Looking back...

Before I start making all kinds of grandiose plans and goals for the new year, I should probably take a few minutes to look back over 2010 and take stock. My general goal for the year was just to play more, loosen up, relax both in life and in art. I tend to get bogged down in the tedium of daily tasks and put off the fun stuff until after my chores are done. I even have a hard time taking myself on "artist dates" once a week as recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. But this year I tried to be more conscious of how I define play and the various ways I could add it into my daily life. I did have a fun year, beginning in January and February when I took a couple of workshops with Jane Davila, and learned a few new surface design tricks as well. I played with jewelry again, and my little aquarium pendant was included in Cloth Paper Scissors July/August issue, a first for me and a nice pat on the back. I also participated in several challenges through the FANE group I belong to, including the Conceptual art challenge, which was a departure for me, but also stimulating and fun. I read many books, both fiction and non-fiction, and learned a bit about myself as an artist. Part of my goal was to spend more time playing with my family, and we were able to take some great vacations this year, which gave me inspiration for a lot of art. I joined the Sketchbook Project, which has been another fun learning experience. And I managed to get my art sold at the Putnam Arts Council Holiday Craft Sale, something I've wanted to do for a long time. So all in all, this goal was successful. By bringing more playful fun into my life, I enjoyed some quality time with my family and also grew as an artist.

Initially, adding more playtime to my life seemed like an easy sort of goal. But in examining what I define as fun, I realized that I find challenges fun. I like being stretched and stimulated. As long as I don't put too much pressure on myself, learning new techniques and taking on new projects are things I enjoy. And as much as I like spending quiet time by myself making art, I was fortunate enough to have that balanced by family vacations and activities and a busy, people-oriented job. My goal for 2009 was balance, and although I'm still not quite there, I get better at it every year. Moving into 2011, I'll keep play and balance in mind as I challenge myself with some new goals.

New year, new month, new day...

A clean slate, a fresh start. Time for looking back and planning ahead. Last year, my main goal was about balancing all aspects of my life, and that was surely a challenge this year, considering my husband's travel schedule, the girls attending camp this summer, and our new puppy! Since I can't separate out my art from all other facets of my life, I have started including all of it in my blog posts and added the subtitle "The collage of my life: a work in progress." I intend to keep balance in mind permanently as I continue on this year.

My other vague goals were "to sketch more and play more (both with my family and with art materials) ... to blog more consistently and to put comments on other artists' blogs, to begin building an art network for myself and to continue to create and submit and be open to any possibilities..." I did blog more consistently, comment on others' blogs more often and attend local meetings in order to be part of a community of other artists. I think that goal worked, considering the group show at the library in March and my participation in Fiberart for a Cause and Art Every Day Month, as well as the charm swap through Cloth Paper Scissors magazine.

So on those goals, I guess I did fairly well.

I did play a bit more, although I noticed that I often call it "experimenting," as you can see by a few blog entries with that name (I think "experimenting" is a left brain activity; play is more right brain, no?). I played (or experimented) with the paper cloth and what I could make out of it, like swap-art, bookmarks and coasters. But I think I need to make play a more prominent part of the process; I need to have more fun and not be so concerned with the outcome. I tend to be extremely product-driven and goal-oriented, so this year I am going to take a step back and try to focus on enjoying the creative process and not be in such a hurry to see the completed creation.

To that end, I have just started working through a book called Living Out Loud by Keri Smith. I've been looking for a creative book, but not necessarily one that tells how creative others are, or teaches a certain creative technique. This book has prompts and activities that are open-ended and designed to get you to play, without being concerned with the product. I think it is exactly what I've been looking for and I hope it helps to loosen me up a bit, get my creative juices flowing, and helps me to find my own style. I may sign up for some local art workshops too, just for the fun of it, and to widen my horizons. I am contemplating taking part in some other projects as well, but my formal goal for the year will be to PLAY!

the 25th already?

Is the first month of the year nearly over? I'm still mentally composing my list of resolutions and goals and I've already missed one twelfth of the time I have to complete them!

I received the latest Quilting Arts magazine yesterday and saw two great articles by Jane Davila, the person who helped get me started in art quilting (visit her website and blog listed). One article had tips on setting artistic goals, but an important point she mentioned is looking back over the past year to see what you've accomplished. A valuable and encouraging activity: assessing where you've been before you decide where you're going. So here goes. In 2008 I:

• completed my professional portfolio of art intended as illustrations for children's books and showed it at the annual SCBWI conference in NY last February
• completed two book dummies to show at the conference
• applied for the SCBWI Don Freeman Grant
• began blogging
• submitted stories to 3 different publishers
• sent out 2 separate postcard mailings to prospective publishers/editors/agents
• quilted, designed and created 2 different Christmas cards which were mailed to friends and family
• completed about 8 new art quilts
• continued sporadically making journal quilts, some in a new 5"x5" format using scraps, paper, and recycled materials
• bought and experimented with new materials such as Shiva paintstiks, copper foil and mesh
• attended several local SAQA meetings and helped organize the group show in March '09
• attended the Rabbit Hill Festival of Children's Literature in Westport, CT in October.

I also read a lot, both juvenal fiction, and adult fiction and nonfiction. These are some of the titles I read this year:

• Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
• A New Earth by E. Tolle
• Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman
• The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
• Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury
• Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
• Dewey the Library Cat by Vicki Myron
• The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan
• The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
• A Year Down Yonder, A Long Way from Chicago and Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• The Book Thief by M. Zuzak
• Twilight and sequels by S. Meyers

So that's a summary of what I did in 2008 (not to mention about 750 hours at the library, 330-odd dinners cooked, 100 or more trips to the grocery store and countless loads of laundry...Not bad for just 365 days!). Next post: Hopes and goals for 2009...