A funny thing happened when I kept one of my resolutions for 2010.
I really wanted to see a couple of my paintings in a gallery or at an art show. One of my goals was to have my artwork appear before a jury and see what happened. As a result, two of my paintings hung at JMR Gallery in Bayfield for a while this past spring and some of my wonderful friends (not to mention a special trip up by my Mom and my Aunt) came to the exhibit opening. It was a pretty cool experience!
But it had an unexpected downside. The process of preparing for this particular show deadened the joy I normally got from painting. I had to paint to a theme for the show and I really, really detested that. It took away my mojo. Instead of going with my own inspiration I was given a firm guidebook and suddenly it felt like work. I haven’t completed a painting since then.
This year my resolutions are a lot less like goals and a lot more like vague wishes. There are career improvements I’d like to make and some traveling I’d like to do but I’m putting less pressure on it all. It’s nothing against goals. I’ve always set targets and done my best to hit them but they’re going to be a little less specific this year, except for a fuzzy plan to get back to painting, sometime. Happy 2011! May it bring you everything you wish for, clear, fuzzy or otherwise!