Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2025!!
St. Patrick’s Day PAST. The year was 2020. Our kids were on spring break. Little did we know that they would not set foot on school grounds again for an entire year and a half. We were shocked when we heard that due to the corona virus (a new and unknown virus), everyone one IN THE ENTIRE PLANET was quarantined and advised to stay home from school and from work. The entire world quickly pivoted to school and work online. But that’s not what this blog post is about. It’s about St. Patrick’s Day. I know. Weird segue. But bear with me. That year we made so many different type of memories (good and not so good). And St. Patrick’s Day was the first holiday we spent in quarantine, and we (our little family) did it right!!! My husband had the brilliant idea of taking the riding lawn mower, attaching the cart behind, loading up the girls and myself onto the cart, and riding it around the block in our neighborhood. We had our own little St. Patrick’s Day parade, and we were LOUD ABOUT IT!!! Yes. We. Were. It’s still one of my favorite memories of all times. If you want to see a video of that moment, look here. This video was taken right before we took it to the streets of our hood. So fun!!
Another Memory. Can we go back and revisit the only other St. Patrick’s blog post I have on here? It’s from 2021. My style of writing hasn’t changed much (because I write this blog like I speak). But my illustration style is quite different! Back then, my workflow was so different (and more complicated). I was still sketching, then inking, then scanning in the artwork to digitize it, and colorizing it in Illustrator with the blob brush (I still LOVE the blob brush). My workflow now is sketching, iPad and Procreate, then vectorizing in Illustrator. So much simpler! I do miss that old style. I still sketch and ink, but i do that for fun now. My “professional” artwork (that I upload to my shops) is all digital. Well, mostly. Anyway, I just wanted to reminisce. It’s always fun to go back and see how my artwork has changed.
St. Patrick’s Day 2025. Back to the present. This holiday has always been one of my favorites. Mostly because it’s so chill. No real “holiday” obligations. And it’s usually the spring board to, well, spring. In Texas this year, we went from two weeks in February that were subfreezing right into warm weather. No transitional days. Just frigid to warm from, what seems like, one day to the next. So, I put away my sweaters (I do love sweaters!), and I spent this week getting mentally ready for spring and immersed myself in green and lucky-four-leaf clovers. The illustrated kind. And I got a wild hair, as I sometimes do, to create them in different media. I drew with pencil, painted with watercolor, added some ink to the watercolor, and did it the usual way, digitally. And while I REALLY enjoyed the drawing with pencil and painting with watercolor (it’s really good for my soul to draw and paint!), my favorite version is the digital one. What do you think?
SIDE NOTE: By the way, did you know that four-leaf clovers ARE REAL? I thought they were mythical and mystical. But they are real. I googled it. 😬🍀 🍀 🍀
SNEAKY PEEK. …I’m sharing another sneak peek of some of my doodles I’ve completed on the 75 Art challenge with Genna Blackburn. The drawing prompts on this challenge are all over the place, from animals to plants to emotions. It’s really pushing my drawing skills. (I don’t really draw animals. I’m comfortable with florals.) And I’m also continuing to learn to let go… it doesn’t have to be photo-realistic. In fact, it’s more interesting (to me) if it’s more stylized. I have 25 more days left of this 75 day challenge. Let’s see how my drawing continues to progress.
Signing off…until next month. And wishing you a Happy and Relaxing St. Patrick’s Day!!! ☘️ 🍀 🍀 🍀