2019 Year in Review (& Thoughts About a Decade)

Another year has drawn to a close. Another decade, too. On January 1, 2009 I wrote in my journal: “2010. Wow. Seems so futuristic.” And here we are in 2020, even more futuristic-sounding.

But I don’t want to jump into 2020 without spending some time considering 2019 first.

Reviewing my year has become a tradition for me. (You can see last year’s post here and past years’ posts on my old blog: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011). Last year I wrote: “Reviewing a whole year is a hard thing. Once you sit down to do it you realize how slippery the days can be. How difficult to contain with words or even photos.”

It’s true. Time goes by so quickly. It’s hard to remember all of what happens over the course of a year. I can’t ever fully capture it (how could I?), but looking back at what I’ve done and what I’ve thought can help me as I set intentions for the new year.

When I started sketching out this post I was feeling a bit discouraged about the year. About not accomplishing all of what I wanted to accomplish. My word for 2019 was GROW and there’s so much more growing I still want to do!

But then I realized how much I had accomplished, even if some of the things on my lists were never crossed off.

Sometimes growth happens in unexpected ways. Sometimes it’s slow. Sometimes it goes in different directions than you plan.

I didn’t paint enough nagged at my mind as I thought back on the year, but then I took a look at my paintings from 2019:

This isn’t all of them. And it doesn’t include the ones I painted that didn’t work or I didn’t like. I had a lot of “failed” paintings in 2019, but I think that says something about my growth as an artist, too. Failure is necessary for growth. And perhaps I’m also holding myself to a higher standard as I grow and evolve, too. I had so many paintings that I really love in 2019. Many, many more than my failures.

If you’re reviewing your year and looking at what you created, focus on those things which brought you joy. And yes, learn from (but don’t dwell on) your “failures”.

My 2020 Calendar features many of my new paintings. It’s my favorite yet and it sold better than the previous years, too (I still have some available).

Although it wasn’t one of my intentions, 2019 became the year of exhibiting my art in my town. From December 31st, 2018 through March, 2019 my paintings hung at Rooted Spoon. From April through June I had art on display at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center. During the month of August I was the featured artist at the McIntosh Memorial Library and then I was the guest artist in October at Viva Gallery.

As someone who’s not very outgoing this was certainly an area of growth!

Locally I also taught a number of classes at the library in town, hosted a painting night for the Brownies and was one of the teachers at a high school art event at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

Even so, another whisper from that critical voice was that I didn’t put myself “out there” enough. Why do we do this to ourselves? I know I’m not the only one with that critical voice in my head.

Not only was I “out there” in my town but I also “took over” the Carve Out Time for Art Instagram page, was interviewed by Ruby Josephine Smith for the Process Piece Podcast, was a guest artist for Sketchbook Revival and for Magical Mindfulness.

If you’re feeling your year didn’t live up to your expectations, maybe you need to take a closer look.

I’m glad that I have my blog (as well as photos and journals) to help me keep track of things. Looking back over my posts for the year reminded me some of what I’d forgotten. The 5th Handmade Joy Exchange was one of those things.

How fun to spread joy around the world!

Embroidery and sewing were two areas I wanted to focus on in 2019 and I did learn some stitches early in the year thanks to Rebecca Ringquist’s Creativebug classes.

In addition to this hoop, I finished two others (but I do have a few other embroidery projects, and ideas and plans, that remain unfinished).

I think it’s important to stretch our creativity in many directions. Even if we’re focused on one area, being creative in other ways keeps us learning, keeps us curious and is inspiring, spilling over into all areas of our lives.

I sewed some shoes this year with my goldfish fabric and Melissa Q’s Espadrille Kit.

And I had fun playing with scraps of fabric to create this sweet cat doll. Definitely something I’d like to play around with some more.

Although I didn’t do enough sewing was another of those sneaky criticisms in the back of my mind, once I sat down to think about it, I realized I’d done more sewing than I thought. From summer until a few weeks ago my sewing machine had been sitting idle, but over the course of the year I sewed a top with my nasturtium fabric,

3 versions of Shirt No. 1 by Sonya Philip as well as 1 version of her Tunic No. 1 and 2 versions of her Dress No. 2 (all helped along by her wonderful Creativebug classes) I sewed a couple other garments in 2019 and have a few more in-progress. (I didn’t take photos of most of those but you can see the tunic here and one Shirt No. 1 here).

I also sewed pillow covers for pillows throughout the house using celosia velvet versions of my fabric designs (you can spy one of them on the chair behind me in the photo above).

To make sewing easier, I made and painted a fun, bright table for my studio.

Just seeing it makes me happy!

I did a bit of rearranging and organizing in my studio over the year, too. I’m always hoping to create the most efficient and joyful space to work (One thing still on my list? Cleaning out all of my closets and drawers).

