New year, new things.
I just looked up and it’s already mid-January! This first half went fast for me, but then again it’s been riddled with the good and bad that’s kept us riveted to the news. I’ve been using some of this time to play in the studio and catch up with some online classes and my travel journals. I have new art goals for the year and they always say you should make them public to keep you honest. Thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve been playing at:
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I’ve been sending postcards to a couple of friends to use my bulging library of digital resources and exercise some design muscles. Using quotable lines from Rules for Visiting, I am aiming for another 30-day-but-really-more-like-60!-day project.
One of my goals is to sell some of my work at the shop. This series seemed like a promising venture, since I love sending them out and I think people like getting (good) mail. Maybe you will enjoy sending or receiving, too!
If you would like a completed set to send out to friends yourself, you can find them at the shop. Or if you are a mailing list subscriber, you can elect to receive one daily (insert USPS asterisk) from me for a $1.00 a day! I would love to stay in touch with you, my lovely subscriber! Not one yet? You can give me permission to add you when you order or, I’ve put one at the end of this post.
just a few fronts or backs of the postcard series
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I’m going to do better at keeping up with my classes, books, and resources. (I have way too many things on my plate at one time: should be another goal, but not ready to figure that one out yet.) I’ve been creating “Family Portraits” via an online class from Carla Sonheim. Since I’m notoriously happy about making things from blobs, cracks, and scribbles, this is fitting me to a T.
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And, finally, for now at least, I want to catch up with my visual travel journals. I have them started from each trip, with all the ephemera and notes that come with them, but I am so bad at finishing. I want to be able to downsize the many boxes - 1 or 2 or 3 - for each trip. So I’ve begun with the most recent one, (sheesh - remember when we actually TRAVELED) -the road trip through New England in 2018. Of course, these should have been done when memories are fresher, but, well..you know. As I recreate some photos by drawing them out, it a lot of the experiences are still vivid - perhaps because I was taking notes and making little sketches at the time. I am not a good urban or on-site sketcher - too much distraction, discomfort, and am often traveling with someone else, but I have found that even a really quick sketch and a note about smells, sounds, music at the time helps me remember.
I expect you to keep me honest, boys and girls.