17 Quilts Completed!

New Year's Day might just be my favorite day of the year. I absolutely love the promise of a new year; a blank canvas just waiting for me to fill as I choose.

Resolutions help me focus on the future and while I am not one to dwell on the past, I do like to take stock of the previous year. Sometimes I am surprised how much gets accomplished while I am busy dealing with everyday life.

I won't share my whole list but here are a few highlights.

• I finished 17 quilts in 2011! Who knew?
• I sold 4 art quilts and displayed my work in 3 galleries.
• I worked on an art quilt with a group of artists that I respect.
• I had quilts, photographs, and a haiku displayed at the Houston International Quilt Festival.
• I homeschooled 2 teenage boys.
• I drove three 1000 mile round-trips to visit my parents.
• I attended vegetable gardening classes.
• I spent time with dear friends.

Even if you don't do New Year's Resolutions, I encourage you to pause at the beginning of 2012 and write down 50 or 100 of your accomplishments from 2011. You might also be pleasantly surprised with all that you have accomplished.

New Years Resolutions = 2011 Goals

Okay I admit it.

I'm strange.

I like goals.

I like the structure and the road map that goals provide. Lisa Call's blog on goal setting provided great guidance on the subject.  

Here are my long-term and short-term goals for my creative life.

My long-term vision for my studio practice:

1. I am creating work that I am proud of and that is pushing me to become my best.
2. I have solo shows.
3. I live comfortably from the proceeds of my creative talents (selling art work, teaching, writing).
4. My work is valued by buyers and collectors, who are willing to pay a good price for my artwork.
5. My work is included in 3 or more museum collections.
6. I publish one or more books about art.
7. I actively participate in a community of mutually supportive artists.
8. I display my work at Quilt National.
9. I give back.
10. I am a SAQA PAM.

My 2011 vision for my studio practice

1. Develop a business plan and marketing plan
2. I create 2 new large textile paintings (larger than 12″x12″).
3. I create 5 new small textile paintings (12″x12″ and smaller) mounted on stretched canvas.
4. I will create 5 new mini textile paintings (4”x4” and smaller) mounted on canvas or matted.
5. I complete 1 work in progress. 
6. I give back (complete auction piece for MD Anderson Cancer Center).
7. I submit my art work to 5 or more calls for entry
8. I take a watercolor sketching class.
9. I journal, blog and sketch through the year
10. I take a soy class with Ginny Eckley.
11. I actively participate in local and SAQA artists groups

Define/Dream/Ponder

Karen asked how I planned to quilt the silk piece I just painted. The answer is with lots and lots of tiny circles!

I am using mostly Superior Thread: Kimono Silk in Black Belt and White Rice, Rainbow in Salsa and Mango Mango and a Sulky Red. If you have not tried the Kimono Silk I highly recommend it as it can provide such subtle detail.

I have not made any New Year's resolutions yet....Having a hard time defining my goals for the year. Of course there are the obvious ones we have year after year (lose weight, exercise more, eat healthy...) but the ones for my creative life are requiring more thought so I am giving myself the next two weeks to define/dream/ponder my path for the year.

What I want to be when I grow up. Or grow old.

The promise of a new year gets us all thinking.

What do I want to accomplish? What do I want to change?

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Or for those of us with some age, what do you want to be when you grow old?

There are many great blogs that give advice; here are a few that address it from different perspectives:

Beth Ferrier asks where do you want to be the next Blue Moon New Years Eve.  It occurs again just 19 years from now!

Sue Smith advises ripping up old and problematic works. Out with the bad in with the new!

Leni Wiener discusses goal setting for artists.

Christine Kane has a tool to define your word for the year.

The Affluent Artist talks about long term goal setting.

Even if you don't make New Year's resolutions, I encourage you to live your life with purpose.  Happy New Year, may all your dreams and goals be accomplished!

Gather

I will have my annual list of New Year's resolutions for 2010.

But I also have a word to guide my year. My defining word is important because it is easier focus upon than a detailed list of resolutions!  My defining word of 2010 is GATHER.

GATHER is an attitude and an assumption that everything and everyone I need will be provided.

Seeds have been sewn. They will grow and produce fruit.  Fruit does not always grow in obvious places so I might have to search behind the glossy green leaves or outside the traditional plot.  I am ready to GATHER the pieces of my dream!

Note: The two mandalas above were created from the same photograph of a violet.