2024: A Year in Review

Not only is the end of the year only a few days away, but it’s also been an entire year since I decided to pursue art more consistently.  While I look forward to 2025 and what is coming up next, I also want to stop and appreciate what has happened in the past 365 days.  

My first painting of 2024

Accomplishments

• 22 studio paintings and 5 plein air watercolors: I haven’t been this artistically productive since high school!  Looking at those numbers feels amazing.  I’ve crafted a regular practice that can fit in with my day-to-day life. Way to go, me.

• Five months of mentoring and one workshop via Mastrius: I learned so much from the professionals at Mastrius and began building a circle of artist colleagues. 

• An Instagram account for my artwork which currently has 62 posts, 7 reels, and 85 followers: The real accomplishment here is that I’m sharing with the world.  The artwork isn’t just mine anymore, but for anyone to enjoy or not.  Handling the feeling of vulnerability has been, and continues to be a journey.

• One juried show application… and rejection: I’m still putting it in the accomplishment column for even trying. I’ll always “win some and lose some.”  I’ve already got four application windows on my calendar for next year to try again.

• This website!  

My most recent Instagram Reel/ Painting

Lessons Learned

This is harder to articulate because while I feel I have learned some things, I know that I have so much more to go on each of these.  Nothing can be checked off the “to-do” list here. But at least I’ve gotten started on these various paths.

1 - How to plan and execute a large studio work.  Prior to this year, I had only done master copies, still lifes, and a few paintings from photographs. This year I learned how to put together references into new compositions and how to manipulate photographic references to better suit a finished work of art.

2 - My painting style.  This one is firmly still in the “under construction” phase, but I am beginning to see it. It’s realist but nudges up against impressionism in parts. I work in thin layers, letting them create depth and texture.  I have a preferred palette: Hansa yellow, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, raw umber, and titanium white.  I have a preferred subject matter: a mix of urban and landscape, although I would like to foray into interiors at some point.  When you see my paintings together, you can tell they are by the same person.

3 - What it means (will mean) to be a professional painter.  I’m not there yet, I have more developing to do first.  But I’ve learned about the business and what that looks like in real life. I’m planning a future blog post on this, so that’s all I’ll say for now.

I think that’s pretty good for a year’s worth of work, particularly for a working mom. 

So cheers, 2024.  You were a good one.