It’s Time to Plan what to do with 2022

The time to plan is before you need to, and I’m trying to get better at doing that.

This post won’t go live until next weekend, but I’m writing it during a relatively calm day in what has been a whirlwind summer. During these chaotic end-of-summer weeks, it helps me to feel oriented and orderly if I think ahead. the idea is to get ahead of the chaos with better planning. So, here’s a bit of my 2022 Forward Outlook.

On the day I’m writing this, I’m also packing to leave for a trip to Louisiana, to the Baton Rouge and outlying areas. I’ll be there for about a week, then heading home to wrap up some urgent dental issues. Two dentist appointments that second week of August, and I’m not looking forward to those. Later in August we’ll be on the way to visit family in Florida, and in September we are finally going to have a getaway to our Colorado mining claim to pan for gold and relax. And after that we’ll have family from Florida coming to visit us here.

So, busy days ahead!

Time to Plan

This is just an outline for now. If this is something you find interesting, check back from time to time, as I’ll flesh out the middles as I come up with a plan. In fact, it’s highly possible that because of the hectic schedule on the calendar for the rest of July, all of August, and most of September, that this post won’t even have an outline by the time it goes live, lol.

That’ll be an embarrassing motivation to get me working on it….

Apologies for grammatical mistakes and random things not capitalized. I’m just trying to get it take the time to plan now and will clean it up later.

known events

I’ll add the items from this portion of this post to my Exhibits & Events page. It’s a lot easier to look there to see if I’ll be out somewhere with my art than it would be to find it here on this post later.

• May 19-21 I’ll have a booth at the UofA Master Gardener’s Convention in Springdale, AR. There will be original art, stationery, prints, paints and pigments for sale.

keep the studio/office organized

This is an ongoing effort with me, but as of this post, I’m halfway there with the decluttering mission. I’ve been putting all the rocks, bones, and driftwood outside in the garden in places they’re easy to find if I need them. While I’m not using them, they’ll decorate my garden paths. I’ve wasted more time just looking for things I need than I like, so I’m determined to do better with this going forward.

Taking the time to plan everything else will also help me keep this space organized. It’s when I’m in a hurry that things seem to get out of hand the worst.

make more paint

• I have a nice rock crusher now that enables me to produce pigment starting points in bulk. I want to make more time to make more sets of paints and get better at making the paints.
• Experiment with making oil paints, and learn how to use them.

prepare canvases for series

I want to do more of the small, medium, and large painting series of various things on the birch boards with permanently mounted papers. Since these are varnished, they don’t need glass but look much nicer with frames. So I’ll need to set aside money for frames, too. I pick up random frames from the recycle center all the time and refurbish them to my own liking. But if I need a certain size I don’t already have on hand, then that means a purchase.

time to plan some series

• Make more of the twisted tree monochromes with pigment samples mounted on the frames

• old shed (ours), barns, old structures or implements

• seldom seen but often heard (whippoorwill, spring peepers, rain crow)

• felkins creek at various locations, dirt road scenes

• more of my already started raptor series

• Aaron’s milk barn and dirt road

• more orchids, ginseng and companions…

I have more ideas than I’ll have time for, but I wanted to write them down so I can draw on this if I’m drawing blanks one day.

juried exhibitions

I usually do enter several exhibitions, but only jury into a few each year. Everything depends on making sales throughout the year. And so when I sell something, I need to set aside money. That’ll pay for entries, and this year I’d like to attend some of the openings. Whether my work is showing or not. I know it’s necessary to network and make connections, and it’s good to support other artists I admire. I just haven’t made the time to plan to do it yet.

pop up or art shows

I need to build inventory (and save money for entry/booth fees, and travel) to do the larger art shows, but I’d like to participate more often in the Rogers, Bentonville, and Fayetteville popup art shows in 2022.

Btw, I decided to get myself vaccinated. Yes, I know there are risks. I know this is a topic rife with controversy, mainly because no one can agree on what, exactly, the ‘truth’ is. The politicization, associated religiosity, and divisiveness of the entire situation makes me sick. So, I usually refrain from bringing up the topic at all. I just wanted you to know, if you are concerned with the virus, my booth will be vended by a vaccinated (and a masked, if indoors) artist.

expand my reach

• Do more outreach to find venues that will sell all of the things I make – paint sets, pigments, original artwork, prints, notecards
• Approach local galleries about representation
• Begin intentional networking and collaboration. Maybe there is something I can offer to others to make them helping me more mutual. I don’t even know where to start with this, so the time to plan for it is soon

grow my garden bigger, expand to the next level

While this isn’t necessarily art related, it is life related. But it’s one of the major goals I have for 2022. This point on the task list actually will begin in fall 2021, though, as I get the beds prepared to plant in spring. The very best time to plan what to plant is before it’s time to plant, haha.

More later

I’ll work on cleaning up this post over the rest of this year. At least now it isn’t an empty post when it goes live on the posting date!