New Start

Graphite Pencil, 24cm x 24cm
Copyright Laura Hardie 2011

The start of a New Year - my daughter said to me on the 1st that she feels it is going to be a good one for us and after the last two we’ve had I’m hoping she’s right - we’re definitely due a good year and I, for one, am looking forward to it. So here’s to 2011, may it be a happy, healthy and productive one for us all.

Normally over the Christmas break, in between eating way too much (I would say drinking and partying too but I’m a good girl:)) I give some thought to my art goals and plans for the coming year. In the past I’ve put those up for all to see – the more people that saw my goals, the more real they were, making me more accountable to them and seeing them through. Gives you that extra push, well that was my reasoning, but what you never take into account is life and what it can throw at you. Those life ‘challenges’ can really interfere with all your good intentions no matter how hard you try not to let them. So this year, while I do have a business plan (honest) and know where I want to be heading, I’m going to keep it to myself for the time being. While I feel a lot more positive and determined this year I’m not unrealistic - I’m still going through a very painful divorce and I know that when I get those papers through the post that it will hit me hard as anybody who has gone through a divorce will know. Hoping that keeping myself occupied with my art and trying to achieve my set goals will help take my mind of it. As would a gorgeous, kind, thoughtful, Adonis ……..oh, and a lottery win – one or both would be very nice and a great help I’m sure!

The picture in today’s post is a drawing of a horse I started back in July of last year but gave up working on as I had no motivation left to finish it. Amazing what a break from a piece and looking at it with fresh eyes can do - I’m a lot happier with it now and just need to come up with a suitable title. Any suggestions welcome. I’m now thinking about including more horses to my portfolio in the hope of getting a drawing or two into the SEA Exhibition this year.

I’d like to finish this post by welcoming all the new followers to my blog, over 200 of you – I’m delighted you like it enough to want to come back. It was a wonderful surprise to see Animal Art Adventures had been chosen by the Blogger team as their ‘Blog of Note’ (thank you Blogger team:)) – how exciting to see my blog recognised in this way. I hope you all continue to like my work in 2011 and I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

A New Year

I for one am pleased that 2009 is now behind me and I’m very much looking forward to the year ahead and what it brings. Like many other artists at this time I like to give a lot of thought to my goals for the year and what I want to achieve. This year my two main goals are to stop procrastinating and to manage my time better so that it is a more productive year for me with more artwork to show at the end of it. I am the worlds best at saying ‘I am going to do this and that’ and it never quite materialising – well not this year!

Last year wasn’t productive for me with one thing or another so I'm ‘carrying forward’ the goals I made back then and making them this years goals – I’ve made a few tweaks here and there.

• Spend more time on marketing. Update my marketing materials such as business cards, postcards etc.
• Print, market and sell prints of my work.
• Start a newsletter.
• Experiment more with my pencils, try new supports, techniques and mixing them with other media.
• Work more with paint – aim to complete at least one painting a month.
• Put together a portfolio of work with the aim of approaching galleries next year.
• Submit work into at least two exhibitions.
• Learn more about my camera and improve my photography skills - start photography course.

I’ve kept my goals ‘do-able’ for the time being, no point making the list long and daunting. There are more things I want to do and may well add to this list as the year progresses and time allows – this way there is no pressure:)

'Seriously!'
11.5"x8" Graphite pencil
Copyright Laura Hardie 2010

I had a very quiet Christmas watching too much TV and eating lots of chocolate as predicted. I did manage to work here and there on the Weimaraner I started back at the end of November however, and he is now finished.

Next up on the drawing board is another Cocker Spaniel.

Looking forward to the year ahead

A Work in Progress

Graphite pencil on paper

Happy New Year

It’s a new year and I’m hoping it’s a better and more productive one than the last. 2008 was not a good year for me in many ways and all my plans and visions of where I wanted to be in the art world didn’t really take off – not helped of course by suffering artists block for months at the beginning of the year. That really got me down and put a stop to many of my plans. I usually like to sit about this time and review the past year and what I accomplished but not this time as it would probably depress me. Instead I’m going to look forward and view the New Year as a fresh start and new beginnings.

Before I jump into listing my goals for 2009 I should point out that not all was doom and gloom on the art front last year – that was reserved solely for my own personal work. Much of the work I currently do, actually the majority, is to commission and last year was no exception. I had the privilege of drawing many beautiful dogs and working with some lovely people and for that I am very grateful. Working on commissioned portraits is something I love to do, and for as long as I’m asked I’ll continue doing so.

