

just because

Sure I’m mostly still a problem solving, direction oriented, check off the box on my to do list kind of person…

Here are some of my drawings turned greeting cards in my new Etsy Shop

…but it’s really nice to let summer take over for a bit.

Do you have a favorite summer memory?

Happy Monday!

Illustration Friday Challenge: Wisdom (a Book Made Me Do It)

March 29, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

Sometimes a book inspires me to action

Wisdom as prompted by Illustration Friday‘s weekly art challenge.

This challenge got me thinking about those books that I read

that inspired me to fill my fridge with enough produce to make a five-pound bowl of parsley salad. Or buy running shoes. Or a tent. Or art supplies. Or the sequel to the book. Or follow the author or illustrator on every social media platform (it’s not stalking if they put the icons on their website).

All in an effort to stay in the zone

of inspiration

and

discovery

(which a lot of times is pretty cool and rewarding)

but occasionally means

gaining the wisdom to know that I will never be a champion of parsley salad.

What are you reading? What book inspired you to take action?

Right now I’m reading Running Like a Girl, but Alexandra Heminsley. I have no plans to sign up for a marathon, but I may have researched running gear. Just a tad.

The Curious Case of Cumberland Island

March 7, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

Last week the hub and I drove to Georgia and took a ferry from St. Mary’s to Cumberland Island National Seashore.

We were greeted by a boulevard of trees.

Welcome!

The island is mysterious and kind of dreamy with it’s gnarled oak trees and Spanish moss, mansion ruins, unspoiled beaches—and wild horses.

We stopped to take a few photos, others disappeared into the maritime forest in groups and pairs.

Except an older woman, setting off solo, down the boulevard of trees.

Something about this woman had me looking over my shoulder for the rest of her party. But I didn’t see anyone else. She lagged behind them, taking it all in, I supposed.

We hiked the island. Trails led to ruins, wildlife.

The forest opened to marsh lands. Marsh turned to dunes, and then the unspoiled beach.

The ocean.

And there was the woman. Sitting on the beach. Alone. She had a book, or a journal. This time I noticed she looked to be about my mom’s age.

And again I was curious that she was by herself.

I wondered about her. And for a moment I considered myself in her shoes.

Because there are two familiar thoughts that I peck around at lately: freedom and need.

Pileated Woodpecker on Cumberland Island

Right now I feel like I’m in the thick of the “empty nest” transition.

There’s a lot of freedom in my life right now. Great, yes, but also unnerving to go from so much mothering responsibility to so little.

And I’ll admit my first instinct was just to jump right in and fill those spaces.

But I’ve started to realize the freedom has more to do with figuring out my identity now and where I want to fit…

and that takes time

and exploration

but then there’s these wide open spaces of needing to be needed.

And yeah, I want to fill those too.

But well, time, and exploration.

At the end of the day, after an exhausting, but exhilarating hike, I saw the woman again. At the ferry dock.

She was barefoot.

She got up and I overheard her ask someone about the bathrooms. When they didn’t know I pointed her in the direction. She then proceeded to carefully pick her way over the gravel and sticks.

It took her awhile and I wondered why she didn’t put her shoes on.

And I wasn’t the only curious one. Someone said something about her feet and the rocks, but I couldn’t hear the woman’s response. Only this from the other curious hiker:

“Well, sounds like there’s a story there!”

Curiouser and curiouser.

And here, my practical, yet need-to-make-you-smile-over-something-silly side, compels me to add that I also suddenly wondered how she got to the ferry dock without shoes. You only have to hike for 5 minutes to realize that the almost 200 wild horses on the island consider every footpath and sandy trail as not only their home but their bathroom.

Rocks and sticks aren’t the only landmines. Cumberland Island is very natural.

Anyway…

We got on the ferry and I only saw a glimpse of her after that: she

boarded the ferry barefoot, no shoes in hand.

I don’t know why I was so curious about this woman. I thought of my earlier emotions. Those conflicting feelings of freedom and need that came to mind when I considered a moment in her shoes.

Now her missing shoes.

And I came up with different stories. The first was imagining my heavy thoughts weighing her shoes down until she could no longer carry them.

Because I like to look for answers. And make things connect.

Or find meaning.

But some days I just like to take a hike and see wild horses in their element, and get a laugh out of hearing my husband yell, “Poop!” over his shoulder to warn me of another landmine as we walk.

Besides, maybe those shoes were in her bag

and she just wanted to be barefoot.

Do you make up stories about strangers? What do you think happened to her shoes?

HAPPY MONDAY!

Bird Watching and My Scattered Thoughts

February 26, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

Last month I tried meditating.

