2017 – Heading into a New Year
Bear with me. There is a bit of 2017 introspection here…
Looking Back to 2016
New Years Contemplation
As 2016 wound down I found myself restless, rudderless in my art. For some time I’ve been wanting to branch out, expand into new ventures, try new techniques and perhaps define a new style of work. I have stuck a toe in the water here and there but nothing has super-charged my engines! It is one of the first years in some time that I have not picked my ‘word’ for the year. All this started to puzzle me a little. I’m usually goal oriented and fairly focused in my work.
I also noted that I was restless in my bigger world, not sure what was lacking, what new direction was needed. In spite of this I met all commitments, exhibited in a number of art exhibitions and even had great success at my first ever ‘Artisan Show and Sale’. I was accepted into a new group of fibre artists, Contextural that I have watched for a number of years. But this was not enough. Something was still lacking. Interestingly, I discovered that a number of my artist friends were also feeling a bit at loose ends!
Over the last few days I read about people creating vision boards. I noted that others had selected a guiding word for the year. Some were creating schedules for shows and in general getting ready for the new year. None of this felt right for me.
2017 – Moving Forward
Into 2017
We have had a great time with family over the past couple of weeks and it culminated with a ‘feed’ of spareribs at dinner last night. A simple menu that gave me quiet time during the day as the ribs roasted.
I am uncomfortable without having goals and a path forward defined but know that to randomly make plans would not provide the ‘settling’ that I need. So I rounded up some journals from the past, let some books ‘leap’ from my shelves, and decided to go with the flow for a bit.
One of the first journal I opened included a life map based on a numerology exercise I had done a few years ago. To refresh my memory about how this works I checked out a couple of website and discovered that 2017 is the beginning of a new cycle for the world. Given how the last nine year cycle ended in 2016, the new year definitely will bring many changes! My personal life phase placed me in the 9th year of a cycle – a year of sorting and sifting of ideas, feelings and focus, separating the ones to be carried forward and ones to be cast aside to make room for ‘new’. It is also a year of preparation for ‘new’. To think about this a bit I scanned the ‘year 9s’ on my life map and found that in each of these 9th years I was dealing with or preparing for dramatic change in my life! Some of it driven by internal restlessness, sometimes driven by environmental pressures and changes. I found a site that has provided me with a lot of fodder for journalling prompts so I guess I am once again starting each day with some writing.
Today, day two of the new year, I’ve been busy picking up the pieces after a major computer failure and loss of files early in December, doing paperwork and generally getting back to day-to-day living – with some more time for research and contemplation this evening!