HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I really like the turning of a year. I love the feeling that I can start over, that I can leave behind what I don't want and call in what I do. This January I plan to step off social media for a month and write a weekly newsletter instead. My objective is to slow down what I want to share and make it feel more meaningful.

That being said, I did spend a long time compiling this video for Instagram and so I'll share it here, along with my reflection on the past 365 days:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm16DYfok66/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

2022 IN REVIEW 

I wanted to add bunnies, classes and figure drawing to this video, but there just wasn’t enough room. I am currently in one of my “I never make art anymore / am I even an artist?” periods and compiling this video did reassure me that I still make so much art. 

I was a wanderer this year, I muraled, I animated, I soda fired ceramics, I riso printed, I made books, I watercolored, I MADE watercolors, I drew hundreds of colored pencils down to their nubbins. I made my calendar. I tried to articulate being a human in the chaos of so many other humans, I tried to make small spaces for noticing and create little spirit keepers through making books and ceramic owls.

I got a new studio!!!

I taught so many incredible humans in art classes. I feel so much love and respect for people who are brave enough to make art, take classes and experiment with who they are and what the world around them means. Again and again I say to myself “it turns out good people take art classes.”

I parented my son, my two step sons and hung out with my step daughter. I worked everyday to make my relationship work. We got bunnies!!!! I made food everyday, I did the dishes everyday, I vacuumed and folded laundry and picked up toys and played cards. 

I listened to audiobooks, I made mixes on Spotify. Have you read Orange World? Nightbitch? What we do in the Dark? To Paradise? The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing. Preistdaddy (omg!!!) Sinéad O’Conner’s autobiography. River of the Gods, How to Change Your Mind. I did my annual relisten to Braiding Sweetgrass, Gathering Moss for the first time, I feel more excited talking about books than the hours of tv or instagram I definitely watched.

I touched nature and dogsat and got coffee and drinks and dinner with friends. I practiced weightlifting and Jiu Jitsu, I visit Kentucky twice and rode horses. I turned 40. I took a road trip to Fresno. 

I felt like I was never doing enough, but I actually did a lot.