Simplify

Overall, 2023 was pretty good for me. Healthwise, I came out of a three-year depressive episode and managed to keep my Crohn's in remission for the entire year. Workwise, my shop had a fantastic year and while that came with some new challenges, I think we weathered them pretty well. My year was filled with wonderful moments and a few adventures. I am excited about 2024, fingers crossed it won't disappoint.

Here are my 2023 goals and how I did.

• Show my work, at the very least I would like to participate in every group show that my guild does, but ideally I would push myself outside of my comfort zone and at least try to get into a couple of other group shows. This one was a complete fail. While I made more art in 2023 than probably any other year in my life, I didn't do any shows. Some of this was learning and working in new mediums which I am not ready to put out there and part of this was due to spending more than half the year in survival mode. Despite missing this mark completely, I am very happy with the direction my creative life took in 2023 and I hope to further build on it in 2024.
• Create 12 books/zines. I have been doing a bunch of art swaps by mail and have fallen back into zine making. I made a few last year and would like to amp that up a bit this year. Anything from mini zine to half letter is acceptable and I am not going to limit myself as to themes or styles. I had completely forgotten that this goal included book making. I only managed 5 zines in 2023, but I made a ton of books, at least two dozen, so I am way over on this one.
• Design and print a custom washi tape. I handmade some paper tapes in 2022 and I loved using them on mail and in my planner. My thought is that I would have a hand full of rolls printed and gift them to friends. I ended up making a ton of handprinted washi last summer so in the interest of not overwhelming myself in the hoard of tapes I have created, I decided that I didn't want to do this one. 
• Finish my cozy memories quilt Nope. I am at the end of my mini stash for this so I am going to need to give this one another year.
• Mail 2 cards per month On average, yes. There were a couple of months that I didn't send anything and others where I sent a bunch. I am really enjoying sending and receiving snail mail so this is one I will continue.
• Maintain a daily sketchbook practice I did that!! There were probably a handful of days over the course of the year that I missed, but I stayed pretty on track with this one. It has been really encouraging seeing my progress and this is another one I want to continue.
• publish 3 patterns I wrote four, published none. 

In addition to my set goals, I also managed to read 163 books, played 116 different board games (37 new to me) for a total of 304 plays, finished 16 knitting projects and 3 crochet projects.

Goals for 2024

• Continue with the daily art practice and in the theme of the year, do it with minimal supplies
• Finish my cozy memories quilt
• Mail 2 cards/letters per month
• Spend more time doing things I love with people I love (and more pub trivia)
• Eat out more, try to get back to once a week
• Prioritize my needs over arbitrary expectations

My word for 2024 is Simplify. I have a horrible habit of overly complicating almost everything I do in pursuit of getting things perfect. I need to reel this in. Also, in general, I think it is time for a life purge. I accumulated a lot of stuff over the past few years, some by choice, some by circumstance, and I would like to send some of these things to a new home.