What I Did and Didn't Do This Year

After Mary Cassatt

This was a big year for us. We decided in January to move to North Carolina - which of course meant working to sell our house in a slumping market and then the actual moving part. It was no small task and took most of our energies for the year, but we are now settled in a town and house we love.

The Grin
copyright Rose Welty

Now, for the art part. Here are my goals from January and how I did with them:

• Experiment with some new supplies and ideas - yes I did do this and it accomplished what I hoped it would (gave me a sense of where I want to take my art).
• Work through 2 photography books - yes, but stalled - photography is complicated when you fiddle with the settings on the camera. To accomplish more, I need to set aside time to get used to the exposure triangle.
• Work through 1 drawing book - yes, I did this and I do see improvement.
• Continue sketchercising - in total I have probably lost 30 pounds this year - but it's really just been the same 10 pounds 3 times over! With the move I just couldn't keep up with the sketchercise folks.
• Complete 6 pieces for the portfolio - this didn't happen, but I do think I have a better idea of what a body of work is, where I want to go with mine and how I am going to do it.

In terms of raw stats on the year:

• Blog posts: 87 so far, will be 92 at year's end. Not a typical year for me in life or on the blog.
• Finished pieces: 10
• Sketches: 60 (these are the ones that I bothered to make a digital copy of, the real number is higher)

One of my sketches from the year

Other less measureable accomplishments:

• Several studio shuffles/reorganizations
• Several art how to books, art history books, business books read
• Gained some valuable insight into where I want to go with my art, answering some very long standing questions of mine.
• Drew a lot of faces, perhaps more than I drew still life - a major accomplishment I wanted to make.

Inner Strength
copyright Rose Welty

All in all, it's been a big year. I am very excited about what lies ahead - after Christmas I'll lay out what I'd like the new art year to look like!

Everyday Beauties
copyright Rose Welty