The Artful Odyssey: Navigating 2023 and Redefining My Creative Focus

It’s the day before New Year’s Eve, and time to reflect on what this year’s highlights were - what worked, what brought progress, what increased skills. I’ll also dive into what didn’t work, because lessons learned are gold. Reflection is a valuable tool which helps direct our steps, don’t you think?

RECAP: MY PLAN FOR THE YEAR 2023 BEGAN THINKING THAT…

I would take the Immersion surface pattern design course with Bonnie Christine. However, I wasn’t able to due to having multiple (expensive) trips planned for this year. More on that later.

  • My Plan: Take Bonnie’s Immersion Course $2000, upload to Spoonflower, work on passive income stream. Basic Business costs $639 - Adobe, Website, Biz License, Email services. Doesn’t include any supply costs. Spend the year learning Adobe Illustrator.

This sent me into Brainstorm Tizzy Mode. I had counted on doing the class and had worked on pages of ideas for collections (did I ever mention that I loved brainstorming ideas?). I had even taken the Start Simple in Pattern Design in December - even though Dec. is a crazy busy month to be making art. I dove into refining my Pocket Dreams Co brand identity and what drives me internally (passion for God, gratefulness for beautiful things in life that bring joy, family values, love for nature, books, food, & history.)

Notebook of Ideas

WHAT WOULD I DO NEXT? I prepared four choices along with the cost to do them, and went to trusted advisors (aka. my husband and mom) who know me well.

  1. Continue as an Illustrator: Barebones Basic Costs $639 (Adobe, Website, Biz License, Email services. Doesn’t include any supply costs). Do what I’ve been doing. Take on freelance work, create art, have an online shop. Submit to art agents.

  2. Greeting Card Designer: Take Proof to Product/Paper Camp Course with Katie Hunt for $2000. (seeing a course cost trend). Barebones Basic Biz costs same as above (but would have extra costs for label printer, shipping app, UPC Code setups, online catalog, inventory >$3K).

    The idea is to create 4 collections of 10-12 cards each - 4x each year. Send to art directors, art licensing companies, etc., and sign some licensing contracts.

  3. Museum Fine Art Oil Painter/Frame Maker/Gilder: The plan is to craft small frames, create ornament for frames, gild them, and paint canvas art to put inside each frame, then sell as gift collectibles. Barebones Basic business costs are $419 (don’t need Adobe Illustrator) + $1K wood, gilding, oil paint supplies.

  4. Children’s Book Illustrator: Join SCBWI and focus on creating ONLY children’s picture book illustrations. Look for agent. Barebone Basic business costs are similar to #1 except I wouldn’t need Adobe Illustrator, but would need to pay annual membership fee ($95) and attend conferences ($350-$1K).

My advisors listened patiently to me talking about all the things I want to do, and how exciting they all are. They know my struggle to FOCUS. What kind of a word is that anyway? Who does it? At least I have an over-arching Focus - it’s called ART.

So, what did I choose? I chose to become a Museum Fine Art Oil Painter, Frame Maker, and Gilder. Gasp!! What is wrong with me? I love art so much that I find myself sticking my nose into so many areas of art. I just have to try things out to see if it fits. I set up an art easel, bought oil paints, found frames at our local charity shops - and took them apart, sawed, hammered, and glued. Then I researched how frames were made back in the Renaissance times. Ornaments were usually carved in wood, but during later times were made out of sawdust and animal glues. I found an ancient recipe online and decided to give it a go.

After ordering some very special supplies like whiting and fish glue, I had to make rabbit skin glue by carefully measuring ratios and melting at a particular temperature. The medium is finicky, and sticky, but it fascinated me. I made some ‘combo’ as it is called, and pressed it into cake icing molds as ornaments. These little gems dried, and then I glued them onto my frames (all handmade) with my rabbit skin glue. Then I made some homemade gesso (another exercise in particularities) and coated the frames multiple times. While waiting for my projects to dry (they took up all of 3 large tables and several rooms of my house) I started painting mini-landscapes. It was fun, but I quickly saw that my paintings look differently than my digital or watercolor art. After all, details are much harder to accomplish with thick paint. Watch my YouTube video here.