I have been giving a lot of thought to my goals for 2009 and where I want to be as an artist. There are so many things I want to do but I’m conscious of keeping my list do-able so it was a case of what to include and what to leave out - for the time being at least. I wasn’t too sure about putting them on my blog for all to see after failing miserably last year but I do believe the more people that see my goals, the more real they are and it makes me accountable to them. I’ve decided to list them briefly rather than going into detail on each one – so, in no particular order, my goals for 2009……

• Update my marketing materials such as business cards, postcards etc.
• Print, market and sell prints of my work.
• Start a newsletter.
• Experiment more with my pencils, try new supports, techniques and mixing them with other media.
• Work more with paint – aim to complete one painting a month.
• Put together a portfolio of work with the aim of approaching galleries next year.
• Submit work into at least two exhibitions.
• Keep my blog up to date – aim to post twice a week.
• Learn more about my camera and improve my photography skills – start photography course.
• Improve what little knowledge I have of Photoshop.

And of course if I hope to achieve any of this I have to improve my time management skills and stop procastinating all the time. Very important if I want to be more productive.

Happy New Year

Ben
10x8 Coloured Pencil

First things first, before I start my ramblings on todays post I’d like to wish you all a happy New Year and hope it’s a productive one for everyone.

I spent the first day of the New Year ‘spring cleaning’ – my studio included. Actually, I had intended on only doing my studio and decided that with it looking so clean and tidy I’d do the sitting room….. then it was the stairs….. then it had to be the kitchen….. the bedrooms….. the…….. you get the idea. Anyway most importantly, I now have a tidy studio with everything in its right place, which is what I set out to do.

With 2007 now at an end I find myself, like many others, thinking about successes of the past year and my plans for the year ahead and what I want to achieve. 2007 saw me working 95% of the time on commissioned work and the other 5% on my own work. This is a success in itself in that I had my busiest year yet with commissions – I am obviously being found one way or another which is excellent as I am hopeless at optimising my website with the search engines and people like my work enough to commission me. I also became tutor for the Coloured Pencil Course with the London Art College, which I’m really enjoying and have great visions for – what a perfect way to promote coloured pencils and work with students with a similar passion for them – maybe the ‘passion’ comes later. However, I didn’t achieve a lot of what I set out to do.

To be fair, this time last year I didn’t have a set plan – I had a new puppy to look after (an incredibly hyperactive one at that with bladder and bowel problems) which took up a surprising amount of time and I had commissions to tide me over for a few months, so there was no rush – right? Well, as it turned out - wrong.

I do remember being extremely tired thanks to our new arrival and didn’t - couldn’t - really think about goals. And when I did start to think about them seriously, it was just that – I thought! I a) didn’t write them down and b) obviously wasn’t committed enough to see them through. So this year I am going to write them down and not only that – thanks to Maggie Stiefvater and her ‘butt-kicking’ post on goals, I am showing all on my blog. There is good reasoning and truth behind her words – the more people that see my goals, the more real they are and it makes me accountable to them. With this in mind my goals for 2008, in no particular order, are……

1. Better time management – I’m the first to admit that I could have completed and achieved more in 2007 had I managed my time better, i.e. mainly more time in the studio and less time in front of the TV and computer – which leads me onto no.2.

2. More studio time and less computer time – I spend way too long on the computer although, in my defence, it is all art related. I have a long list of blogs (which keeps getting longer) I enjoy visiting, not to mention the forums and what I call ‘research’. A lot of it can be educational so I don’t feel too guilty - I just need to allocate a set time, no matter how hard this may be, to computer time.

3. Enter work into at least two exhibitions – I had planned to do this last year, and the year before if I remember correctly, but concentrated more on my portrait business and marketing it. Hopefully nos. 1 and 2 will see me with a lot more time on my hands to see this goal through. My favourite medium is coloured pencil so I have earmarked the ‘UKCPS Open International Exhibition’ as a definite and am currently contemplating others.

4. Complete a painting a month – I don’t do enough painting but enjoy it when I do. I’d like to develop my techniques in both oils and acrylics and try to stop treating the brush like a pencil, which I tend to do.

5. Print, market and sell my prints – Again another goal I had planned (in my head admittedly) for 2007. I’d like to move more towards this market, as I believe, rightly or wrongly, that there is a current trend towards purchasing prints rather than originals.

