Everything’s New All Over Again

So here we are, 2013 – the whirl and whiz of year end holidays are but a blur and the reality of a new year is setting in.

The New Year’s Eve Gala in Telluride was a smashing success, and a whole lot of fun!  (Snow, cold, mountains, a great feast, meeting lots of great people that love – and buy – Art…what’s not to love about that?)

It’s a brand new year.  With new art.  

A new piece from my "LineScape" series, work-in-process (breakdown screen-printing on cotton fabric)

And a big new role at my day job.

An evolving Art Business plan (Just finished up a 6 month long Arts Incubator program, building out my art business plan – specifically around teaching workshops), recognizing what has worked during the past year and letting that inform my focus and goals for this year.

A new spring semester CSU Artist intern (an introduction and more on this later).

And, a new bathroom/living room remodel in our home.   Nothing like living (and working) in chaos!  It’s all for the better-ment of our lives/open studio events.  

Our dining room (top) is currently home to everything that used to be in our living room (bottom).

It all started when we had an intake pipe burst in our main level bathroom a mere 12 hours before our holiday open house event in Dec.  Quick removal of the bathroom carpet (and other clean up) saved our open house event.  Working through plans to replace the bathroom carpet led us to address so many other needs.  

You know how it goes….if we’re going to replace carpet in the bathroom, we should just do it for the living room as well, and if we’re going to do that, well, we might as well get rid of that popcorn ceiling, and if we do that, we should upgrade the lighting in the room and paint everything too….  

So before you know it, we’ve got all the furniture from the living room piled in the dining room, electricians, dry wall, and carpet guys in our living space, and the first floor of our house relegated to spackle, blue tape, and protective plastics.

More new "LineScape" series work in process (breakdown screen-printing on cotton fabric)

It is chaotic right now, but I think we’ve learned how to thrive in this chaos – or at least still maintain a high level of productivity. 

In addition to being completely consumed with learning a new role in my day job, I’ve got several new works in progress (preparing for 5 new shows I’ve already got on the calendar for 2013) , while also figuring out my expanded teaching schedule for this year – I love how this part of my art business is growing organically, through direct contacts and word of mouth, just seems like the right way for this to happen.

I’ve not done a “formal” evaluation of my goals/results from 2012 nor written out my goals for 2013 yet.  Still, I have a really good sense for what I accomplished in 2012 and what adjustments I plan to make for 2013  (relative to my personal, Art, and Art Business goals).   More on this later.

For now, the most important thing is, even though our physical home space is in turmoil, we can still (usually) find the things we need to carry out our daily activities, the bathroom toilet is still functional (no matter that there is no door), and Emma’s squeaky balls and towels are readily available (and so far, she’s still a brown dog – we’ll see how long that lasts with all the white painting going on).

 

2 comments to Everything’s New All Over Again

  • Hi, Ayn. Lovely screen printing on cotton. You’ve made me think that yellow is a color I tend to avoid and I’m not sure why. Good luck with the remodeling–nothing like a fresh start.
    best, nadia

    • Ayn

      Hi Nadia. For some reason I’ve been really drawn to yellow lately, actually the kind of yellow that is almost green, or a green that’s almost a yellow, ha! I think I need the warmth and happiness that it represents for me, especially during these confused days of remodeling chaos. Thanks for stopping by!