Welcome 2018
It's the beginning of a New Year! Time to look back on my goals and see what I accomplished as well as make some new resolutions. If you want to see the goals I set last year, go to this POST. I will be referring to it throughout this post.
Overall, I'd say I'd had a pretty successful year.
Goals Accomplished (or not) in 2017:
1. Color Palette Journal: FAIL! Still didn't move forward with this one.
2. Altered Books: FAIL! Still haven't even started one.
3. Halloween Projects: Success! I made about 1/2 of my Halloween projects that I featured in October ahead of time and shared a few extra outside of the Halloween season.
4. Calendar and Divination Card projects: Success! I have completed my first set of Divination Cards and they are currently on sale at my Etsy store. I have also completed all the artwork for my calendar. I hope to have the calendar available soon. I just have to finish up the digital design and printing.
5. Etsy shop: Yuppers, it's up and running. Hoping to keep the inventory turning over and have plans for different items like original artwork.
WHAT I LEARNED IN 2017:
1. It's hard to Art Journal every week. I had a rough time with the 2 art journals I had rolling this year. I amazed myself by finishing them before the end of the year but I'm not entirely happy with the results or the process. The weekly prompts of the Art Journal Adventure were intriguing and inspiring but I ended up doing most of them all at once toward the end of the month rather than spaced out. Inspiration Wednesday wasn't a matter of time but of interest. I discovered that I'm no longer "in touch" with Donna Downey's style. I love her use of collage and mixed media but her flat-out acrylic painting wasn't what I was looking for. I did stretch out into those lessons but they weren't the lessons that got me excited to get to work. Because of that lack of enthusiasm, I lost interest and that journal ended up being a chore during the last 6 lessons or so.
2. Apply what I've learned. Along with the above lesson, I have learned to just take inspiration and run with it. A lot of my Inspiration Wednesday journal looks nothing like what the teacher accomplished but I have learned that that is ok. In fact, that is better because it's my own. Take what you need and make it your own. Hoping to remember this lesson throughout the coming year.
3. I gotta stop buying sh*t! I fell off the "too much spending and stuff" wagon this year. I went a bit overboard with buying things rather than using them. I mostly got taken with art journaling supplies and rubber stamps. Part of my problem is that I want to support some of the small companies that make rubber stamps but I've got too many that I haven't even used already! I may have to start deleting a lot of e-mail without looking at all the "sales".
4. The art journal is practice for projects. I did a lot of experimenting and practicing in my art journal this year. Many of my pages became the inspiration for Divination Cards, calendar pages, or canvas projects. These were pages that weren't necessarily part of the Inspiration Wednesday or Art Journal Adventure. This allowed me the freedom to fail and I don't think I would have met those goals if I hadn't done this step first. So I will continue to look at art journaling like play time.
5. I never seem to have enough time. I've said before that creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum. Nor does it happen upon demand. It happens when you're rolling along. Once you get started and you are just playing around, little things start popping together. Collage elements start working. Colors start looking different. Space isn't so daunting and paints are made for use. Creativity is a fluid and it's always moving along. If you're not moving with it, you're just watching it go by.
GOALS FOR 2018
1. Organize and downsize AGAIN. I bought too much stuff this year. I'm hoping a re-organization of my supplies will help me narrow my focus for what I can buy. I hope that by organizing my rubber stamps especially, it will help me stop buying more or at least show me what I really use.
2. Attend more live craft shows as a vendor. If I can get some kind of customer base in person, perhaps they will seek me out on-line. If they find me on-line, maybe they will come to buy in person. Either way, I've always found craft/art shows to give me some good feedback on all my products.
3. Make more canvas' for framing and sell them that way. I've bought a bunch of small flat canvas' and I hope to make some original work for sale.
4. Make some Zines and add to Etsy shop. I've found out about Zines and I hope to get the hang of it soon. I'm experimenting right now but I'd like to get some done to sell at my Etsy shop this year. Limited editions, original work. I may even have to dig out some original poetry. I'm excited about this form of artwork.
5. Make new Divination Deck. Yup, gonna try for two in a row. This newer set will be a limited time only or a limited print or something like that. At the present time, I'm leaning toward "the Ultra-Violet Set". Brainstorming stage is underway.
6. Be more positive about my work. Every artist has an inner critic. I need to shut mine up when I blog. I tend to be negative over little details. I'm gonna try to refrain from that. It'll be difficult but I'm gonna really try this year.
7. Change up my blog posts. I want my blog to read more like stories and daily journal posts. I'm going to refrain from adding links to products unless I think they need further explanation or they are required (for challenges or contests). I'm not sponsored or paid to promote products. I just like to share things that work for me. But I want my posts to be more "readable" and less advertising, so to speak. So don't expect any more product placement or links. I'm also hoping to do more posts with just photos and very minimal explanation. Expect a few more links to new products in my Etsy shop, though.
