General Update - Welcome to 2021 Edition

Well, here we are.  
2021.

Way back in....August? of 2020 I made a general update of all things in life, about 6 months into the currently still ongoing pandemic.  Go read it if you don't remember

My plan for 2020 was honesty, and I'm sticking to it for 2021.  I mean, it got me through the pandemic so far, and it's a pretty good policy to live by most days anyways.  So in the spirit of honesty, here is a little update reflecting on the past few months of things.

First and foremost!  The art business is slowly becoming a love of mine again.  The pandemic took away, among everything else, the ability to go to markets and see other makers and get new inspiration and see lovely customers and friends.  And that sucked the life and love out of making art for a while.  Even trying to pivot and experiment with new art things, like clay, jewelry, vinyl, and other random sale stuff from Michael's didn't really help that much.  It just seemed to add to the pile of 'stuff' I have to move from place to place since I haven't had a home studio for 10 months now...but that is another frustration for another update.
Then around mid Ocotober, something happened.  And I'm not even sure what it was, but something happened, and all of a sudden the creative block is gone and I am enjoying making art again.  Maybe I reached the end of the internet and the boredom pot has finally stewed enough that something interesting has bubbled to the surface.  Whatever it was, I hope it keeps happening so I can keep making.

One of the things the pandemic and creative block gave me was the joy (and pain!) of my apocalypse garden.  
I've always tried to grow little things in pots on my balconies when I had the space, without too much motivation or dedication.  Now that I have a tiny little yard, I've started a larger garden with larger plans.  The past 3 years were spent puttering in my garden, trying to figure out what I can grow on or in the horrible land.  It's been hard, but this past summer I finally had some regular success.  Having the ability to walk outside and grab a few fresh carrots or some lettuce for a salad made meals a little bit easier.  The constant watering, weeding and bug watching with the kids each morning and evening was the forced quiet time I needed to just think, or not.  The constant battle with the racoons and aphids over my beans, peas and blueberries made for some light entertainment in our house, and furthered my gardening knowledge for this coming year. (For the record: I won beans, aphids won peas, racoons won blueberries)

And all of that time not thinking about art actually helped me think about art.
Funny how that works.

I now have such a huge list of ideas I want to work on this year that my biggest problem will probably be settling down and focusing on just two or three of them at a time. (maker problems, you can never focus on just ONE thing at a time!)

Now, in honesty, I have no idea how to wrap up and end most blog posts. So I guess I'll say, that's all for the update for now!  I have been thinking about my 'want to make art' list for so long, I want to go make some art! 

But first, coffee