Looking ahead!
Right, January has flown by and we’re well into February so I suppose it’s a bit late for New Year’s resolutions! Anyway resolutions always seem to me to be a profoundly negative business: ‘I won’t do this, I’m going to give up this, I must stop doing that’. I think I’ll find it much more encouraging to think about what I WILL do this year. Instead of being over ambitious or unrealistic i’m going to break down my targets into short term tasks that will help me to progress steadily towards my long term aims.
So here’s a little list of things i’d like to achieve and work on this year.
- I’ve recently (with the help of my wonderful and long suffering friend!) succeeded in putting the cards I had made of some of my pictures on the website with paypal so that people can buy them directly. As well as the Gouthwaite Snow Scene (ideal for Christmas cards) there are two different packs of A6 notelet cards; one featuring two dales scenes, and the other with 3 horse designs. The next step I want to take will be to have some of my paintings made into prints, so that I can sell my work to a wider audience.
- My wonderful friend has continued to patiently guide her technologically illiterate friend (me!) through the trials and tribulations of managing and maintaining this website, but in a world that is increasingly technology based, I need to keep taking advantage of the potential opportunities within social networking and internet advertising to try and promote my work.
- This year I’m planning to enter and apply for some events and exhibitions. I might get into some of them, I might not – they’re always heavily oversubscribed. But even if I don’t get in, I will have been inspired and encouraged to take my work in different directions, and I can go to the events as a visitor, to learn how I might improve my chances of being a successful exhibitor next time around.
- My painting style and subject matter is quite traditional, but this year I want to try out a little project on the side that I hope will develop and enhance my landscape paintings. Inspired by the ‘painting a day’ concept, I want to use some of my stock of photographs and subjects/objects that take my fancy, set aside a day or two every week, and see how being rough and ready and decisive to produce ‘a painting a day’ can help push my painting style to new limits.
So by the next post i’ll hopefully have some ticks on my to do list!