All of this endeavor took my 5 months of work! I didn’t post to Instagram - the algorithm did nothing for me and I realized it didn’t affect the art I create. I was super busy creating art everyday, and loving it.

Then the end of the school year arrived and I jumped in to prepare for my son’s graduation, with all it entails. My husband and I chaperoned for his senior trip to Greece/Rome (read my blog post here), which was a whirlwind of an immense amount of inspiration. I pinched myself to see if it was real. I love seeing art, new countries, tasting foods new to me, and meeting people from around the world. It was a great experience and I was bursting with inspiration. We saw the Acropolis, Corinth, The Olympic Stadium, the Parthenon, The Colosseum, The Roman Forum, Maritime Prison, The Vatican Museum with The Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo’s Pieta, and much, much more!

 
Michaelangelo's Pieta Statue
 

Then summer arrived and I had some medical issues to attend to…and I wanted to be present with my kids. Sure they are older, but I can’t always be sitting at my desk! At the end of summer my husband and I took one son off to college…in Tokyo, Japan!! Watch my YouTube Video here. We stayed 2 weeks to get him established, and boy did I ever have fun! Tokyo is a mecca for lovers of cute things, and art supply stores (read my blog post here). I visited as many things as possible and crammed a ton of inspiration into my already stuffed noggin.

 
Street in Tokyo
 

When I came back from Tokyo, I wanted to draw again, so I decided to do daily sketchbook practice. See my instagram here. For September I challenged myself to paint a food item from my pantry everyday. I could make it look any way I want, so I did. Then in October I used my glass calligraphy pen to write out some of my favorite sweet treats, also in a sketchbook. This was a fun and easy project to complete. I also joined Hosanna Revival’s art challenge and created 4 pieces for that (my daughter works there). In November I challenged myself to draw a figure from the Nutcracker on my iPad, which I then turned into a Printable Paper Doll Set available here on my website and on my Etsy shop (seasonal offer).

Then it was time for Folktale Week 2023! Last year I illustrated a Dutch folk tale. This year I decided to create watercolor images of my own design that later could be turned into patterns. The fact that I didn’t make children’s book images was significant, as I seriously consider becoming a children’s book illustrator a LOT!

 
Christmas Art Challenge Prompts
 

Next came #Jehanestwelvedays2023 Christmas/Holiday Art Challenge, which I waited for all year. This was my second year to participate, and I absolutely love making art to her prompts…which has me wondering if I should focus on greeting card/art licensing designs. I’ll make a post about it in a bit. Of course, making art during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays can be a little stressful, so I worked around the clock to make them as quickly as I could so I could be present with my family.

Which brings me to today…the year is over and LOTS of art has been created! I’ve pivoted several times - surface pattern - frame making - painting - watercolor sketch booking - glass pen ink sketch booking - iPad drawings - Folktale watercolor images for patterns - Christmas and Holiday art!

What worked: creating LOTS of art! Skills improve each time you engage in making art.

What didn’t work: pivoting so many times! Although I thoroughly enjoyed everything I made, it frustrates me that I don’t know exactly WHAT type of art to focus on - the subject matter, the outcome - what is it for - the specific medium, etc. I’m not lacking in ideas. I’m lacking in focus. I’ve pondered this question for so long, and I’m eager to know the answer. However, I also know that we artists are on a JOURNEY, and creating art is the JOY, not just the outcome of our art. So, I’m happy to continue along my meandering path until I reach clarity.

If you feel the same way about trying to find your niche, I’ve created an Artist’s Journey Map just for you! Click on the form below if you’d like it!

https://pocketdreamsco.myflodesk.com/gt2iag97z9

How did your year go? Are you a planner? Did you make art goals, and if so, did you achieve them? What sidetracks did you take? What lessons did you learn about yourself, about what you like and don’t like? Comment below or send me an email. I’d love to know! Stay tuned because I’m going to let you know how I plan my creative projects for the new year.

Thanks for reading! Now…

Go Make Some Art Today!