The Year That Was 2015

2015 was another year where things conspired to keep me out of the Studio and away from making art. No major blizzards, but a winter where it snowed a few times per week, creating problems for exhibitions and classes.  And the disappearing of some of my usual jobs forced me to take a part time supermarket job that sucked up most of the time I would have spent in the Studio.  Have lots of ideas, so I'm hoping to get production up next year, but for this year things were quiet.  Here's the usual breakdown.

Prints- Only one brand new woodcut produced this year, the latest in the supermarket series.  The next in that series is planned, but not past paper sketch stage.  I also colored a Fourth of July print for a recent show,  making a half new print.  Plus the annual Christmas card, the first batch done even if few have been distributed yet.

Shows- Not as many as I would like.  By my count I had 9 prints in four different shows.

Publicity- Also down compared to recent years.  Don't recall anything related to my art published out there.

Awards- A print I had in the Belmar Arts Council's big annual show received an Honorable Mention from the juror.

Firsts-  Seven years into the process, dozens of exhibitions, several awards, and this year I finally sold a few of the boardwalk prints.  Hoping it's a new trend.  And though it's not strictly my art, I did have a hand in becoming a published author in Sweden, with one of Dave Lasky's old comic book stories (me teaching him how to make tomato sauce) being reprinted there.

The Studio- We now officially have a third partner, Jackie, a pastel artist, and now much of the floor is covered in red pastel.  But I found the most recent boardwalk block I had started, and have ideas for a bunch of other prints, so I'm thinking I'll be working on more woodcuts really soon.