Creating Good Habits and a Giveaway!

There's so many things in 2015 I want to do both professionally and personally, one resolution hardly seems like enough to cover all the bases, does it?     I think I've done a lot of things right in 2014, but what I want to do more of this year  is to focus on the things that make my heart sing, projects or activities that don't stress me out or cause me to run circles around myself, and focus on making room for doors to open up to the  bigger and better adventures.

If I had to pick one word that could encompass a lot of different things it would be:  Flourish.

This word is especially meaningful because it actually is part of a title of my new friend, Julie Kaminski's book in which she used one of my paintings as the cover photo. (How cool is THAT!!!)

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want 2015 to look like over the last several weeks and I'm still thinking of possibilities. In some ways, I feel under the gun to decide what I want and how I want to get there right now, today. It's 2015 already for cryin' out loud!  But life doesn't work that way, does it? We are constantly changing, evolving....the pieces and parts in front of us are always changing like a kaleidoscope of opportunities.  I do know that I have come a lot further than I ever thought I could and there's more to come. Rather than beat myself up for what's not done or hasn't been decided, I'm going to just do my best, each and every day...with an eye to a future full of possibilities.

I mentioned in my last post, I want to paint bigger paintings more often. I'm doing that right now. I'm actually working on a large painting for Julie (mentioned above) so she can have her own version of the "flourishing home" in her lovely and 'flourshing home".  It's a 36 x 36 so quite a lot of work and many details to cover...but it's so gratifying seeing it come to life.   I hope to have it finished in the next couple of weeks if not sooner.

In the plans and actually already started, is a major de-cluttering of my studio. I have a new table and lots of new toys but at the same time, if I can't find what I'm doing or have room to move around my space, it's hard to stay inspired and efficient!  Efficient is more the problem rather than inspired. There's enough of that certainly but when time is wasted finding things, it's more than frustrating!  Bye bye to messy clutter!

I spend a lot of time working admittedly but I also love spending time with my boys who are the light of my life.  Josh (on the left) and I made a New Years resolution this year to be more spontaneous and to do...DO..more fun things together.  What's up first? I think we need to take off for a weekend anywhere and just have fun doing something different.   I want lots of those weekends, days, and hours to be a part of our life in 2015 and beyond.

 and more time with friends doing spontaneous things. Here I am with one of my besties on a day trip to NYC on our way to 'somewhere'. :)

Painting on my canvas is fun and I love it don't get me wrong, but I also want to make more time for trying out totally new ideas and just experiment.  After all, you never know when you are going to uncover an idea that will be life changing.    These little guys are one of my experiments from last month that I want to keep exploring.    Who knows what's next!

I also want to get back to more writing of articles and tutorials in 2015.  I love to write about art and show others not just in a classroom setting but through articles and blog posts how to do some 'coolio' things!   Here's a sneak peek at some pieces and parts for an article coming out in Cloth Paper Scissors soon using TintIT sprays and Grafixarts supplies for my project.  I love trying new art supplies so be watching for tons of new projects coming up featuring products from  some of the sponsor companies I work with for classes!

Here's a peek at another new product I received from my friends at Colourarte.com to try sample and come up with some projects with.    These are Radiant Gels. Think modeling paste but in a gel form with color. Dimensional paint with the same hues you've come to love with Silks Acrylics and Twinkling H20s. Now you can get even more texture and dimension with these!

Speaking of writing, another goal of mine is to take the 'book' ideas I have in my head and actually send out proposals to my favorite publisher.  Who knows if anything will come of it. I did take the first step to get all the information I needed to get started, now I need to just clear my slate so I have time to focus on what's really important to me. In 2015 I will do just that.  I'm not sure what topic I'm going to submit, as I have a couple of very different ideas....it's hard to know which direction to go but I'm sure I will figure it out.   Is there anything you'd love to see me write about in a book?? Curious minds wanna know!

I think I've mentioned in previous posts how much I'm loving abstracts and have created a lot of really interesting and fun pieces in 2014.  I've been busy exploring ideas behind the scenes for a new collection and a new class just on abstract composition.  This piece is one that sort of exemplifies some of the ideas I've been exploring.  What do you think?

In the winter time I love to draw. I love to draw anytime really but especially when it's too cold outside to do much. These pieces I'm going to show you are drawings but they are DIGITAL drawings. In the process of cleaning out my studio, I uncovered (aka unburied) my wacom Bamboo pentablet and remembered that I had a goal last year that I really didn't follow through on to explore digital drawings and compositions.  I did several in December which were super fun to do--take a look:

A digital portrait and layered collage...

 A fun little sketch exercise from a magazine ad (again, digital sketch)

A digital design created with my own photos then 'painted' in my digital program.

Digital drawing collage that I worked through to try to get some painting composition ideas.

And more facial parts sketches (digital). I did this yesterday while waiting for one of my videos to render.   I'm not very good at committing to things for more than a couple of weeks when it comes to creative challenges on one topic but I'm going to do my best to take January and continue to explore what I can do with my 'toys' and hopefully it jumpstarts more ideas for future projects and really, just help me become, well...better.

So those are just a few ideas I have for 2015..there's plenty more but I need to save some info for future blog posts and articles...after all, that's one of my goals to do more of in the coming year for YOU and for ME :)

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What are you going to do more of? Less of? Learn in 2015? Bring into your life?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and and anything you'd like to see from me either class wise, article, tutorial, or ummm..BOOK wise!

Share your thoughts and I'll enter you in my giveaway for a 2015 goodie box of fun inspirational art supplies, magazines, or other creative stuff from some of the companies mentioned in this post.

*I'll be sure to include enough goodies to make the package worth over $50.00 probably a lot more! (hey I'm letting go of stuff in 2015, right?  My stash can be your stash too ...lol)

I'll take entries from now until Sunday evening. 

Share this post and come back to comment for another entry!

Oh BTW--Icreatflix.com has extended their 25 % promotion using code:  New Year 2015 until January 4th. It is a site wide promotion but if you want to see my classes over there, click here for more info!

Until Next Time,  Make Today Count!

Jodi