In January I wrote:

I want to nurture myself. My creativity. My art. My plants. My garden…

As we near the end of 2024, I can’t help but feel reflective. I look back at the year, the projects I’ve tackled, the goals I’ve accomplished, and I begin dreaming about 2025.

I’m back from my blogging break and although I only skipped one post, it seems as if I’ve been gone a long time.

My peach and cherry trees are filled with flowers. Daffodils are blooming and everywhere I look outside, spring is progressing.

Over the last almost 14 years I’ve blogged my way through growth and development as an artist and as a person.

In September I mentioned some of the projects I’d been working on after moving into my new studio. One was prepping for my show at Viva Gallery, which I wrote about last month. I’ve since finished the others and thought I’d share them with you today.

When I was first starting to learn to make art I thought that if only I could discover the perfect art supplies, I’d be able to create the beautiful, perfect art I imagined in my head.

I was going to jump back in to blogging today with a post addressing a question I’ve gotten from readers and students, but then I realized I want to talk about my blogging break.

At the end of 2021 when I was starting to plan for 2022, one of my goals was to take an art sabbatical at some point during the year.

In April I wrote about stepping away from Instagram. It felt right for me. Energizing. Freeing.

In June I wandered back.

Last month I wrote about how creating a tea towel calendar has become a yearly tradition for me*, but it’s not the only tradition for my art.

This is the 9th year I’ve created a desk calendar with my seasonal watercolor paintings.

It’s almost November, two more months left in 2021. At this time last year, many of us were ready for 2020 to be over. Ready to have a fresh start with a new year.

Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be a full-time, self-employed artist? Although I frequently share what I’m working on here on my blog, I don’t think it gives a comprehensive picture of what it’s like to run an art business. Are you curious?

I recently purchased Sarah Greenman’s Oracle Deck and this is the first card I pulled: “Prioritize Your Big Work.”

It’s been a busy week. Our warm spring weather disappeared, replaced by dark dreary days. We even had a couple of mornings of snow. Not unusual for Wisconsin and I haven’t minded. I have lots of projects I’m working on in my studio.