Florida painter, Everglades, Marco Island, artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

1/1/11

Across the Field, Jo-Ann Sanborn, 2010
acrylic on canvas, 20x24

Happy New Year! 

While I love the fresh start of a new year, the idea of making resolutions doesn’t really work for me. I have a history of letting them go—easily. Now I prefer to be less rigid, with more of a plan and not bound by something I resolved on a bleary morning the first day of the year. Things happen, and some of them need to be made a priority immediately. For me, focus is important, but so is flexibility.

At the end of 2009, I followed Alyson Stanfield’s suggestion to look back on the year and write down accomplishments. She has a check–sheet that prompts you helpfully. It was rewarding to see that I had, in fact, completed a number of things that without the prompt would be lost or unrecognized. I’ve done that again for 2010, and found that I had accomplished quite a bit. I was pleased to remember that I:

• Continued to paint regularly, first and most important!
• Developed a better newsletter format
• Wrote and submitted publicity for the Artist Colony
• Donated generously to the Friends of the Fakahatchee during the Artist Colony’s April “Give Back” month. Thank you for strong purchases that month!
• Donated a painting to Marco Island’s Micky’s sailing program, and gift certificates to other charities I support.
• Hosted the Montessori school visit to the Artist Colony
• Developed and taught two new full and successful classes
• Developed a website for the Artist Colony at Fine Art Studios Online, where I have my own website
• Transferred my mailing list and learned to use Constant Contact, a professional email service, and grew that list.
• Read several books learning about art and the art world
• Helped conceive and create Arts Afire!, a city-wide celebration of arts and culture to be presented by the City of Marco Island in 2011, and developed an awards program and a website for this program.
• Continued guiding the Artist Colony at the Esplanade into its second year
• Blogged regularly
• Developed a Face Book fan page
• Tweeted regularly

But I didn’t do so well on my “intentions” for the coming year. Here’s a look at my “intended” list:

My intentions for 2010 – and how I did

  • Paint least one larger painting a month - did about six
  • Improve technical skills with study and classes - did mostly through books and Internet learning, need to do more hands-on
  • Meet some influential people - (need to identify why this is important!) -did a bit on Internet and City - need to try harder
  • Finish cataloging sold paintings – incomplete, only half done, may need help
  • Improve newsletter – done, now sent quarterly, but may re-think
  • Visit more shows-galleries - did some, could do better
  • Work better with decorators - didn’t initiate anything new, but did work effectively with current
So while I was pleased with the some of the things I had accomplished, I didn’t necessarily move forward in ways I had planned. So I’ll try a little differently in 2011. First, I’ve broken my painting list into the parts that are important to me, including In the Studio, Collector Relations, Teaching, Traditional Marketing, Internet Marketing, and the Arts Community. I’ll share my goals in each of these subjects as we go into the New Year.

Wishing you a year filled with hope and joy!

4 comments:

Bonnie Luria said...

A serious list of checks Jo-Ann. Perhaps another benefit of living in a smaller community is how you can put yourself and your ideas at the forefront. Impressive goals you've met.
As is the size and ethereal beauty of this painting above.

Jo-Ann Sanborn said...

Thanks, Bonnie. I'm delighted to be part of the Marco arts community, which is still growing and getting stronger. You've had a great year of painting and doing, too! Happy New Year!

carol l mckenna said...

Wow! I would say Good Job! and I just stopped by to personally wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year to you ~

hugs and namaste,
cz:)

Jo-Ann Sanborn said...

Thanks, Carol. Wishing you the same -- a Happy and Healthy New Year filled with inspiration!

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