The kind where you sit in a quiet place and repeat a mantra.

It didn’t go so well.

Maybe I was a little too desperate for it to work, or maybe it was because my brain likes to tell stories and refute mantras in quiet moments. Either way it was kind of like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach while watching and waiting for a pot of water to boil.

I felt more anxious.

In the past, I found yoga calming, but sometimes those “yoga clouds” were not in fact carrying away my thoughts, but sorting into my to do list.

A black-capped chickadee slinging seeds (and perhaps thoughts).

And walking. I love walking. But I like to go over projects and stuff. Or whatever. I just like to break stuff down when I walk, not push it away.

Then last week I wanted to take some pics of the birds in our backyard. So I sat on my deck, about ten feet from the bird feeder. I had to sit still while holding my camera and somehow that stance forced me to keep an even breathing rhythm.

And so I watched the birds.

Or did they watch me?

I was still. Breathing nicely. And my thoughts were…I don’t know. Like scattered seeds on the ground? Because wherever they were they weren’t bothering me.

Do you meditate?

HAPPY WEEKEND! xo

The Art of Going the Distance, 2007, & Worlds of Jessicas

February 15, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

Hey all!

I’m excited to let you know that I’ve got a new book out: The Art of Going the Distance.

Click banner above for my books on Amazon (spoiler: there’s a sale)

This is the last book in my YA series, Chasing Normal and while it’s kinda sad to close the book on Grace and Zac, I think they probably need a break from me. According to my word documents we’ve been hanging out since 2007.

That’s a lot of time and change. My kids are so much older!

It’s possible that the original idea may have been born in 2005. But I’m not exactly sure, because all of the stories I wrote around that time (most of them middle grade) have a main character named Jessica. Back then I believed that the process of deciding on a name before I finished the first draft would yank me out of that early creative writing rush. And so, yeah, I’ve got worlds of Jessicas.

Anyway, The Art of Chasing Normal was never really about being J~~essica in a World of Jessicas~~ normal. It’s about Grace dealing with change in her family and friendships, and navigating the idea of what she thinks she SHOULD be doing vs. being herself (turns out I didn’t need to do any research on this concept).

But at its heart this series is about love, family, and friendship. And a big crazy road trip. (My favorite things!) I may have teased Grace with a road trip in The Art of Second Chances, but it really happens in The Art of Going the Distance.

So if you or someone you know loves books about first love and friendship and road trips, I hope you check out my Chasing Normal series.

It’s a perfect time, because the first two books are only 99 cents on Amazon this week!

Oh and the ART part of all these titles? Grace’s passion is art, and I had so much fun researching this that doodling and art has become something I love and do every day too.

I know I’m a day late for Valentine’s, so consider this a happy wish for President’s Day or if you’re not feeling very political, National Gumdrop Day.

So, what were you doing in 2007? I’d love to know!

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you have a happy one!!

The One Where I Compare Myself to a Prickly Porcupine

January 22, 2016 | Coleen Patrick

This week I spent hours researching website logos.

I already have a logo, but I just wanted to tweak mine, maybe find a little inspiration, make it somehow more representative of me.

Well, at least that’s what I told myself. I’m pretty sure though that I went looking for validation.

On the internet. *sigh*

Yup. I went against all my Poltergeist quoting and went directly into the internet light.

But it’s so shiny (and don’t forget the entertaining cat around the bend).

And of course, I find super amazing, beautiful mind-blowing websites that make me wonder why am I not a marine biologist who takes her flying ship into the sky to paint sparkly whales swimming with the clouds?

Um yeah.

Sometimes I forget that I get to be me.

This is me. The smaller 1970s version. But a lot is still the same.

Obviously blue haired dolls make me smile/feel grateful/feel as if I have a special super power. But so does writing for kids and teens. And drawing. Then there are cookies and Scottish Breakfast tea and of course my family and road trips, and taking pictures, and people who are funny.

Okay so I’m also stubborn. And prickly, especially before I have my coffee (but I’m still a morning person, just don’t try to have a conversation with me). But there are advantages to these powers. I’m sure of it.

Porcupine in a snowstorm (I added snow to this drawing due to current snowmageddon forecast)

I love feeling inspired by the world around me (including stuff on the internet), but Teddy (Mr. Roosevelt or President, if you’re feeling proper) said it best:

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

So for the sake of blue haired dolls and cookies everywhere (and YAY joy!), it’s for the best that I get back to writing and drawing and other stuff, i.e. being me.

#grateful

Do you ever forget that you get to be you? Are you a morning person?