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I have been thinking for several days about how to approach my review-of-the-year posts. 2009 has been a very strange year. Over here in blogland, things have been mostly fantastic. But, the blog is sort of a Christmas letter version of my life. In my “real” life,\u00c2\u00a0 there have been challenges, anxiety, loss of some people I care about- my view of how my own future is likely to play out has changed dramatically this year. I am happy to see 2009 over. I have hopes for a new year- why does a new calendar year hold so much optimism? Anyway, here we focus on my artwork.<\/p>\n
I started out 2009 thinking I would make it a year of challenges- every month I would identify something I’d like to accomplish but was difficult for me.<\/p>\n
January- make a pattern. When PurlBee<\/a> asked me in the fall of 2008 if I would make a pattern out of their felt<\/a>, I said yes- my first challenge!\u00c2\u00a0 I worked on it in January and delivered it as part of a fun trip to NYC<\/a>.<\/p>\n February- teach a class. I taught the tiny world class<\/a> at the end of February- it was great fun.<\/p>\n March was suppose to be the month to get back to work on the studio room<\/a>… well, I did get back to work on it for a while… but, got totally off track when I got a contacted by Etsy about doing the Handmade Portrait<\/a>. After that, all my energy went into cleaning up the house and studio. Luckily I only had about a weeks notice- otherwise I would have made myself crazy! It was a while before I got back to work on the room again.<\/p>\n April was probably the last month I consciously thought about the challenges. I said yes to participating in this print show<\/a>– yep, that was a challenge<\/a> (and a distraction). And I got to work writing my first pattern for sale- the tiny world pattern<\/a>. It felt doable after I saw what a great job PurlBee had done, writing up the directions and photographing the steps for my doll pattern. I used it as inspiration and a guide.<\/p>\n In May, I launched the pattern- it felt HUGE! Apparently I spent June making dolls. Funny thing about that!<\/p>\n July was when I took a class and the first steps into Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Talk about getting out of my comfort zone- that was 30 hours of stress. But, it turned out I absorbed more then I thought when I went back to it in November to work on another pattern. I also managed to get the studio room to a point where I could start the move-in process.<\/p>\n August- So busy! 1. All my kids were home for a few days! 2. I worked on settling into the new room, then figured that I really needed to get back to work and the mess would settle out in time… still working on that. 3. I taught another Tiny world class. 4. My camera broke. 5. And the Handmade Portrait<\/a> came out. 6. Peter left for college and we became “empty-nesters”.<\/p>\n September was a trip to South Carolina and working to settle into the studio. October, another Tiny World class and some tattooed ladies. Also, I started working on a new pattern- a kitty. I got the pattern<\/a> finished in November- and my head swelled up to the size of a pumpkin because I was so proud of myself for managing to get it done using Photoshop and InDesign- with a little help from Kerry<\/a>! And December was, you know, December. Crazy month of selling and trying to fit in family and friend obligations.<\/p>\n The biggest challenge always seems to be how to make a reasonable living doing what I love. Because this is my job. I don’t mind working really hard but I don’t want to burn out. I am always looking for ways that I can generate income that doesn’t mean making more dolls- like the teaching, the patterns, cards, etc. We’ll see what 2010 brings.<\/p>\n Tomorrow I will be doing a wrap-up of the dolls and tiny worlds of 2009. I always love seeing everything all together. Happy New Years Eve!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been thinking for several days about how to approach my review-of-the-year posts. 2009 has been a very strange year. Over here in blogland, things have been mostly fantastic. But, the blog is sort of a Christmas letter version … Continue reading