I'm full of ideas: here's what I'm committing to this year

written on 9 march 2023 and sent as a newsletter

This newsletter I’m doing a complete turnaround from my last newsletter- I’m so FULL of ideas. I feel like I’m on the edge of something. I’m sketching a lot, writing down tons of thoughts on paper, making plans and even painting a lot. 

If it’s about personal projects - I’m very bad at starting everything at the same time and then actually not accomplishing a thing. I get a rush of excitement at the start of a project, become a little obsessed and then I forget about it because something else comes along. Is this relatable? This time though, I want to hold myself to a plan. I’ll commit to an idea for a set amount of time and give the project some actual space to develop and grow. I’ll see how the project does in a few months time and then reevaluate; do I still enjoy this thing or not?

It’s like how I started my youtube channel. I just thought I’d make one video a month and stick to it for six months. After those six months I was allowed to quit if I didn’t like it, but I had to make at least six videos. In that time I actually made 12 videos and found out I really, really liked editing. I thought I would enjoy completely different things, like filming for example (turns out I’m not a fan, too much of a hassle). I didn’t like editing in the beginning either because there’s a huge learning curve and it’s so, so, SO terribly slow. But because I made a promise to myself I stuck with it, and it’s still a project I really enjoy. 

Some big projects I want to dive into this year are finally filming a series of online workshops. I’m not sure of the details yet and how they’ll will be available but this is the year. I also want to work on more commissioned illustration.

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Find an overview of my online workshops here.

2023 sketchbook entries

But wait, wasn’t I completely focussing on fine art now? Well, yes. But a girl’s gotta eat ;) and more importantly, I love the variation in work. I also recently had the realization that if I was an art director and I was looking for a portrait artist for an editorial piece, I wouldn’t be my first pick. I’d have no idea what the outcome would be if I commissioned myself. Of course I know it’d be an amazing colourful and vibrant illustration, but an art director wouldn’t. I’m going to do something about that.

And then my biggest project that will last throughout the year and I’m actually not afraid will get sent to the back is my paintings. They will be my priority first - I want to get them to a stage that the series make sense. They’re a bit all over the place right now, but I sense that I’m getting somewhere. That rush of energy is there and I need to get it on my canvas. 

- Roxy