MAM Award & 2011 Goals

My new year rang in with an award from the Making A Mark Blog. Most artists are familiar with the U.K. artist and blogger Katherine Tyrell’s resource rich blog, so you can imagine it was quite an honour to have my painting “Waiting” voted by her readers to tie as “2010 – Best Picture of the Year on an Art Blog (Place)“. My deepest thanks to Katherine and everyone who voted. It was a fantastic way to begin 2011.

Waiting – Red Chair, 16×20, acrylic © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry

Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays is always a challenge – getting up earlier, the chocolate detox and, of course, getting back to work. I am a night person by nature and I am just getting back to my working schedule now after staying up most of the night to catch the eclipse on December 21st.

This week I have been actively working toward my goals for this year which I finalized on Tuesday. I spent a lot of time working on the book and I have drawings started for a couple of new paintings. Next week I have to brave the cold temperatures of the studio and start pushing some paint. OK – I know I said these are boring, but, I am posting them anyway.

List of 2011 Goals:

• Reassessing my priorities. Now that I am feeling better, I want to stay that way and that means I can’t play the game in quite the same way as everybody else. So I need to look at what I want to do most and design my own unique way of doing things that is creative and suits me. It will force me to blaze a new trail and force me to innovate. I want to focus on improving this year and opening up my subject matter too. I need to remember to maintain some balance and know what is most important to me right now.
• Paintings – There needs to be more and better this year. It’s portfolio building time. I want to experiment a little more. After the G&S Heritage exhibition in July, I want to mix in another kind of interior. Interiors will continue to be my focus, but, some of those interiors will actually be outside. In many ways I will be re-exploring a theme that inspired my earliest paintings. Yes – I am going to make you wait. It will be interesting to see how I will approach these places now. It has been nearly 6 years since I painted one of these ‘interiors’. Oh -  and maybe I’ll throw some small still life’s in there for variety and for fun. Small antique objects…. I am excited just thinking about it!
• The Book. I am hoping to see my book published in 2011. I am VERY proud of this journey it has been. I like to think it is a bit of history and history in the making. In ten or twenty years, some of these places will have changed, been torn down, or lost to memory. A little of the people who lived in them, their stories and my journey make the book a picture of both past and present.  I will be continuing to write seriously because of this wonderful experience.
• To read more – and to write more. I want to write more and to do it well, so I am reading for both pleasure and to learn the craft. I want to write more short stories and more creative non-fiction to come. I would like to have a small collection of short stories by late 2011 or early 2012. For me, the experiences of writing and painting have merged a little.
• Reduce my on-line time MORE – but keep blogging and FaceBooking. Less often, more regularly. The blog will be a steady once a week. I am thinking about shifting the post day to Wednesday. Thoughts?
• Play more – enjoy a hobby, so I am not tempted to work weekends. This will force me to manage my time better during the week and give me a break. The creative juices flow better with fresh eyes!
  
• Planning my promotion differently with a more long term focus. I need to simplify my current efforts. What I have been doing has opened doors and been decently effective. Although that effectiveness is reducing with time and my strategy needs refreshing. I need to work on some innovative ideas and ways to make what I am doing – well – stand out more. The focus this year is, however, to be on the work. Without that, there is nothing. So my plans are more long term and connected to specific projects. The bigger picture, however, will never be far from my mind. I’ll need to be ready when the time comes. Something that has been in the back of my mind while I think about what I want to do is a series of articles on ‘Respecting your Collectors’ by Luan Udell. I want to make sure that each decision I make honours all of my collectors and my fans, big and small. They are valued by me and I want their investment to continue to have value for them.
• More time with the people that are important to me. Keeping this one on the list indefinitely.