Funny the things you notice when the dust settles a bit. My last post was on December 11th, and the very last time I had enough time to sit down and have a smidge of brain space left to even open up my little red 2012 date book, it was December 10th.
Here I am again. Many things have happened between now and then, and it hasn’t been the easiest month…really, it hasn’t been exactly the easiest year. But, there have been an awful lot of things happening in the world that are way worse than anything I have had to deal with, so I am not going to whine or complain. I will say that I am looking over to January 1st and the feeling of a fresh start in many things, including the realization of a couple of ‘gifts’ I gave myself this week.
Gift #1 to myself: I have failed at my Year of 30 project, and I am ok with that. It was a cool idea. The way I started it created gorgeous journals, but it was getting quite expensive and quite hard on one of my favorite cameras. So after 3 months I opted to switch to a different camera. I have already had 3 rolls of film not turn out with that camera for various reasons. This project had already gotten a bit frustrating – I love taking photos, but it is a lot of pressure taking one every day that can also be journaled about, keeping track of it for when the film is developed, printing, and mounting in a journal. Frankly, it got to be a bit too much, and when a number of rolls failed, I had had enough. It was my gift to myself to allow this project to fail, and fade away. I will eventually print and journal the remaining photos I do have from it. I hope to someday be ambitious enough to get those photos all up on this website. Honestly, I am ok not documenting every day of being 30.
Gift #2 to myself: I am letting go of the Sketchbook Project I joined last year. The deadline is January 15th, and my sketchbook is still blank. I had big plans when I signed up, and none of those have really panned out. I never imagined I would have a year this busy, this full of shows and work. I’m not complaining about any of it. I do feel bad that I haven’t gotten this project done, and that I can’t do it justice between now and the deadline. But, something has to give, and I am giving myself the gift of letting this go.
2013 will bring for me a place in a print exchange with the Honolulu Printer’s Guild, a show in the Bindery Gallery at MCBA in June (yes that is really happening), along with a couple of other MCBA Artist Co-op shows and obligations. Ironically, I feel like I’m taking it easy in 2013! Ha!
The annual celebrating of Christmas has come to an end. It was a great time, as always, to hang out with my family, and enjoy how lucky we are to be able to be together. Little traditions…special moments…
Besides the general traditions of time with family, meals shared, and special decorations, Mr. FN and I continued our tradition of spending Christmas Day together, just the two of us. We slept in, made breakfast, baked bread, cooked dinner, watched many episodes of West Wing (no spoilers please!), and I worked on the leather journals I am binding for us. Yes, it has been awhile since I have worked on those. This is due in part to the couple of things I mentioned above that I gave up this week. It turns out, that sewing a headband on a book is a little like riding a bike…you don’t really forget! … Especially when you finally find the directions given to you when you were in the workshop…
One day I will have these journals done….
December 22nd will always be a special day for Mr. FN and I. That’s why I started my last 365 cell phone photo project on that day, and that’s why I am starting year two on the same day. These projects have been fun, and they don’t have quite the same pressure the film project did. So, I’ll keep them up for now! Instead of posting photos on Instagram (more discussions about that in a later post!) I will be posting them in my Flickr account. Check in once in awhile!
Until next time (whenever that may be), have a happy holiday, and may 2013 be a peaceful year for us all!