6. Draw and paint 35 horses by the end of the year – I half-heartedly started this last year although didn’t put a figure on it. The figure came after being inspired by an artist on WC who took it upon herself to draw and paint 100 cheetah - it was great to watch her progression and to see her confidence in portraying this animal grow. I originally considered setting the target at 50, almost 1 a week, but decided this was unrealistic and I’d more than likely be stretching myself to get this done – anyhow, I hope by the time I get to no.35 I will know a horses temporal fossa from its mandible.

7. Visit more exhibitions and galleries – At least one a month. I live in Edinburgh and am surrounded by galleries so have no excuse not to. I often leave exhibitions totally inspired to try something new, which is reason enough, and yes, wishing it was my work on display – a goal for 2009 perhaps?

8. Backgrounds – I’ve mentioned this before in my blog and want to look more at including backgrounds in my work, maybe include the animal within its environment and surroundings? I do prefer the plain background approach and very often don’t include one at all when doing commissions. Paul Emsley summed it up for me when he said “I leave the background as a fairly nebulous space instead of depicting a particular environment. A non-explicit background, while directing the focus to the person or animal, infers a sense of stillness and timelessness, and it enhances the feeling of mystery”. Although I’m sure I wont be doing intricate and highly detailed backgrounds, it’s definitely something I want to look into this year.

9. Keep my blog up to date – I’m always promising this but I mean it this time – promise. I’m hoping the fact that it is one of my goals and is written in black and white will spur me on.

10. Build up a portfolio of work and prints – I couldn’t decide what to end with for no.10. I’d like to become more computer savvy and technical minded as I find myself relying on the computer more and more for my business and don’t know enough about them – Photoshop especially. And there’s photography – I have a top of the range camera I don’t know how to use to it’s full potential so know I am missing out on some fantastic reference material. Taking time to master the computer and the camera is something I want/need to do but am not going to make them priority this year. Instead I have gone for ‘building up a portfolio of work and prints’ in preparation for my goals in 2009 – how is that for forward thinking.

So there you have it, my goals for 2008 and a rather lengthy blog post as well. Now all I have to do is print them off and stick them where I can see them daily – I know just the place.

Merry Christmas

Red
10x12 Coloured Pencil

Posted the last of my Christmas commissions off this morning so can now take a deep breath and relax. Not sure if relax is the right word I should be using just now, especially as there's still Christmas shopping and loads of wrapping to do ........ oh well!

It's been a busy year for me commission wise, I'm pleased to say, and I've had the pleasure of drawing some really beautiful dogs along the way. Some of my drawings have gone as far as Singapore, Spain and America which is great. I've also had some wonderful feedback from both my customers and those who've come across my work and taken the time to email me and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, it means a lot to me.

Commissioned work aside, I have to admit to being disappointed with the achievements made in my own work in that I simply didn't get enough done and failed to meet the goals I had set myself earlier in the year. I would have liked to have done a lot more with my work but, as is always the case with me, there just were not enough hours in the day.

These plans and goals still stand however, and I'm determined to see them through in the coming year. There are so many things I want to do - and try! But, first things first as they say and for me that is getting everything organised for Christmas and making sure it comes and goes as peacefully as possible.

Merry Christmas.

Time management

Wolfie
12x10, Coloured Pencil on paper
Commission

No I haven't abandoned my blog and am still here. Life in general has simply taken over in one way or another leaving me with not enough hours in the day - again - to fit everything in.

Not having enough hours in the day is something I'm always complaining about prompting me to think more seriously about time management. As a Pay and Personnell Admin Officer in a previous life, managing my time in the office was compulsory so it shouldn't be a problem in the studio and home right? Right! Need to be positive and start as I mean to go on.

So as a start, at the end of everyday I plan to put pen to paper and list all my goals for the following day that I want to accomplish .......... must/WILL accomplish - and stick to it. If that means less time on the Internet or TV, not having elevenses or cooking the kids tea then so be it (ok, maybe not the last one).

The way I see it is that I should be having a lot more work flying off the easel than I am and doing a lot more with my business than what I'm currently doing but for some reason or other am not. I have so many things I want to do, and can do, if I just organized myself better. This should, in turn, give me more time to update my blog regularly (I'm looking at twice a week) - yet something else I keep promising to do but always put off to another day. But not anymore, here's to a more organised and focused me.