Happy New Year! Reflecting on a Year of Blogging

Happy New Year!  Looking back, 2011 was an interesting year for me creatively.  I rung in the year on a low note, believing that despite teaching art, I seldom allowed myself time to create art for pleasure.  That is how this blog came about.  At the beginning of the year, I decided to challenge myself to see if I could create more, take more art courses,  paint more, bead more and generally make art a greater part of my life.  The blogging itself was another way to challenge myself creatively.

After 48 posts in 2011, it looks like I succeeded!  I've painted, zentangled, beaded, fused, manipulated glass with fire, created sculpture, stamped, hot glued, monoprinted and crafted my way through the year.  I think that having the blog was a definite impetus to get off my butt and do something; to reach out and stretch my imagination a little more.

Many thanks to the 1780+ readers who read my posts this year, from 9 different countries: Canada, Alaska, across Europe, Malaysia and Japan.  Whether you've "facebooked" me, got me on an RSS feed or found the blog on a search engine, you've really spurred me on!

The scariest thing I did in 2011: Made a glass paper weight by manipulating a flaming, red ball of hot glass on a stick!
The biggest surprise in 2011: Realizing I had the patience to sit long enough to do detail-oriented zentangling.
My favorite art of 2011: My little 4X4 paintings for the holiday boutique; I did one a day for two weeks.
Wierdest thing I tried in 2011: It's a tie between nailing chicken wire on one of my paintings and making earrings from cut-up plastic gift and credit cards.
Most visited post: doodling of rocks with Sharpey markers!

Please join me in making 2012 a wonderful year artistically, hoping all of us will stretch our creative horizons more than ever before.  Happy New Year, and much love to you all.

Kath.

Checking out my first works in my new Christmas present -- a ceramics/glass kiln.