2007 in a nutshell

I do not write new year's resolutions- mostly because my attitude is more of a "so I'll try this and see what happens..." and not rely on guessing what my future will be like. That being said, I think this past year I've been both slightly surprised at my own creative abilities and slightly disappointed by my circumstances. I have loved being a part of this on-line community. I believe my artwork has grown in leaps and bounds because of you all. I also feel connected to other artists in a way that I never had before- and without all the stupid competitiveness that artists are almost always faced with. This experience has also left me feeling a bit sorry for myself, however. I guess before this year, my artwork was just a part of me that worked in conjunction with the teacher/mother/wife/self part of me. The artist part of me never needed extra space before. It was cozy being squished in-between my frantic and all-consuming motherness and my stressed-out yet completely inspired teacherness. This year, as I saw the work that you all were doing, and most especially the time that you were devoting to your craft and to marketing yourself, the artist part of me started to whine like a four-year-old on her sister's birthday. I have felt very much in need of extra time that I don't have. I think that although I am quite uncomfortable with my whiny artist-self right now, something good will come from all of this. I have thought about taking a break from teaching to focus on my art. I daydream about sending my girls off to school and spending the whole day working on getting myself published. But then I have a completely amazing day at school, or get an email from a former student who "owes it all to me" and the teacherness in my brain tries to tackle the artist-self and beat it down into oblivian. So I am certainly feeling like I am being pulled in many directions and I have made a little itty-bitty coal for myself to make my artist-self chill out a bit. A year from February, I plan on going to the SCBWI conference. I need a year to save up some cash and I need a year to get a web site going. These are my goals for the coming year, professionally that is. I also hope to draw a lot too...and buy some new shoes. I love shoes.