Thoughts for a new year

Planning, Sketchbook

For the past two years, I have set daily drawing challenges for myself. In 2016 it was 100 days of small square line drawings. In 2017 it was to draw every day in a Moleskine accordion fold sketchbook – one continuous drawing all year. In 2018 I did the 100 day challenge and created patterns every day, and then in October I did Inktober and drew the flowers that turned into the most popular product I’ve ever made – my 2019 Birth Month Flower Calendar. In 2019 I decided I would do what I thought was a less intense pace and draw a flower a week all year and draw all the state flowers. I thought it would take less of my time doing a flower a week, but I complicated the process by drawing much more detailed and realistic flowers and adding in the state insect. So it ended up taking several weeks of drawing for each state and I ended the year only completing 27 states. I did get a beautiful product out of it – the Southern States Flowers + Insects Calendar, but it was very ambitious and took time away from other things I planned on working on. So this year, I’m going to continue the state flower and insect drawings, but not on any kind of timeline. I’m going to try to draw a little bit every day, but not give myself a deadline for completing them. When I’m afraid of doing something, I retreat to what’s easy for me – drawing. I do it well, it’s calming and meditative, and I can feel...
I’m kind of a broken record…

I’m kind of a broken record…

Planning, Process, Sketchbook

I’ve been talking for years about finding time in my life to focus on my art – about balancing the design work that I know will support me with the art that I know will sustain me in other ways, but might not support me financially – at least in the short term. I’m an expert at reading books and articles about balance and time management. I’ve tried every project management tool out there to help me schedule time for art and make it part of my daily routine. But the real problem is that I need deadlines and accountability in order to actually get things done. Monica Bilak and I have been discussing these issues for years and meeting weekly for several months to help provide accountability to each other. She explains her point of view on her blog, so I’ll let her speak for herself – but we’ve come up with a project that will help me be accountable and allow her to use her skills in strategic design to help me come up with executable plans to design the life that will sustain me emotionally and financially. Towards this end, we have committed to documenting the process on our both of our underutilized blogs. My first big deadline is the Lowertown Arts & Music Festival which starts two weeks from today. It’s my first time having a booth at the festival and I still have a zillion things to do to get ready! I have to : finish a ton of jewelry that I have in progress figure out the specifics of a booth setup that...