New Year, New post....finally!

2013! Here it is.

"Priority." Security envelopes, oil and graphite. 16 x 20 inches. ©Karine Swenson2012

I had to crawl into a little hole for a while there, but I am slowly emerging, back into the cyber world of blogging. And what an interesting world it is! I have begun to catch up with some of my fellow artist/blogging friends. They are all doing wonderful things. Just one example is Liz Holm, who has challenged herself to paint 30 paintings in 30 days. Stop over and see how wonderful these paintings are! I have been thinking of doing wonderful things, but I often feel as though the things I do are still not wonderful yet. You may think that sounds slightly pessimistic of me, but I see it as a necessity. If I really believed what I was doing right now was wonderful, do you really think I would keep painting? Would I continue to stretch and push myself as an artist? I tend to think I would not. I would keep doing the same thing, convinced that it was wonderful. I would never stretch. I would never push. I would stop exploring. And, in all honesty, I would most likely quit painting out of boredom.

So, into the studio I go once again. To keep striving. To impress myself. (The toughest critic I've ever had.)

I have found one of the best things I can do at the end of one year is reflect and write down everything I accomplished that year. It is an extremely rewarding exercise, and I highly recommend it. It helps me create the kind of feeling I want when thinking about all I want to accomplish in the New Year. One proud accomplishment for me in 2012 was completing 76 paintings. Ten of those paintings were 36 x 36 inches or larger. What about you? What accomplishment are you proud of last year?