Looking Forward

This past year was not what I would consider a great one, or even a good one for that matter.  But instead of looking at all the things that didn't go my way, I would rather look at all the things for which I am grateful.

I am thankful that my sister was offered a job in Boise, giving my husband and I an excuse to move back now instead of later.  I am thankful to be back in Boise, where I get to experience four seasons, a 25+ mile greenbelt that runs along the river thru town, and a summer which is still hot, but not humid. I am thankful to be living in the same town as my sister, which I've not had in so many years.  She is literally just a mile from me now!  I am thankful for the trips that my husband and I made into Montana and northern Idaho this past year, which are both so incredibly beautiful!  And I am thankful for all of my online friends who happily welcomed me back!

I am feeling very good about 2014 and have high hopes that everything will start coming together and running smoothly again.  I want to focus again on my art.  I want to do larger paintings, real painting, not in my sketchbook.  I want to SELL my work.  I want to start an Urban Sketchers group (which I'm already working on) and keep up with my blog and my art friends online. And I want to buy a house.  That doesn't seem too unreasonable. I think that is all achievable.

I've attached maps for this post, since it seems appropriate with my looking at where I've been this year and mapping out the next year. The first one I did was Skull Island.  It is not based on any real place, just made a blob on the paper and went with it.  Liked the way it turned out so I did the other three.  The Idaho map was put on the first page of this sketchbook, since I had left it blank, and was a good way to mark a new beginning.

Best wishes to all of my readers for 2014!

First Post for 2010!

I haven't done any drawing at all for about a week so I'm putting up some quick gesture sketches I did in December. These are three minutes poses, which I paused and did in about five minutes instead. The time goes so fast!(from the drawing tutorials site)
January 2nd was my fifteenth anniversary, so while I've had ideas in my head about what I wanted to post for my New's Years resolutions, I was away from my computer and didn't get them in. And, for me, the longer I let myself stay away, the harder it is to return!



So, I resolve to:

1) Post at least twice as much as last year. That's 116 posts for 2010. I'm pretty sure I can do this since I didn't even post Jan-Mar last year! And several months have pretty low numbers!

2) I'm going to focus more on drawing than on painting, more towards getting good tonal values as opposed to everything being about line.

3) I've never done a "finished" drawing before, everything has been a quick sketch. I'm going to try and get several of these done this year, hoping that my short attention span doesn't betray me!

4) Sketch more in public! One group I've wanted to join for some time is Urban Sketchers, yet I never go out and sketch! That has to change!

5) Completely fill three sketchbooks--at the very least! I've never completed one. Not even this year when I've drawn more than ever. How could that be? Well, I think I have eleven sketchbooks started. I just always seem to find something about them that I don't like.

Well, I don't want to overdo it here. I tend to get carried away and then set myself up for failure. Best of luck to my online friends. Hope we all succeed in our goals!