2007 Review

Wow.

It's hard to believe that it's already time to close out the year. Where did it go?


Last year, Diahn and I met up to set some serious art goals. Throughout the year, we kept up with each other, reviewing our goals regularly (until the last third of the year, when other things in life overtook us...), encouraging each other, and just generally making ourselves accountable.

It worked. NEVER underestimate the power of firmly setting your mind on accomplishing something!

So, here's how it went... 2007 Goals are in RED

1) PROJECT -- 500 Objects. I don't know why 500, it just sounded like a good number. I will be drawing 500 objects over the next year and a half or so. ...PURPOSE of this goal -- to improve my drawing, painting, and seeing --... It is something that MUST be done ...
Yikes. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to do 480 more drawings in the next six months. I think 500 was just too big a number to wrap my mind around. I got REALLY bored with this goal! The purpose of the goal was GOOD, though, and I'm going to continue to work to improve my drawing with a more, um, "do-able" goal in 2008! Still ... the "500 Objects" Moleskine is there, and I'll keep adding to it. ;-)

(2) I will be working more in pastels.
Kind of vague, isn't it! Still, it got me motivated to work in pastels, take some workshops, rearrange my space, stretch my boundaries. This year I turned out one of the best pastel pieces I've ever done, in my opinion, and I got to give it to my sister for Christmas this year. The goal, although not specific, was the right kind of goal to set for me in this case -- just enough of a nudge to get me started dabbling. A more specific pastel goal will be here in 2008!

(3) I'd like to take an art workshop sometime this year ... I don't know where or in what, but something as a little treat.
This one cracks me up! "Little treat" indeed! I took a workshop in figure drawing early in the year, and several workshops in pastel that made a huge impact on my ability to "see" value and light. Along the way I met new artist friends and gained great new insights. I'm scheduled for another weekend workshop in February, and am considering a weekend oil painting workshop this upcoming year ... we'll see! Still, who would thought that taking a workshop would be something that you need to set a goal for? For me, I HAD to. Work gets hectic sometimes. Sometimes I get a little bit settled and lazy. I'm a procrastinator and will do that thing that procrastinators do. (I'll just do it later...) Now, however, I'm hooked on getting together with a group of people and learning something new in a small, fun, weekend environment. Absolutely HOOKED.

(4) I WILL be hanging art for sale at the gallery at the art center. Period. I'm running out of room here...
See, now THAT'S a goal. See the emphasis -- the finality -- the certainty? And it happened! I had work in two different shows at the art center this year. One of the shows was juried and I was very honored to not only have three pieces accepted, but to receive an award for one of them. To prepare for the shows, I took the work to a gallery / framery to be framed, and when the opportunity presented itself, I WAS PREPARED TO SELL MYSELF to the gallery owner. I had been presented with a similar opportunity at another gallery a year earlier, and had let it slide. Why? Because my mind wasn't in the right place at that time. This time, I ended up having several pieces shown at the gallery, and not only sold my first painting, but sold my first limited edition print. Wow. I'm so very thankful to Debi and Mary and all the rest at The Town Framery for their support! They are so wonderful to work with! Next year? I've got notes about joining another local art association that holds a couple of open shows. More importantly, I plan to look at my productivity for the gallery, and keep in better contact with them. I think I've slid there .... maybe I just wasn't prepared for "what comes next." Just goes to show -- if you set your sights on something and believe you're going to get there, you better have a back-up plan, just in case you make it!

P.S. Do you all remember the five year goal about going to the Galapagos? Well, I've worked very hard at learning to speak Spanish this year. It's going to take a while longer, I KNOW. Still, it's really important to me to know the language before we go there. This week I was helping D put together a new piece of computer equipment. I opened up the sheet of directions and had read about a third of the way down before I realized that I was reading the Spanish language side of the paper. It shocked me to think that I had read that far and hadn't noticed. Yeah ... the Galapagos are still in the plans. :-)