Well, I expect this will be my final Art and Creativity Journal Entry for 2024.
This past week I have been in a somewhat quiet frame of mind, painting occasionally, and occasionally making myself a few notes about what I might like to accomplish in 2025.
Haven't really laid out any firm plans or goals for the new year — yet — and I'm not entirely sure I even will.
As a result of being more active online (in terms of promoting my work), one of the things I've learned over the past couple of years is that surprisingly many artists make just as much — if not more — money talking about their art as they do from actually making and selling their art.
I won't wax philosophical as to the deeper implications for artists, but this sort of walks hand in hand with my intentions to up my social media game, perhaps the thing i have struggled the most with over the last few years… and pretty much since I started taking my work more seriously.
The 100-Day Project — Redux?
In the early part of 2024 I participated in something called the ”100 Day Project,” which was intended to serve as a way to develop more discipline with my work, and particularly with my social media marketing.
For a while, I pursued this challenge alongside fellow Hive creative @gillianpearce, but ultimately my resolve fizzled — and ”life happened” — when I made to about the 70th-75th day, and I never made it past day 79.
I am seriously considering having a go at this challenge again in 2025, perhaps with more focus on the actual work, and less focus on the social media marketing (although I definitely still need to pursue that), and finally as an effort to get more ”regular” in the Art and Creativity Journal.
In mid-year I experimented with painting on crystals, as well as beach stones. In this case a piece of polished Labradorite.
There are a lot of things in life I have failed rather badly at, specifically because I lacked a plan, a routine and some discipline… and a longer term challenge like this might serve me well, and even if just to get me off my butt on those days when ”I just don’t feel like it.”
Naturally, it would be nice if there were other creatives on Hive who were willing to give it a go, as well. Of course, 100 days is a pretty stout commitment… but I feel it’s a pretty worthwhile endeavor.
I am also somewhat compelled by the fact that I have fallen woefully short on my goal to get this art account back up to at least 1,000 Hive Power, after having to almost entirely power it down to nothing, in order to pay a property tax bill.
I write this mostly as "notes to myself" because there are a myriad other — non-art — things I am hoping to accomplish in 2025. There is only so much time, and I don't want to overbook myself to such a degree that failure is almost guaranteed!
Anyway, those are just some loose ideas I’ve been turning over in my head.
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2024.12.30 AS-TXT-302/272