Happy New Year!

A new year dawns :) -- I feel optimistic about it. Everyone has been doing these year reviews, and I feel the need to do one too...
2008 was really very, very difficult. Behind the scenes of my artwork so much was happening in my family and life that was extremely challenging, I am amazed I did as much artwork as I did. I didn't share much about any of that on my old blog or even in my circle of artistic friends, perhaps because I saw those places as a "time out" breather from everything.
I do feel like I've jumped a huge hurdle getting through it all, and spiritually it was a time of great growth and learning. Nothing quite stimulates dependence upon God and spiritual growth like the trials of life!

Despite the goings-on, here are the good things that came from 2008:
- I did 104 paintings!
- I finally saw that my heart is not in the fantasy/fairy print and product market. It is in children's illustration and that's where I am going now.
- Did a massive website re-design to reflect this vision, and I LOVE my new design. Every single border, button and accent was all hand-painted and designed first on watercolor paper before it ever got translated into website graphics.
- My painting technique has gone through a bit of a style/theme transition to become more delicate, playful, spontaneous and atmospheric rather than my previous rather formal/elegant/controlled style. It feels more like my genuine voice now.
- I've added a lot of children's illustrations to my portfolio and painted a lot more diversity of children, including boys.
- I got into a local brick-and-mortar art gallery!
- I learned how to be a good Auntie Mama for the time that I was raising my niece.
- My dad and I started going to Calvary Chapel and gained a whole new church family... they are totally awesome and we're blessed there. Also I was baptized finally.
- Two life changing studies: Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer and Waking the Dead by John Eldredge.

Things for 2009:
- I just got accepted into a children's illustration critique group full of super talented folk!! :)
- Focus the majority of my energy on getting illustration jobs.
- Etsy is in, Ebay is out.
- Develop teaching plans for possible art classes at the gallery.
- Learn the craft of writing stories... and WRITE.
- Be more involved with Illustration Friday.
- Add at least 3 publishers to my marketing list per week.
- Send out reminder postcards at least bi-annually, maybe seasonally?
- Figure out the whole Linux printer and scanner thing. At the very least, a Linux-compatible scanner so I don't have to cart my art to a different computer in order to scan it.
- Market, market, market!!! Use that mailing list, use Ping.fm to help with neglected networking sites!
- Refuse to accept rolling over and dying in this economy and FIGHT for my art business. Use my mule-ish determination to the fullest. ;)

That ought to be enough to be getting on with, eh?