The Year in Review - 2007
As 2007 comes to an end, other blogging artists are reflecting their recent achievements, and sharing their goals for the coming year. My accomplishments for 2007 are neither exciting nor award winning, but they couldn’t have been done without me!
In 2007, I did six pastels that I feel are worthy of a frame, even if they don’t have one. These are my two favorites from last year.
Click on thumbnails for larger image.
Tropical Punch is what’s known as a “happy accident.” The initial block-in was done with the brightest orange in the pastel box. One of my least favorite colors of all time, I spent the remainder of my efforts singing put de lime in de coconut … and wondering how do I make this all better?
If the audio teaser above wasn’t long enough, here’s a link to the whole song.
Blinded by obnoxious orange and listening to silly song lyrics playing in my head, I overlaid pinks and greens willy-nilly onto the support hoping to cover up that awful orange. The result was an image that almost glows, and is still my very favorite piece. It hangs in the studio near the craft table, and I just love it.
The Shell Seekers is reminiscent of American Impressionism. Using a reference photo, I placed the figures closer together, and omitted some other things from the photo. The white dresses contain very little white, allowing the image to retain it’s bright sunny feeling without becoming washed out. The brightly colored hats add a nostalgic summertime feeling to the finished pastel.
In 2007, I started drawing in a sketchbook. I love looking through sketchbooks, but graphite transfer has been a messy issue with the one I’m working in right now. I don’t want to tote fixative around, so images were penciled in lightly, and then colored with Faber-Castell brush pens. There’s no need to carry my can of Krylon, and so far, only 6 have been removed from the book. They were truly stinkers, but here are my two favorite drawings from last year.
Click for larger image.
My first cat portrait, but it was a bear to get drawn correctly. The sunglasses amuse me, and are the icing on the cake, so to speak. The crepe maker shows an interior scene with a figure, and a lot of editing of the original photo was needed to come up with the final, simplified image. A limited palette was used, and I was pleased with the results I got using so few colors.
In 2007, I bought tiles and grout, and did some mosaic work for the first time since the fourth grade. My most recent efforts are much better than that awful attempt at a still life. No, I don’t have a picture of it, and it’s probably sitting in a landfill somewhere… but here’s a still life picture of some completed flower pots. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.
In 2007, I thoroughly cleaned my studio and reorganized my supplies at least once. Probably twice, but in reality, I cleaned and reorganized every time I couldn’t find something I’d misplaced. In fact, I’m still looking for a package of 9×12 Wallis paper…
Now that 2008 is on the horizon, many folks will be making their New Years resolutions. Me? Resolutions aren’t for me, as they’re too easy to forget. In fact, the older I get, the faster they expunge themselves from my memory, but Robert Genn seems to have the perfect solution for this.
Email your resolutions to Robert, and he’ll keep them until next year, when he emails them back to their original senders. Scroll past today’s letter to see them. I’m not sure I want my forgotten resolutions emailed back to me. Who wants to be reminded of all the things they didn’t get accomplished?
I really admire the artists who aren’t afraid to post their goals for the year. Mine seem so petty compared to everyone else’s that they’re really not worthy of being on a to-do list, let alone a goals list. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but then I risk forgetting where I put the list… unless of course, I post it here for everyone to see.
How about you? Are you planning a resolution for the new year? Have a goals list for 2008? You show me yours, and I’ll show you mine!
Technorati Tags: 2007, artwork, pastel, ink, mosaics, resolutions
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I find the point of posting my list of goals is that I do know where I put the list - and unfortunately so does everybody else!
Helps with getting things done - so long as you remember to give yourself a way out clause!
An escape clause? I didn’t know those were legal! Very good then, I’ll write a list (with clause) and get it posted asap.
Thanks Katherine!
Lisa,
Quite a neat summary! I hadn’t seen Tropical Punch before, and I really like it. Great colors and forms.
I have a goals list for the year - after seeing enough art bloggers talking about it, I decided maybe it was a good idea. I’ll post it soon. Let’s see what ya got!