Starting the Year Off RIght

Have you resolved anything related to your art for the new year? The beginning of a year is always such a good time to start new habits and "re-make" ourselves, isn't it?

I'm starting the new year off with systems in place that will hopefully keep me on track. My art quilt group, FANE (FiberArtNorthEast), spoke of ideas to resolve to do for our art. We're avoiding the word "resolutions" because that's fraught with past failure for all of us, but instead we're embracing the powerful definition of the word "resolve" which is "a firm determination to do something" or "to come to a definite or earnest decision about something". Much more affirmative and lacking in baggage, don't you think? As you might be able to tell by the past couple of weeks, one of the things I've resolved to do is blog more often!

At the group meeting at the beginning of the month, I passed out sheets with spaces to write from 1 to 5 things to resolve. People could have only one and could have up to five. More than five would have overwhelmed us, I think, and this way we can add more as we complete some, if we choose. The idea is to check in with each other every couple of months to see what our progress is. We are resolving to take positive steps for our art and there were excellent statements like: "I resolve to schedule time to make art"; "I resolve to enter at least one show this year"; and "I resolve to try a new medium".

The five I chose are:

1. I resolve to finish and submit my book proposals (yes, plural!)
2. I resolve to attempt encaustics again ("attempt" is better than "master" at this point, lol)
3. I resolve to finish culling my art supplies
4. I resolve to update the art on my website and keep it up to date
5. I resolve to blog at least twice a week

Toward the end of keeping to a schedule I created a second calendar to remind me of what days are for what types of posting (blog, newsletter, tutorials, updates, etc). The first calendar has my "gigs" - teaching, vending, meetings, etc, and is on a magnetic board on front of the closet door in my studio/office. This second one hangs on a bulletin board near my computer monitor.

I'm sharing my calendar with you here. You can print it out on card stock, cut each page in half, and then hang it from a binder clip. I added a blank schedule sheet if you want to assign a day of the week for each type of posting or task. For example, I'll be posting to my blog on Wednesdays and Saturdays, sending out a newsletter every Tuesday, and so on. 

Are you resolving to do anything for your art this year? Please share!