Lofty

Linda and I met for lunch and goal-tending today. We haven't met in a while, the last quarter of the year getting far too full of other life necessities and obligations. So, as usual, we spent a lot of time on ridiculous stories and guffawing and causing the other patrons of the eating establishment to wonder who those crazy (but undeniably gorgeous) women were.

We also managed a little business. One year ago, we sat down at the same restaurant and did the same thing. We set goals and talked about them - sometimes to calm each other down and other times to encourage us to stretch more - and then went about our year with a plan. It was a great success. We had goals and accountability and nudges and we really accomplished what we set out to do. So...we're going to try to build on that success in 2008.

My goals are lofty again, I think, but I'd rather have to work hard to rise to the occasion. I feel the need to s t r e t c h. So - in no particular order...the 2008 goals...

• Work in mixed media - canvas and paper, watercolor, acrylic ink, acrylic and gouache. I really feel like I have two parts to myself - the painter who uses acrylics in a modified flemish technique to produced very modeled forms (which I really enjoy doing) and the painter who likes to fling watery thin paints around on paper and see what happens (which I also really enjoy doing). I am going to work this year on combining the two into something fresh and exciting. I would also like to try my hand at assemblages and mobiles - this is not as urgent as the other - just something I'd like to try this year.

• Paint still life from life - I don't know why - but I really want to explore the still life - from it's classical aspects to a more modern, contemporary approach. I've not done many - at least not with more than one object, so this will be a stretch for me, and combined with the first goal, should make for some interesting experiments.

• One Painting Per Week - Yes, I know people do one a day these days, but you can't do flemish technique in a day, even with acrylics. So - I am going to produce one painting a week. That's 52 in one year. Dang.

• One Drawing Per Day - I almost did this in December, and I really enjoyed the kind of meditative, zen aspect of just grabbing an object and concentrating wholly on it for a few minutes. I'm planning to continue that discipline. I'd kind of like to have a plan for the types of items I'm going to draw in month to month divisions, but it's already January 1 and I don't have the foggiest notion of what those will be, so I think I'll let it be an organic process...

• Time Management - I have 3 mornings a week, when the boys are at the co-op school, to concentrate on painting, uninterrupted. My plan is to guard those 12 hours with locks at the door and telephones on mute and electric fences if necessary. THAT is painting time. I can buy groceries and vacuum floors when the boys are with me. It's just that simple. I will also use 2 other half days to plan out marketing my artwork.

• Collaborate - This is something Linda and I have talked about before, but we're making it a priority this year. We're going to collaborate on some artwork. We don't have a clue what that means yet. So - we'll be meeting in mid January for a brainstorming session, and then make a decision on what we'll be doing no later than Valentine's Day. Why Valentine's Day? It's a month after our brainstorming session, it's pink, there's lots of love. Why the heck not?

So - that's that. I've got some other things in the furnace of my brain, but they're not quite ready for the public yet. Maybe next week. One of them involves changing blog platforms and incorporating my photography more regularly, as I really enjoyed that in November. Stay tuned.