8. Work on altered books and Color Palette Journal. Oi, vey. Why not?
So Happy New Year to all of you! Let's see if we can't all get some creative work done!
-Wy
Overall, I'd say I'd had a pretty successful year.
Goals Accomplished (or not) in 2017:
1. Color Palette Journal: FAIL! Still didn't move forward with this one.
2. Altered Books: FAIL! Still haven't even started one.
3. Halloween Projects: Success! I made about 1/2 of my Halloween projects that I featured in October ahead of time and shared a few extra outside of the Halloween season.
4. Calendar and Divination Card projects: Success! I have completed my first set of Divination Cards and they are currently on sale at my Etsy store. I have also completed all the artwork for my calendar. I hope to have the calendar available soon. I just have to finish up the digital design and printing.
5. Etsy shop: Yuppers, it's up and running. Hoping to keep the inventory turning over and have plans for different items like original artwork.
WHAT I LEARNED IN 2017:
1. It's hard to Art Journal every week. I had a rough time with the 2 art journals I had rolling this year. I amazed myself by finishing them before the end of the year but I'm not entirely happy with the results or the process. The weekly prompts of the Art Journal Adventure were intriguing and inspiring but I ended up doing most of them all at once toward the end of the month rather than spaced out. Inspiration Wednesday wasn't a matter of time but of interest. I discovered that I'm no longer "in touch" with Donna Downey's style. I love her use of collage and mixed media but her flat-out acrylic painting wasn't what I was looking for. I did stretch out into those lessons but they weren't the lessons that got me excited to get to work. Because of that lack of enthusiasm, I lost interest and that journal ended up being a chore during the last 6 lessons or so.
2. Apply what I've learned. Along with the above lesson, I have learned to just take inspiration and run with it. A lot of my Inspiration Wednesday journal looks nothing like what the teacher accomplished but I have learned that that is ok. In fact, that is better because it's my own. Take what you need and make it your own. Hoping to remember this lesson throughout the coming year.
3. I gotta stop buying sh*t! I fell off the "too much spending and stuff" wagon this year. I went a bit overboard with buying things rather than using them. I mostly got taken with art journaling supplies and rubber stamps. Part of my problem is that I want to support some of the small companies that make rubber stamps but I've got too many that I haven't even used already! I may have to start deleting a lot of e-mail without looking at all the "sales".
4. The art journal is practice for projects. I did a lot of experimenting and practicing in my art journal this year. Many of my pages became the inspiration for Divination Cards, calendar pages, or canvas projects. These were pages that weren't necessarily part of the Inspiration Wednesday or Art Journal Adventure. This allowed me the freedom to fail and I don't think I would have met those goals if I hadn't done this step first. So I will continue to look at art journaling like play time.
5. I never seem to have enough time. I've said before that creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum. Nor does it happen upon demand. It happens when you're rolling along. Once you get started and you are just playing around, little things start popping together. Collage elements start working. Colors start looking different. Space isn't so daunting and paints are made for use. Creativity is a fluid and it's always moving along. If you're not moving with it, you're just watching it go by.
GOALS FOR 2018
1. Organize and downsize AGAIN. I bought too much stuff this year. I'm hoping a re-organization of my supplies will help me narrow my focus for what I can buy. I hope that by organizing my rubber stamps especially, it will help me stop buying more or at least show me what I really use.
2. Attend more live craft shows as a vendor. If I can get some kind of customer base in person, perhaps they will seek me out on-line. If they find me on-line, maybe they will come to buy in person. Either way, I've always found craft/art shows to give me some good feedback on all my products.
3. Make more canvas' for framing and sell them that way. I've bought a bunch of small flat canvas' and I hope to make some original work for sale.
4. Make some Zines and add to Etsy shop. I've found out about Zines and I hope to get the hang of it soon. I'm experimenting right now but I'd like to get some done to sell at my Etsy shop this year. Limited editions, original work. I may even have to dig out some original poetry. I'm excited about this form of artwork.
5. Make new Divination Deck. Yup, gonna try for two in a row. This newer set will be a limited time only or a limited print or something like that. At the present time, I'm leaning toward "the Ultra-Violet Set". Brainstorming stage is underway.
6. Be more positive about my work. Every artist has an inner critic. I need to shut mine up when I blog. I tend to be negative over little details. I'm gonna try to refrain from that. It'll be difficult but I'm gonna really try this year.
7. Change up my blog posts. I want my blog to read more like stories and daily journal posts. I'm going to refrain from adding links to products unless I think they need further explanation or they are required (for challenges or contests). I'm not sponsored or paid to promote products. I just like to share things that work for me. But I want my posts to be more "readable" and less advertising, so to speak. So don't expect any more product placement or links. I'm also hoping to do more posts with just photos and very minimal explanation. Expect a few more links to new products in my Etsy shop, though.
8. Work on altered books and Color Palette Journal. Oi, vey. Why not?
So Happy New Year to all of you! Let's see if we can't all get some creative work done!
-Wy
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