Evaluating 2020 and Planning 2021
A year ago, I was happily drawing in pencil and coloring on the computer. Finishing up what I thought was my best portfolio ever and it was. I thought I was stretching myself when I put together a Virtual Art Exhibit in May inspired by COVID. 
I had no idea that I would put together not one Virtual Art Exhibit but 2 Virtual Art Exhibits. I had no idea that the first art exhibit would lead me to a yearning to paint with rich buttery acrylic paints on really big panels. I didn't know then that I would have paintings that dwarf normal people's living rooms. I didn't know then that I would fall in love with a robot, a wedding photo, and really big wooden gears.
But I have fallen in love. And as I evaluated what I did and what I wanted to do some day, in the next 5 years, and then in 2021, I knew I wanted to do just one Art Exhibit in October 2021. I want to make it spectacular. I want to paint far enough ahead that I'm not staining wooden gears the night before the Facebook Live event happens. That my husband isn't framing the last three paintings an hour before I go live while I am helping my son finish the last details on the gallery website. I want to have cool freebies, awesome products, more engagement, and get enough sleep at night.
To do that, I had to decide what I wanted to do before January 1st rolled in.
I evaluated all my options for an art exhibit in October 2021. I had lots of options.
I still want to take the pencil drawings I was doing in January 2020 and try to color them with Inktense instead of using the computer.
I am in love with acrylic and really large paintings. If I went that direction, I had at least 3 more directions, no 4 directions I could take:
1. Create a series of art called "Out of the Box". Each painting could be like Queen Octavia and break through the edges of the painting.
2. I could create a whole exhibit out of robots. I had a couple more robot ideas in my sketchbook.
3. I could do a series of Halloween inspired Trading Cards and use flat paint and my new acrylic paint pens.
4. I could create a HUGE exhibit of Alien Monsters that takes over my house and begs me to buy a commercial space.
The last one I have kept coming back to. I have had a lot of social media interest in these adorable alien monsters. I also have several pages of thumbnail ideas for additional alien monsters left over from June just begging me to paint them. Several fans are encouraging me to write a book with these characters. And when I asked my Facebook friends what they wanted to see these aliens do, I was impressed with the involvement I got. I have even dreamed of painting these aliens on a commercial property that is for sale 10 minutes away from my house and opening a whole museum to these aliens!
If you read last week's blog post, you already know I'm going to create an exhibit of Alien Monsters and that I plan on taking you along for the ride.
Some other goals that I have for 2021 include, starting a YouTube channel, blog post weekly, paint daily, take a personal book project that I've been working on for the last 2 years and turn it into a book that I self publish (probably just for my own kids and maybe a couple of cousins), sell Paige and Webb to a publishing house, and be the best mom ever.
Of course this is a lot for me to do in a year. And I am sure I will fall short a bit, but I won't know how close I can get to all of these unless I plan on reaching them.
I hope you have great plans for 2021 that make your heart skip a beat or two. Mine sure do.