2014 in a Nutshell

I haven't been very good about updating this for the past 4 months, but at least work has been getting done.  And because it's the end of the year and I have a little bit of breathing space, I want to talk about my year so that next year when I read this I'll know what did, what I learned and what I accomplished.

So in 2014, I really tried to focus on traditional art and painting.  At the beginning of the year I put a bunch of work into learning figure drawing from Bridgman and working on my drawing in general.  In February I did another illustration for Spellbound.  I also focused on more creative sketching again and started a Tumblr sketchblog.  (Well, mostly a sketchblog.  I have Views and sometimes I have to reply to something a friend has said because Someone is Wrong on the Internet.)  I also did some book illustrations in ink.

In March I discovered Sketch Dailies and exercised my creativity.  In April I failed to get some illustration jobs but did some great ink work.  Sometime in spring I also applied to a gallery and some exhibitions and was rejected.  I also wrote a short story for Spellbound's Spindles and Spellbound anthologies, which was rejected but the editor liked the story and suggested I resubmit to the magazine later in the year.  Unfortunately Eggplant Publishing has shut its doors so the story will have to find a new home somewhere else.

In May I did more sketching.  In June I realized that Art Walk was coming up and took on a painting challenge, to do 50 paintings in 90 days.  I didn't quite make it but I painted a lot of stuff between the beginning of June and end of August.  I did great at Art Walk 2014 and met a very nice lady who owns a tea shop who not only bought one of my paintings but gave me space to display my art.

September kind of fell off the map.  I think that after painting daily for months I ran out of subjects that interested me, and also had an unfortunate encounted with stinging insects that made a couple weeks out of the month unbearable.  I submitted paintings to the Spruce Grove art competition and didn't place.  This made me rethink my painting style and led to experimentation with more abstract landscape in October.

I rallied in October and got a lot of work done.  I painted a new set of autumn and winter paintings for the tea shop, did a couple of weeks of Inktober, and tried to expand my network.  In November I had the flu which took 3 weeks out of my life but managed to restock the tea shop and discovered that I'd made a sale.  I also participated in a show and sale for emerging artists run by one of the local politicians and was introduced in the Legislature as one of the artists that contributed.  I doubt that anyone remembered my name 2 seconds after it was spoken, but I am now in the Legislature record and that is somewhat cool!  Also the Legislature building is very interesting and the whole experience was worth having.

In December I did a few paintings but mostly have tried to organize my house and socialize, as well as plan some projects I want to finish next year.  Unfortunately my comic output fell behind in the last couple of months but I am 2/3 through putting together a book.  I've also set up a portfolio site for my paintings and finally got new business cards.

So although the year seems slow and underfunded, I have been moving forward, I think.  I had a bad couple of months but looking back, the rest of my year has been quite productive and I have tried harder to improve myself and get my work out there.  I think that with my new style I am moving forward in painting.  Perhaps I will move in a different direction in the future, but especially in October I have been finding fun in painting again.

Thanks to the generosity of my in-laws we are now debt free and are planning a move next year when my husband finishes school.  2015 is looking like it's going to be a terrifically busy and exciting and frightening year, as we do not know where we are going or what anything will be like when we get there.  I am hoping to sketch a lot more to record the city that I am leaving and perhaps even publish a sketchbook about it.  There is an interesting exhibition in January that I would like to apply for.  My sketch group might be holding an exhibition of sketches sometime in mid-2015.  And I would like to make a completely unreasonable number of paintings in 2015 as well as take up cycling seriously again.  I don't know if any of this is possible but I am going to try hard to make completely unreasonable things happen! :)

In the meantime Happy New Year's to all and may your own goals come true.  I know nobody really checks this blog but for those who do, thanks for being there for me.  You've all been wonderful.  I have no bad friends, even the quiet ones are great! :)