Year End

I am getting older, and there becomes a point where the procrastination of my youth is starting to become irrelevant. It's not an irrelevancy that I choose, but rather a disbelief in myself for continuing in this manner. Time and memory are perhaps the largest warnings. What I do now affects me in the morrow. My feelings tied within those actions are irrelevant - for how I choose to remember is based on the results. To date, my most significant contribution to self change this year has been my weight loss. What was the foundation of that success? Realizing what worked and sticking to those die hard habits. Cycling, gaming and eating clean foods that I could easily focus on for the long run. 

In this coming year, I am going to continue with growth in body, but I also want to tackle other areas. I am going to read more, I am going to steadily produce art, I am going to write creatively, and also eat creatively clean. This is a year of "I am" rather than "I need to".

Day 5: The business plan

Ultimately, I would like to make a business out of all this drawing and painting. There is a market out there, and eventually I will find it. However, for this year, I am aiming just to get into the groove of having a high output of creativity or in other words, being consistent. This year is also about researching the market and creating a general sources list to reference when I start putting the plan together.

Still working on the background

I did manage to read over the art business plan template I secured last year, and I will be tinkering with a draft over the next couple of weeks. The most immediate ideas outlined were goals, market and budget. Since reading it, I've begun to pay attention to artists' products, styles and where they advertise. In the back of my head, I am making a list of sorts. 

I know it's a long road but if I've learned anything in 10 months of unemployment - you learn to appreciate and even savor the process. I have a general goal, and have an open ended answer to what I envision, but I know that the process is where it matters. Cheers!

Day 4: The art of delaying

Took me forever to complete
the hand and spear (The Yellow
Guard)

I remember when I use to whip out a painting or a drawing or two in no time at all. Those were the days. I would hole up in the art room, absorbed in the canvas, the paints, the music - there was definitely music - and melded all together created this concentrating atmosphere. As I reflect, I wonder what chemical reaction was happening in my brain to create that utter abandonment to the creative chase?

I miss those days. I am undecided as to my slow progress of completing projects. I must admit though, I am more aware of the style I invest into the piece, and the attention to detail. There is definite deliberation going on. Maybe I can chalk it up to the maturity of becoming an artist - becoming calculated.

Today was a good day with regards to accomplishing the to do list. Yes, I started creating a daily to do list. A list I know that I can accomplish and is within my means of completing.  I read over this art business template I downloaded eons ago, set up Photoshop on the PC, reviewed the Coursera class I'm starting next week, and lastly, worked on The Yellow Guard.

Tomorrow's a new day and a new canvas. Cheers!

Day 3: Finding inspiration

Bought in Breman, Germany
at the Christmas Market

Yesterday, I managed to find my small sketchbook. I've been drawing little medieval-styled creatures over the last 2 weeks and that's what I usually gravitate towards immediately when I open my drawing book. I opened it up and promptly blanked. I didn't know what to draw so I looked around my desk and found the little incense burner I bought in Germany last year. The sketch turned out well and will definitely be posting that to Instagram tomorrow.

Over the last couple of months, I've become analytical about my means of inspiration. I look at a lot of art, and much of my consistent perusing is because I want quality wallpaper, and I only select art that speaks to me. I know exactly what I want - use of color, space and shapes. All together, there's a particular flow to the piece. When something inspires me, I often replicate the feel (most times use of space) and not the actual general look of the piece.

Today's Goals: a sketch, work on art project (Yellow Guard), art course review, researching terms and conditions concept, flesh out more art stuff on this blog. 

Day 2: What in the world am I doing?

I think the biggest hurdle to this process is myself. I've always come to arting as a process of creative outlet and as a stress reliever as well. Yet, I think the one aspect of arting that I've thoroughly enjoyed is the rate and longevity of absorption. Yes. I lose track of time and space. I come out of an arting coma going, "What year is this? Where am I?"

The artistic hand leads the way!

I was a few years on hiatus and when I got back into arting, I had a lot of people encourage me to take my artistry to the next level - selling art. That concept is colossal. The mental process that goes into making art changes when the idea of selling it comes onto the playing field. I had to digest the idea of demand instead of creating when the spirit moved me. 

Last year, I tried venturing out into the art industry to see what it was all about. I was lucky/blessed - I was able to take an one-day workshop from a top illustrator from the United States. Just about all of the students there were already professional artists trying to break into the industry on a full time basis. Coming away from that workshop, I was really happy to make one solid contact from that experience and the knowledge that I didn't have to go back to school to define my art more. I just needed to keep outputting!

Yellow Guard Progress!

Blogging is going to keep me honest with this journey. The plan will come as I take each day and write about it. I am already aware that I need keep arting, I just need to be consistent with posting on the social media platforms (see side panel for links) that I am already on. Today's goals are working on my Flickr account (need to create some backgrounds for my blog, and posting pictures), and work on my Yellow Guard project. I've been working on her for about two weeks and the development of her hand was really putting a cork in the flow of creativity. What is posted is what I am satisfied with currently. I also need to find my little sketchbook in this mess. I had a sketch ready to post on Instagram today. Oh well. Hopefully I can find it by tomorrow. 

On a similar note, I signed up for a Coursera class - Modern Art & Ideas. The class begins November 28 and is taken in the spirit of progress and art-mindedness (also it's free)! I will also have to start tackling Photoshop soon, but will most likely do this after I transfer my files from my Mac to my newish PC (more power!). Okay...I feel like I have an idea of what I am doing - at least for this week. Cheers!

365 steps to a significant somewhere

Ah, the blessed mess in which the fountain of inspiration must flow. Ha.

So begins the new year - well, the new year that begins at the end of my birthday. I've been hit with a lot of change over the last 12 months - marriage, moving to another country, not working, too much free time and lastly, getting into some unexpected spaces. When I say spaces, I mean places of growth - unexpected growth, sometimes pleasant but a lot of times uncomfortable. One particular growing space that has been inching along, and reluctantly so - the artsy space. Art and I have had a strange relationship. At times we've been very absorbed in each other. I had a several years hiatus, and now, well now I've returned, and I cannot ignore where we must go, what we must do, and oh, the places we will see. 

This is the year of 365 Steps to a Significant Somewhere. If I don't put this concentrated effort into focusing on this creative outlet while I have the free time, I honestly don't know if Art will ever have a chance to become a weed and grow like the dandelion patch he was meant to be. Listed below are the areas that I am immediately aware that need to be invested in - 

• Daily sketch (paint, draw, craft something out something)
• Create and work on projects regularly
• Recognize current styles and create some new ones
• Become a Master in the ways of the Electronic Paintbrush (aka Photoshop/Illustrator)
• Create a coloring calendar 
• Research and establish an Art Business plan

And lastly, blogging daily (hopefully!), about each step of the journey! I've come to realize that I enjoy blogging (journaling), and much of the time it keeps me honestly and reflective of the process I am trying to refine. Here's to the new year!