2015 in Review

Listmaking is one of my favorite hobbies. The best time for list-making is at the end of a very exciting and interesting year. After the Christmas holidays, in that weird, slow week before the New Year, I always spend a lot of time reflecting on the year and what I've been up to.

2015 was a strange time, really. I was thinking that I didn't do as much as I've done in previous years, but when you get everything down on paper, you're able to see for yourself that YES, you got some work done! It's an incredibly validating experience.

So, here's what I've been up to -

Adventures:
- Tybee & North Florida
- Southeast Alabama
- Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens
- Spring Break in Gulf Shores
- Blue Ridge Parkway // Asheville
- Thanksgiving in Michigan (Pit stop at the Wigwam Village)
- NYE in Tybee

General Cool Things that Happened:
- Read 21 books
- Met really cool dudes like: Chris Hardwick (who was on tour with my ZINE FRIEND April Richardson), Marc Maron, and Jimmy Carter
- Participated in a couple of lantern parades
- With the help of the local community and a few out of town donors, gathered 700 boxes of crayons to hand out to local students
- Organized a Sidewalk Chalk Art Fest at the local park during the annual Easter Egg Hunt

2015 Art in Numbers:
- 1 magazine cover
- 4 murals
- 7 shadowboxes created (Check out the first one: Your Heart is a Muscle)

For Piggie Park's Annual Christmas Ornament

- 15 commissioned projects finished (Red Tailed Hawk, Whale Shark, and several personal projects like wedding and first birthday signs)
- 15 windows painted (a gallery can be found on my FB Art Page)
- 32 paintings of my own (Including: Pisces, Canis Major, Cetus and Lepus)

Not counted: Free Art Friday art created, tattoos tattooed, drawings/sketches drawn, paper lanterns made, paintings for my Arty Party classes at my studio: Flint Rose

Also: 3 Georgia cities displayed my art: Warner Robins, Columbus, and Griffin (make that 4 cities since I painted at Zoo Atlanta in June.)

Let's get back to what I said earlier: 2015 was a strange time, really. It was strange because I finally FINALLY decided that I am unable to make as much money as I need through art alone. It's a sad and humbling realization that what you've been working towards for many years just isn't sustainable.

So I got a part-time job as a server. Yes, I'm waiting tables again after a 14 year hiatus. And the GOOD news? I enjoy it. And the GOOD GOOD news? I have a steady stream of money coming in! This may be a topic I can write about in a future blog post, so I'll save most of my thoughts for that.

2015. What a long, strange trip it's been. I'm looking forward to the fun of 2016.