Mentioned in my recent “New Years” post on Instagram, while the date on the calendar has switched I feel like I’m still in winter limbo and my new year has not yet begun. I feel renewed during my first visit of the year to the desert - I’m scheduled for a visit again on my birthday.

As the pandemic drags on, now doesn’t seem like the time to be celebrating, but hibernating and deeply reflecting instead. But pandemic or no, reflection on life is something I crave in this season of chill days and lesser light. I can understand the compelling hold that a New Year’s resolution can have. But instead of seeking new things to change, I much prefer to do an annual visit of my life goals. This allows me to see how much I’ve progressed over time and what areas I need to focus more on. There is not the same instant gratification as setting a New Year’s resolution, but is instead a slow and methodical practice that has its own rewards.

This approach I came across from newhappyco echoes the process I use:

For the prior four years I’ve had a robust goals practice, until last year when things felt so unstable that I skipped my annual reflection and have been feeling a bit adrift at sea as a result.

This year, writing my vision using words was proving to be a roadblock, so instead, I’ve taken to sketching them. I know what the vision is without needing to write a single sentence, it’ll likely get interesting when I start to break things down into tangible steps, but for the moment, this feels like the path of least resistance.

Because I’m such a visually oriented person, switching from the written word to a sketch or illustration isn’t much of a jump - I often have a stronger sense of my original vision with a rudimentary sketch and some loose notes than a highly detailed written description. I think this is in part because I get lost in the technicalities of grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.

Speaking of getting lost, I also happen to be working on updating my artist bio on my site, to better reflect the diverse set of artistic interests I have and explain them in more detail than my current bio.

There are a lot of complicated choices I need to make when approaching writing about myself. Like, I can talk all day about the projects I work on in great technical detail, but when it comes to the reasons “why” and “who I am” in relation to my art, I simply freeze up. Why can’t my answer be as simple as it’s funny or pretty? Or humans are amusing?

I feel pressure to build a raison d’être for the site (aside from only being an image graveyard of old work), attempting to conceptualize my artistic practice, offering up my work (and services) for sale all the while reflecting on how odd it is that there is even a need for that, but, hey, that’s how I’ve been conditioned to determine what has value in this society. The struggle is real

Speaking of - there are lots of great items still available on LGHTLY HMMRD, and I’m happy to work with you on payment plans if there’s something you must have but need to budget for.

Don’t forget, there are other wonderful ways to support this local artist if you’re not in a space to purchase items directly - such as sharing/interacting/saving my posts on instagram, encouraging others to join the email list to suffer my ramblings, offering your body up as a model for my latest pieces, etc. Any, and all of this is greatly appreciated. ;)

Hope this train of thought wasn’t too derailed for you. ;-)