Happy New Year – New Directions in 2023

 

When I last posted — back in July — I was planning to take a short break. A few days… maybe a week… maybe two. That short break, however, quickly turned from days or weeks to months. Now it is the beginning of a new year, and I’m happily returning to Artistcoveries, although with a much different focus at this time.

Many things have happened around our house — and around my “art studio”. I’m placing those words in quotes because the studio is becoming less about “art” and more about finding joy in many different creative processes.

I won’t go into all the changes in this first 2023 post. There will be time to share all that’s going on as the year moves forward. For now, I’ll simply express my gratitude for all the friends I’ve made through this blog. I’m eager to re-connect with each of you, to hear what’s been going on in your world, and to see the beautiful works of art that you have created.

One additional comment I want to make is to acknowledge that I truly am an artist…perhaps much more so than I ever really believed. In recent days I’ve been cleaning up, re-arranging, and re-organizing the studio. It’s been surprising to look around and see so much art there. Real art. I see colorful creations, crazy abstracts, landscape paintings that I truly love, and so much more. Mostly I see — and understand — my own creativity. I scoffed at my work in the past. I doubted what I was doing. My art was always imperfect, yet now I can see that — overall — there was beauty there. There was joy there. Always my art showed my creative spirit.

When I look at my art from this new perspective, I want to rush back to it, but I know that rushing isn’t the right approach for me now. I’m exploring — and enjoying — too many new things. I still need time away from the idea of “doing art”. I still need to express my creativity in other ways.

I will not be posting here every day as I did in the past. For now, I’m planning to post once a week, but I’m not going to adhere to any strict schedule, so a post may appear sooner — or later — than expected.

Over the next week I’ll be working on several different projects. Not drawing. Not painting. Not picking up colored pencils or pretty pastels. The projects I’m working on — and sharing with my husband — are a different sort of creative pleasure, and I do look forward to sharing all of our projects with you in the coming weeks and months.

For now, I want to wish everyone a very happy New Year. And, yes, by the way, in case you’re wondering, I have chosen a “word for the year.” We’ll talk about that another time in another post.

So… until next time, be safe, enjoy life, and make art that makes you smile.

Judith