2020 In Review & Looking Towards 2021
I'm a little late to this show with this blog post as we're already 10 days into 2021. After the year that we had, I knew I needed to take the time to recoup, relax and enjoy the holidays with my Tassie family while I could.
What can I say about 2020 that hasn't already been said my a million other people? Well, I actually had a pretty good year all said and done. I'm incredibly fortunate to live in Tasmania, an island off southern mainland Australia, so while the initial corona virus hit was pretty brutal, we managed to get the virus under control by May and things were more or less back to normal by September. Very fortunate.
I became a full-time artist!
In March I left my full-time job as a graphic designer/general manager at a sign shop (literally 3 days before covid really hit us, great timing on my part). Either way, it was time to leave the world of full-time employment and venture into the self-employed world. I'm planning a full blog post write up on this experience, so stay tuned for that!
The Backyard Bird Series
September was a hectic month, full of birds and coloured pencils during my annual 30 in 30 project. In the end I was only able to produce 29 birds, but I still counted it a raving success, and I was so proud of myself for riding the wave of insanity all the way to the end. If it wasn't for the frozen dinners Josh has made for me in preparation I don't think I would have made it through, each bird took me a solid 8 hours of work. I'm not sure whether I'll bring the 30 in 30 into 2021 this year, if I do it definitely won't be as full on as those birds were. Any ideas are definitely welcome!
My First Holiday Season
Christmas was a success with my backyard bird calendars, and I managed to end the year hitting my July-December financial goal! YAHOO! I did, unfotunately, leave all my bookkeeping until the last minute though, so one of my saturdays was taken up completely with hours upon hours of bookwork, spreadsheets and calculating. Hot tip: do your bookkeeping weekly, or at the very least monthly. What a waste of a Saturday.
The Biggest Lesson of 2020
“Make Plans. God Laughs.” Yiddish Proverb
Oh man, if that isn't true.
2020 was a whirlwind for absolutely everyone. And I think we can all safely say that this year will go down in history. If 2020 had taught me anything, it was to take change with grace. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING happened the way that I had envisioned it happened. Markets were cancelled, trips were cancelled, gallery representations were postponed. There was no point in moaning and complaining about it, we just had to get on and make the most of it.
a quick review in numbers
(because I'm a nerd and I like numbers)
Pet Portrait Commissions – 8
Original Pieces – 33
Blog Posts – 12
Calendars Sent Around the World – 200
Books Read/Listened To: 42
Coffees Consumed – 1,825 (more or less)
Instagram Followers – 1,000
Facebook Followers – 913
Goals for 2021
I have a grand total of five major goals for this year. As some of them are a little private, I'll share the other three of them here. When I make goals for myself, I make sure to set SMART goals and break them down into manageable little tasks for the year.
3 series releases this year.
Artworks ranging in size from 8x10 inches all the way up to 18x24 inches (maybe even larger if I can find the right paper!) Previously, I've created and sold pieces individually rather than in a series and this year I have decided to try the collection method, in the hopes that it will help keep my focused and avoid burnout of trying to do too much at once. Three straight months of creating, and then a couple weeks of photography, website, marketing and selling.
Start a YouTube Channel.
That's right, you will be seeing my face on screen! I'm starting small, to make sure that this is a medium I would like to proceed with, but I've been interested in YouTube and the world of Vlogging for a couple of years now, so I thought I'd give it a shot! I'm aiming for one video a month at the moment (released on the last Saturday of the month). Everything is by trial and error, but I have a good feeling about this one!
Stay on top of my Blog
This was a goal from last year too, and while I actually enjoy blogging, I'm TERRIBLE at staying on a schedule. So I've set my goal for one blog post a week for the rest of the year. Sharing studio stories, ideas, tips and tricks, inspiration, a day in the life etc. This may or may not coincide with my YouTube videos, but I'm aiming to release these every Sunday (like today!)