My annual accountability post and word of the year

 

Due to welcoming Art Journal Journey's new host, Second on the 2nd, and T Stand Stands For Tuesday, I had to push this post back to today.  I tried to post it on the 3rd, but Blogger wouldn't let me.  Not only am I having trouble leaving comments without an error of some kind, but Blogger also has taken over scheduling my posts.

It's once again time for my annual accountability post.  This is the one where I see how well I did the previous year, and how well I think I might do in the coming year.

Let's begin with my word for 2021 which was Hope (and home).  I had my Word of Year picked out for three months, then waffled back and forth between two words.  I tried to figure out how to show them both together.

I ended up darkening it a bit so you could see the home, too.  I apologize because my laser printer was about out of ink.  I HOPE you can see why I chose this word and how it applied to my life as it revolved around my home until I was able to get the life saving shot and booster I now also have.
 

My word for 2022 is

Engage!  I hope to engage more with my readers, followers, viewers, and lurkers, engage more with and in my art, and engage in more challenges in 2022.  It's an umbrella word for my actual beliefs, feelings, and intentions this year. 

 

As for accountability, let's see my accountability intentions I made on January 4, 2021 and how well I did.

1. Continue to make art that I hope some will find meaningful and show the process along the way.
Old habits die hard, so this one I tried to adhere to, but sometimes I made art late at night and the craft room was so dark, it was hard to take process shots.  Whenever I could, I showed the process.  Whether I showed the step-out photos or not, I always explained how I created each page, tag, or object.

2. Create at least one tutorial each month.
These seem to be popular, so I've continued my monthly tutorials on the second Thursday of each month, although I've been a bit slow at times due to joining Rain's Thursday Art Date.  During April, I created several tutorials because I was often working with materials I don't normally use. 

3.  Interview one artist over the course of the year. 
I asked people to share recycled art this year during April, but I didn't interview anyone.

 

4. Continue to dye fabric in my own different and unique way
This was another no-brainer.  I love dyeing fabric and I'm always on the lookout for new ways to dye fabric using nontraditional eco-friendly dyes.  Some of you saw how different mordants and additives changed the look of cabbage water when I dyed various fabrics, mostly cotton muslin.  You also saw how old grape juice doesn't give you lavender, but brown instead.  

5. Sort, sort, sort.  
It's an ongoing process, but I have two craft areas to keep clean, one of which is my main floor craft area, and one my basement studio.  You can't imagine the number of bags of trash and recyclables I got rid of in my basement studio that weren't good enough to donate due to water damage in 2020.  All that basement space provided me with a way to actually spread out.  

 

6. Create four abstracts. 
This was one I struggled with again in 2021.  My abstracts aren't as good as some I've seen on the internet, but I made four I can loosely call abstracts. 

 

7. Redo my gardens.   
I still need to finish concentrate on my front flower bed.  

 

That is exactly what I plan to do again this year.  I hope to hold myself accountable to these same seven goals I set in January, 2021.  These are NOT meant to be thought of as stressful, and they are certainly not resolutions.  Resolutions are soon broken about the third week in January.   I know some people like to roll with the flow, but I am a very organized person and I need certain guides in my life to keep me on track.  This blog is my day job, even though it is non-paying.

 

1. Continue to make art that I hope some will find meaningful and show the process along the way.
I don't think I'll have any trouble living up to this one.

2. Create at least one tutorial each month.
I will continue to create a new tutorial each month on the second week of the month, although it is getting harder and harder to come up with new ideas given my limited tools, supplies, and products.  I plan to explore more ways to play with Lutrador, but that is not a product every person has, or even has access to.  Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated for tutorials you would like to see.

 

3.  Interview one artist over the course of the year.
I plan to be more proactive in 2022.  Right now I am waiting on answers to questions I have given to a potential interviewee.

 

4. Continue to dye fabric in my own different and unique way
I keep watching for different ideas on ways to rust, but there are only so many ways you can rust fabric.  I have created a lot of resist dyed fabrics.  But I must learn different ways to use products I have on hand or ones that are easily available to me in order to come up with new ways to dye fabric.  I suspect you'll see more over-dyeing this year.  I have several pieces I want to dye a second time, since they didn't turn out as well as they initially could have.  I also plan to work with tulle and do more eco-dyeing, something others seem to have better luck with than I.  Suggestions are always welcome in this area, too, because I don't plan on going shopping any time soon. 

 

5. Sort, sort, sort.  
This year I'll be redoing a couple of my shelves in the basement.  I'll also be sorting my rubber (and clear) stamps looking for a face I can't seem to find in my main floor craft room. 

6. Create four abstracts. 
I realize my abstracts aren't always pure abstracts, but I plan to work on a couple in my basement studio as winter sets in hard, making it difficult to craft in my freezing main floor craft room.  I'm also visiting more artists who create abstracts.  I think I have a new perspective on them.  I hope to have at least four this year.

 

7. Redo my front garden. 
I need to spend some quality time in my flower bed this year.  That was one area I didn't work on as I had planned.   When I got rid of my bamboo, it gave me a totally clean slate.  According to several sites, the bamboo may not be gone for up to two years, but I will be creating more container plants this year where the bamboo was in the past.  

 

And, although I didn't get around to it last year, I still want to create a bug/bee motel for my "wild preserve" (AKA my old veggie garden) sometime this year.  I think Scott is interested in working on it, too, even though I (hopefully) have no more bamboo to use in the "motel."

Of course, you'll have to wait till January, 2023 to see how well I did in 2022.

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing how well, or not so well I did in 2021.  Personally, I was quite pleased with the progress I made.  Any and all suggestions for new tutorials and fabric dyeing will be greatly appreciated, too.  And remember, please.  These are not stress inducing, they are NOT resolutions, but, because I like to be organized, these are important prompts to keep me on track.