January

I’m going gently into January.

I’m giving myself some quiet space to just be still. A friend invited us to take time to ponder 2020 before we jump into goal setting for 2021 and I was so grateful for that. I want to sift through that sand and find the jewels to keep and carry with me onward. Dr. Jill Biden has a great quote going around the internet about the new year beginning in cold darkness but “all around us is a slow resurrection. Not the turn of a calendar page, but the stir of seeds sheltered deep in the earth, waiting to climb to the warmth of spring.” I’m taking time to ponder which seeds I want to water this year, what growth I want to see when it’s time.

My kids went back to school in August and I went straight into prepping for a show over Labor Day weekend and I never slowed down. It was a four month marathon of jumping from one project to the next to the next— the busiest fall I’ve ever had. I worked right up until Christmas, took the weekend off and then right up until New Years. It was such a wonderful season filled with SO MANY good things for me professionally. I’m so grateful to every collector and gallery and partner I work with who are interested in my art, I’m seeing so many dreams come true. And because of all that swell of good, it’s time for the ocean to pull back for a bit, the tide to even out, my art soul to recharge.

I’m taking time to clean up my studio, clear away clutter, make space again (physical order = mental peace for me).

I’m taking time to write. To journal all the thoughts swirling around my head, capture some of this lived experience and history.

I’m allowing time to not jump straight into the next thing, but ponder what direction I want my next things to go.

I’m making space to sit in my favorite chair and read that big pile of art books I’m so hungry for. I want to savor the words, journal the lessons, do nothing but let the prose roll around my mind while I ponder what it means to me.

I have a pile of paper for experimenting. I will give myself time to play to try new things with no other objective but to see what happens. I will make time to be curious.

I will finish the online workshops I paid for but didn’t have time to finish. I will absorb the wisdom of others who know more than me, listen for what they know that can help my vision.

I will keep making space for my commission list and the upcoming things I’ve committed to, but they won’t get all my time. I will allow myself some balance until I feel recharged enough to be at my best.

I will let January unfold to me as it will. I will be quiet and listen. I will be slow to fill that blank canvas with noise, instead appreciating the beauty of slow, deliberate marks. I will be patient with the time it takes. My focus is quality, not quantity— the life of intention, not busyness for busyness’ sake.

And, as always, I will seek the Light.