Welcome 2019!

The first day of a new year is a good day to take stock of the year that has just finished and to set goals for the year to come. As a working artist, setting goals is helpful in establishing a plan for the coming year as these can be extra accomplishments above and beyond the regular art show and commission deadlines.

Last year I set a five year goal to produce 12-15 large drawings depicting African wildlife. This covers a few passions in one hit; drawing large work and African animals. The downside is that it is vastly time consuming and much of my time has to be delegated to more urgent work. I managed to start three pieces and only finished one of them but I am happy with that.

Sadly last year was filled with far too many losses, a very dear friend, my beautiful dog, a family member, friends and a student. Grief takes its toll emotionally and I have learnt over my life to take care of myself and only do what I can do and therefore I did not create as much art as I would have liked.

For 2019, I would like to paint more as I need to get comfortable with the new brand of M Graham oil paints I have changed to. I am struggling with horse colours, so I would like to set a goal to paint more equine subjects. I will also continue with the large African drawings and as always, aim to raise the bar!

What are your goals for this year? I would love to hear them all! Wishing you all a healthy and artful new year!