Looking Ahead

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. 
                                                                        ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

So how many of you are starting off this first day of the new year with resolutions?  I quit making them years ago because I never followed through.  Instead, I started coming up with a word of the year for me to reflect on and let it prompt me for the coming year.  You'll have to wait a few more days to find out about my word because I'll be participating in a blog hop with my Fly-Tribe friends about our words.

I know many of you are so happy that 2012 is over and are looking forward to better days ahead.  2013 COULD be a year of many big changes for Mr. Cottage and I; but only time will tell and you'll just have to keep up with my blog throughout the year to hear and see what some of these changes might be...

Even though I don't have any official resolutions, I still have a few things I'm going to do, or try to do.

1. First, and foremost, I will not be blogging every day.  It may be as few as a couple times per week, or it may be 6 or 7 days in a week.  It will all depend on what is going on.
2. I'm hoping to try and get an actual website, one where I can show my art and even sell it directly from my site.  Our local art college in Grand Rapids, Kendall College of Art and Design, usually offers a course about website development and I'm planning on signing up for it this year.
3. From April 17-19, our Fly-Tribe will be getting together for our first retreat and for many of us, it will be a time for us to finally meet one another for the very first time.  It's called Creatives Celebrating Sisterhood Art Retreat.
4. In 2012 I tried mixed-media techniques for the first time and discovered how much I enjoy it.  However, in doing this, my time spent on watercolors nearly disappeared.  So I'm hoping to spend more time painting and creating with watercolor.
5. I'm hoping to have more tutorials on my blog and to try making a few video tutorials.
6. There are a few really good art shows in my area and I'm going to try and apply for a couple of them.  Wish me luck!

I have a few more wishes and wants for the coming year but I'll just have to wait and see how everything goes before committing to too much.

Hoping 2013 will be your best year yet!