This year I will...

This year I will... Ok, in reality, I will look at this post in a few months and laugh.

This year I will...

--Move into my studio. The woodstove is in the cottage, and I have only to move in my stuff, paint the skungy back wall, and start painting pictures. Spread out my braided rug, set up my drawing table, get my desk moved in, put up some bookshelves, get the phone line connected and buy another wireless router. Maybe get a studio easel, unlike the wobbly aluminum one I bought last year, which is really more for plein air work anyway. I've wanted the work space for years - now move in, and work!

--Learn to use my oil paints.

--Create stock in inexpensive artwork to sell at craft fairs and shows. Little watercolors of flowers, shells, rocks, fruit. I could even bring myself to paint pears, though I don't want to paint pears because EVERYBODY and his dog paints pears. Create a few designs for notecards, and have them printed up. Sell the prints for $3 each, the originals for $25 each. Maybe get an Etsy account.

--Enter a few juried shows. Why not? As long as the jury fee isn't outrageous, it can do no harm, and might open a few eyes to my stuff. I'll enter the South Burlington Art Hop again, and arrange months in advance to get that weekend off so I can actually attend the opening. I'm sick of my true avocation taking a back seat to waiting on people who insist on asking if there are two pillow shams in this pair.

--Experiment. Try abstracts. Finish the abstract "Walking With Nick." Go to galleries, learn about more art and artists.

--Get an agent. Not for the artwork; for some reason, writers ought to have agents, and artists ought not to have agents. Don't ask me why. Anyway, get an agent and start trying to publish some writing. Keep trying.

--Write more. Write more. Watch less TV, unplug the internet. Write. Write. and then write.

--Go places. Follow through on the plans to visit old graveyards in Massachusetts. Go to Shelburne Museum, Bennington Museum. Hike up Lye Brook.

--Allow myself to miss a few ball games. Why miss a sunset just to see another dull 4-2 win over the Orioles?

--Be patient. Count blessings. Be thankful. Be helpful. Be accommodating. Don't get mad when my plans are knocked awry by other responsibilities. Take a breath, let it go, move on.

--Beware of having expectations. Have something to look forward to, but don't be crushed in the event of a change of plans. Go day to day, which is really all any of us do, anyway.