Happy New Year

Not very festive but it was fun working on the original Rock Paper Scissors while I went back and forth between a sappy Hallmark movie and the U of M game last night.

I'm glad to say good-by to 2016.  There were some ups but a lot of downs too.  I wasn't feeling the downs so much until I began to look back on the year.  Oh well, it's past.  Looking forward to 2017 and a good outcome for my brother's surgery on the 3rd.  His cancer news was one of the downs for 2016 but he has a positive attitude and that goes a very long way I think.

One of the ups, our trip to France, was truly a highlight.  The trip was cut short because of my husband;s knees and hip pain; however, we had a wonderful time while we were there and saw most of what we wanted to see. I love old textured walls and they were everywhere.

So now I'm thinking about what is to come.  My goals, my word, what do I want to improve, what do I want to eliminate.  Well, eliminating is the first thing and an easy one... eliminate negative thoughts. There have been a lot of them this year because of the political scene and my husbands joint and blood clot issues.  No matter what in 2017 I want to concentrate on staying positive.

And speaking of concentrate.... that's my word for this year.  CONCENTRATE.  I thought about many, focus was in the running but I realized what I really meant by focus was to concentrate on the thing that I am doing at the time, get lost in it, put all of your focus on that one thing while you are doing it.  So concentrate is the word for 2017.

Goals... finish the winter blanket I started how many years ago.  That's been a goal every year, maybe this year I will be able to check it off my list.  Another goal, learn something new, a new skill, a new language, Maybe this will be a year to concentrate on abstract art, maybe learn more about a particular artist.  I don't yet know what but to learn something new is always a good goal I think.

Resolutions... I usually don't do those but it's time I got back to painting and a daily practice is good.  At one time I was in the practice of drawing something every day.  Somewhere along the line I got out of that habit.  It's time to get back to something daily and I'm torn between stitching and painting.  So, something to get me started during the day, play in an art journal.  I'm not going to say I will do it every day, rather I will try to do it every day.  And stitching... that's something I can do in the evening while he is watching television and I'm just sitting with him because it's what we do.  If I'm not paying attention to his program he won't care a wit.

And here are a couple new works that will be in the January show at the Gallery Uptown.  Both are collaborative pieces; starts by Annie Morgan, finish by yours truly.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!