2018 Art Year in Review

I kind of lost steam in the second half of this year, as life got in the way - but I still managed to accomplish a lot in the first several months of 2018, and I've got a lot more planned for the first months of 2019 as well! Below are just some of my art and blogging highlights from 2018.

• Some of my colored pencil drawings from the Canton Village Theater's GRRRLS Like Us exhibition (Nov-Dec 2017) were featured in a Heaven Spot episode of Detroit area artists. The video premiered at Young Felix Loft on January 19, 2018; you can read about my experience at the premiere party and watch the video here.

• My "Bandaged Duality" 22x30" watercolor painting hung in the Carr Center in Detroit from March 3 to April 26, 2018 as part of their "Nevertheless She Persisted" Women Art Exhibition.

• In the spring, I completed my largest artwork commission to date - an acrylic triptych of the Charlotte, North Carolina skyline, measuring 28x66" in total.

• My colored pencil drawings "30 Days" and "28 Years" were hung at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial from July 12 to August 19, 2018, as part of their "Flower Power" Art Exhibition.

• I was selected to act as an official art juror at the Art and Apples festival in Rochester, Michigan in September 2018.

• My Etsy shop continued to see sales throughout 2018, especially for custom watercolor bouquet commissions, original Great Lakes watercolor paintings, and art print notecards.

• I created more 8x10" colored pencil drawings on colored paper for my ongoing floral symbolism series. ("Flight" on blue paper and "Ambition" on red paper were two of my personal favorites.)

• This blog, "Until the Water Falls," hit 15,000 total views, and two of my posts from this year entered my "Top Three" most viewed posts: Entitlement (which has nearly 230 views) and Missed Miscarriage (which is now my most viewed blog post, with 460+ views).

• I received lots of great comments on several Instagram pics this year, with some posts earning close to 90 "likes." Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to see more posts in 2019!

What I love about looking back at the last twelve months is that even if there were a few months where I felt "not productive enough," I can still look at the year as a whole and marvel at everything I accomplished. Like any year, 2018 had highs and lows; if I focus on the high points, I can see that I really have a lot of positives in my life - which helps me get excited for the plans I have in the works for 2019.

Thank you to everyone who continues to read my blog, follow me on social media, purchase artwork from my Etsy shop and just generally support me in my artistic endeavors and in life!! :) In 2019, you can look forward to more colored pencil drawings, more watercolor paintings, and more personal vulnerability, as I write about my artistic journey and life journey on this blog. Happy new year!!

Art & Apples Juror

I recently had the pleasure to act as a festival juror for the Art & Apples fest in Rochester, Michigan the weekend of September 7-9. I have worked with the Paint Creek Center for the Arts (which puts on the Art & Apples festival) in other capacities before, and currently have several original artworks and notecard prints for sale in their year-round art market, and I was honored that they asked me to participate as a festival juror for them.

I looked at the quality of the individual pieces for sale, as well as the overall booth aesthetic (i.e. how well the artists were utilizing their booth space, engaging with visitors, or drawing people over to their booth) and gave each booth a score on a scale of 1 to 7, seven being the highest. There were other jurors also walking around giving scores; at the end of the day, all of our scores will be tallied and averaged together to see which booths were ranked the highest and which artists will be given jury-exempt status for returning to participate next year.

I love the Art & Apples festival because they do such a great job at bringing in a variety of artists (and at a variety of price points) so there truly is something for everyone. There were more than 250 artists in attendance, representing 18 categories: 2D Mixed Media, 3D Mixed Media, Clay (Functional), Clay (Non-Functional), Digital Art, Drawing, Fibers (Non-Wearable), Fibers (Wearable), Glass, Jewelry (Metal), Jewelry (Non-Metal), Leather, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Wood.

Afterward, I remarked to my husband that if I had "unlimited money and unlimited storage space in our house," I would've purchased SO MANY things. I was really impressed by a lot of the booths. I saw gorgeous purses and backpacks, adorable birdhouses, beautiful indoor wall art, functional wooden kitchen utensils and serving dishes, fun Halloween decorations and costumes, colorful pottery, gorgeous photographs and paintings, whimsical outdoor garden art, many Michigan-themed gifts, and hilarious witticisms printed on notecards, tea towels, baby onesies, t-shirts, and wall plaques. As I was walking around, I also saw an artist being interviewed for local ABC-7, an artist and recent purchaser posing for a photograph, holding up a large painting that had just been sold, and quite a few artists demonstrating their technique right in their booths, making art en plein air.

I started going around and jurying as soon as the festival opened at 9 am, and by 11:30 am it was getting harder to judge the booths - because there were already so many people walking around the festival and cramming in to look at all the art, that it was difficult to fight the crowds and get a good look at everything. Art & Apples really brings in a lot of visitors and art enthusiasts, and it was great to see so many people out and about on a beautiful fall day, enjoying themselves looking at quality artwork against the backdrop of music provided by the local high school marching band and the delicious smell of elephant ears and roasted almonds in the air. I'm so grateful that PCCA gave me this opportunity to act as a juror - it was a great excuse to walk around and make sure I got a good look at every single booth. :)