2 Year Anniversary and a New Beginning!

   I can't believe I have passed my 2 year anniversary of being an Artist-In-Residence at Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo. Over the last 4 months I was involved in a "Studio Shuffle" which allowed me to move into a new and larger studio space in September!!! I took a leap of faith and requested a half-space when it became available (I had a quarter-space in D4). Now I am in A3! There was a lot of artists moving around among the newly opened spaces at SCIART. Originally I did not want the A3 space I currently have, but in the end I absolutely LOVE it and would not have my space in any other place. Yet the most important thing I want to explain is that this has all been a huge blessing from God. I have been trusting God to provide for me in my larger and more expensive studio. He has provided new commissions, drawing classes and students. He is the one I am trusting to teach me, guide me and provide for me.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28

Because I am now in my new space, I am trying to take a more proactive approach to everything I do in my studio to start building up a career. This includes daily time in my studio drawing, promotion and preparation for my drawing classes, updating my website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and now my blog regularly, at least once a week, and to prepare and send out my E-Newsletter, too. In a nutshell, I am learning to be disciplined and focused on my art and my career. Now, this is so much easier said than done. I have a bad habit of getting lazy when I am busy and tired, and I always seem to be busy and tired....  It is amazing how much I have learned about myself over the last 2 years of being an Artist in Residence. There is so much more to having an art career than I ever thought. However I am in a community of professional and successful artists at SCIART that have shown me it is possible and something I am capable of doing.

As I was thinking about what to write for this "new beginnings" blog, I remembered an interesting conversation I had with one of my high school drawing students recently. This quote came up in our conversation:

"Do or do not. There is no try."

Anyone know who that quote is from? If you guessed Yoda, from Star Wars, you are correct! This quote is pretty spot on for how I feel right now. I either need to do it or not do it, I can't just try. Trying indicates you are giving yourself room to fail. And I will not! I can DO this! Even though I know myself to have a history or "try until it gets hard and then stop" kind of attitude, I will persevere and keep moving forward no matter how many times I step off course.

One way I can inspire myself is to see how far I have come. Below are the three different studios I have had since 2010.

This is the studio that my parents let me have when I first moved back home from Humboldt State.

This was my studio in D4 at Studio Channel Islands Art Center. You can see the progression of this studio and how it changed over 2 years here.

Here is my new larger half room in A3!! I have sectioned my half of the room so that I can teach on one side and do my own drawings on the other. It is so nice having all of my drawing/art stuff in one location!