New year, new plans, new art

Having said goodbye to 2010, I’m ready to face 2011.

2011 will be a different kind of year for me and my art. A quieter year, to be spent mostly in my studio (my lovely new studio!).

People ask me how many art festivals I do every year, and I always answer “fewer every year!” This year may just be the bottom. I plan to do only a couple of outdoor shows this year. Even though the outdoor shows are my “bread and butter,” every year I weed out the shows that cost too much, take too high an emotional toll (ask me about the time I nearly got run over), or are too physically exhausting. The number of shows left gets smaller and smaller. This year I’m only applying to a couple favorite shows (and maybe one or two fillers just in case). We’ll see how that goes. After all, applying to a show is no guarantee of acceptance. It might end up being VERY few shows if I get rejected from my favorites! But that’s a chance I’m willing to take.

In the studio I have all sorts of ideas about what I want to paint, but first I have to reorganize the place. It’s a mess. I moved my studio in stages, so although it’s fundamentally functional there are still an awful lot of boxes of art stuff that still need a home. I need to bring order to the chaos. Then I can turn to the good stuff: new art.

I mean for this to be a year of creative growth, artistic exploration, and streamlined systems for my art. I have a bunch of ideas for new paintings that I want to explore. (They may or may not work out, but that’s part of the process.) With the big new studio I should be able to make much bigger paintings, which is something I keep saying I want to do. Will this be the year it finally happens? I’ll keep you posted.

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