Before I go to far with this blog I want to say THANK YOU! Thank you for reading my blog, for commenting, for supporting me as a friend and as an artist, for making this art journey with me. I could not do this without you, nor would I want to. Making art is as much about bringing joy to others as it is about receiving joy in the process of making it.
2015 has been a faith-building year in a number of ways. It didn’t always seem like I was getting much done because of all the distractions, but when I assess my progress in numbers its been a success–more so than I’d thought.
Here’s a quick overview of what I did last year professionally:
PAINTINGS
- 46 paintings completed of a variety of sizes, studio and en plein air
- 3 paintings almost completed on the easel, two small and one large
- 2 murals–one public 12×10′ and one nursery 8×14′
SHOWS
- 7 Group shows
- Orcas Island All Things Birds and Beautiful Art Show and Sale
- National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS) on-line International Spring Show
- 24th Annual Juried Art Show Sale & Competition, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center
- Battle Ground Art Alliance show at North Bank Gallery, Vancouver, WA
- NOAPS Annual Best of America Exhibit, The Dunnegan Gallery of Art, Bolivar, MO & The Vine Art Gallery, Osage Beach, MO
- 3rd Annual Open Studio Tour show at North Bank Gallery, Vancouver, WA
- Christmas Benefit group show at Above and Below Gallery, Vancouver, WA
- 2 Solo shows
- It’s All About Birds, Lava Java, Ridgefield, WA
- 3rd Annual Clark County Open Studio Tour
BLOG
- This is my 57th post this year on this blog. Highlights:
- Viewed over 3,600 times
- Seen in 75 countries
- Most views in one day–August 22–243 views in response to “My Heart Skipped a Beat”. Maybe people were just making sure I hadn’t had a heart attack or something.
AWARDS/PUBLICATIONS
- Finalist in The Artist Magazines Annual Competition in the Animal category
- Won a spot in the NOAPS 25th Annual Best of America Show
- Southwest Art, January 2016 edition
- American Art Collector
- local articles in the newspaper–too lazy to look up the dates 😉
MISCELLANEOUS
- Moved my studio from my garage to 711 NE 1st St, Suite 105, Battle Ground, WA 98604, and loving having a place to go to work.
- Worked on an art collaboration with two other artists, creating a temporary art installation for the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge Anniversary and Grand Opening of the newly remodeled Carty Unit.
- Started an Instagram account
- Updated my website and activated the shopping cart feature (that was a lot of work!).
ON A PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT BUT ART RELATED NOTE–
Like all of you, my life has been a journey. Highs, lows and a lot of in between stuff. Much (MOST) of that journey did not include art. All of my journey has included religion (God) in some form or another. A few years ago I came under conviction and took the most life altering, important and significant step–I left the church that I’d been raised in. Some may think this a small thing–it was NOT for me–but it has proven to be the best decision of my life. In 2014, while dealing with some significant losses, I was reading My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, for my morning devotions. His words were deep and in my minds eye I could “see” a complete paradigm shift regarding the gospel. I came under conviction to begin doodling through each daily devotion as well as write my response–a kind of “therapy” for me as I was challenged by the simplicity of the true gospel as it is in Jesus Christ alone. I began doing that the end of October and on January 16, 2015 I started a blog called DoodlingDevotionals.com. So, on top of accomplishing all of the above professionally, each morning, before doing anything else, I doodled and wrote a response to my devotions–resulting in 320 posts (there are actually all 365 devotions on the blog but when I started the blog I uploaded my doodles done prior to the blog on separate pages.)
The success in the blog was not the amount of viewers or followers, but in the commitment I had made. I have NEVER in my life been able to even write in a journal more than 3 consecutive days in a row. To have doodled and posted consecutively for 89 days in a row is significant. The days I missed blogging, I still doodled. The first day I missed was the day my grandson was born in WI. A week with him and our kids still did not keep me from doodling, I just made up for the missed days by posting more than one a day for a few days. Even though the blog was viewed only a couple of thousand times in 36 countries it was to me a most valuable experience, causing me to go much deeper in my understanding and relationship with God. I am a better person for it in many ways.
Now, as the clock ticks toward midnight, and 2015 comes to a close, I anticipate with excitement what next year might bring, both professionally and personally. I have begun a rough draft of goals for next year which I will share when I have completed it. To be sure there will be more paintings added to the Bird Watcher series–yes, I said paintingS. Until then, let me leave you with these inspired words from Emily Dickinson–“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul–and sings the tunes without the words–and never stops at all.”
BE SAFE and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Stories in My Mind 