If your space — whether it be your home or your work space — makes you happy, it doesn’t matter if it isn’t as perfect as your dreams.

Sketchbooks featured prominently in 2019. In addition to my usual sketchbooks, I started playing with colored pencils in a book with tan toned paper. Such fun.

I also I finished a second sketchbook collaboration with Dana Barbieri (as with our first collaboration Dana’s art is on the left and mine is on the right).

I’m forever grateful that our paths crossed. Dana has been such an inspiration to me and has encouraged me throughout my creative journey (Dana’s having a super sale on some of her paintings right now. Go take a look). Not always strictly in the area of art, either. Thanks to Dana’s recommendation I finally began doing yoga in 2019 (something that I noticed on my list of resolutions from my birthday in 2009!).

Dana introduced me to the Yoga with Adriene YouTube channel and I got hooked. Adriene is so loving and encouraging and such a great teacher. Using yoga mats with my art makes it even more fun.

And as I’m talking about YouTube, I can’t forget that I started posting videos there this year as a compliment to my Skillshare classes.

As for Skillshare, I taught three classes on the platform in 2019. In May I released a class on painting with gouache.

In August the Beginner’s Guide to Launching Your Artist Website and in October Celebrate Autumn in Your Botanical Sketchbook.

I truly love teaching on Skillshare. Not only because it provides me with a good source of revenue, but because encouraging others on their creative journeys is so important to me.

As a self-taught artist I know what it’s like not to know where to start when you’re learning to paint. I know the frustrations of being a beginner and having what shows up on the page fall short of your imagination. I also know about fiercely held dreams. About determination. Stubbornness. And the joy of creating, not for the end product, but for the experience.

Skillshare has just re-branded, becoming more clear on their mission.

Their beliefs align so well with my story and my intention teaching there (you can learn more about the re-brand here. I’ll be sharing more about Skillshare in a post later this month because I frequently get questions about how it works. If you have specific questions you’d like me to answer, let me know and I’ll work the answers into my post).

If I hadn’t had other artists to look up to when I was starting out, people whose stories told me my dreams were possible, I don’t know if I would have been able to cling so hard to them.

One aspect of my intentions for choosing GROW as my word for 2019 was the literal growth of my garden. I think something like “have the best garden ever” shows up on my intentions every new year. In my garden in 2019 I worked on quite a few projects. One of my favorites was adding window planters to the two windows on the back of our house and one on the garage.

They brought me joy every time I saw them from outside and inside, too.

I enlarged two garden beds and created a walkway between two patio spaces. Matthias helped me with each of the projects (and encouraged me to make the beds even larger than I had planned).

We moved our back gate and put in a rain barrel, too. I have lots more projects in mind. A garden is never finished, which is part of the fun.

Some years are filled with more struggles and challenges than others and some years are more ordinary. 2019 was pretty ordinary. And fun, too. Matthias and I traveled to Seattle together in 2019 (my first time there).

We traveled to Ohio in the fall to visit his family. I had an unexpected visit from a sweet friend one weekend in the summer and over another I got together with my two oldest friends. Remembering to take time for fun, for silliness, for travel, for new experiences is so important (and something I’m not always good at).

2020 is starting off with a big challenge as right after Christmas our dog Jude was diagnosed with bone cancer.

It’s common in greyhounds, but that fact doesn’t make it seem any easier. Today he’s having surgery to remove his affected front leg. Most likely he’ll then need chemotherapy, too. It’s been hard and scary (and I know it will continue to be both for a while), but Matthias and I look at it as another good reminder not to take life (and those we share it with) for granted.

I spent some time looking back at 2009 this past week and thinking about the past decade.

In 2009 I hadn’t yet started to paint. I had a big, beautiful garden with lots of roses and a sweet house in Cleveland. I was beginning to seriously explore crochet and sewing. We had two cats and a dog (and a canary and some goldfish) who are all no longer with us. As 2009 passed to 2010 I thought about goals and intentions. I wrote in my journal:

“What are resolutions anyway? It’s a process of looking at yourself, seeing how you think you’ll need to change in order to be who you really want to be. It’s just more of being who you are, who you want to be. I want to be an artist and a writer and crafter and gardener. I want my life to be filled with animals and flowers and I want to share it with Matthias.”

A lot has happened from then till now. A lot of challenges. A lot of growth. Successes. Failures. If anything, I’ve learned (again and again) that life is short. It’s uncertain. We can’t sit around waiting for something to happen. We need to uncover who we are and who we really want to be. Our journeys happen one step at a time. We need to keep moving, even if it’s slow.

I have so many more thoughts to share with you, including my word for 2020. Thanks for being here encouraging me on my journey. See you next week with my new word.