Happy New Year
What does 2025 hold?
What did 2024 teach me?
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve always feels like the threshold between where I am and a magical library full of wonder and possibility.
What is waiting on the other side?
My wish is the same every year: Peace and joy. Time to paint and learn.
New experiences.
Me as a superhero! Keeping it all together. Created by Aliza Reynolds
Time.
Art, my vocation, is a reliable source of joy.
It also involves algorithms, selling, and taxes. Dedicating time to these is a challenge. Chartreuse always calls louder than accounting.
Time flies in the studio. But the office drags.
Ritualize v. Prioritize
A goal for 2025 is to ritualize the business tasks.
Prioritize sounds ominous and heavy. Ritualize sounds light and sacred.
It involves soft music and herbal tea.
schedule a time
write it in the appointment book, in ink
write it on the to do list, in ink
After a morning of studio work, I will adjourn to the office with tea and a list.
A concise list.
Accounting is never ending and overwhelming but:
pay a bill
answer a call
send an email
These are SMART goals
In my teaching days, this was the go-to model for everything.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
More time for the studio
Mapping out the values.
Painting and Learning
Consuming most of my attention is an epic series of paintings. 40 in total! They are a metaphor for cycles and the ever-changing seasons of life.
Genealogical quests reveal compelling stories that permeate my work.
Deep thoughts of intersectionality came to me traveling the labyrinth at Brookgreen Gardens.
The Atlantic Center for the Arts is a very special place for me to recharge. I had a retreat there this summer with new silver friends and dear golden ones. This time was rich with self-discovery and deep immersion. What I learned here became the turning point for this body of work.
Work in progress, more layers to be added. 3 of 40!
New Experiences
The most dramatic and long-awaited threshold is that into my dream house currently being built. I have built houses for other people in my interior design days. I have renovated and or redecorated every place I ever lived. But building start to finish and decorating with intention of living in the product is a first for me. We hope to realize this joy in the spring. I am looking forward to the amazing new studio space with a heart full of gratitude.
May you experience peace and joy and time to do whatever you love.
Artfully, Susan