Wrap It Up
Time to wrap up 2021 and wish it a fond farewell! But first a little bit of reflection. It hasn't all been easy but I can look back on this year and safely say I enjoyed creating a bunch of stuff, I made some good progress and faced some really unexpected hurdles. I use a desk planner, a big old A4 thing with heaps of space to scribble plans and ideas. I've tried a few but for the past few years I've used Passion Planner. It's a bit pricey but I use it every day and it's nice to have something pretty. There's loads of space to plan and dream about projects. A lot of the time I look back on these plans and realise they were wildly unrealistic, but they also prompt me to keep moving forward.
Best and Worst of 2021?
I was going to concentrate on work things, and I'll get to that, but honestly the best thing in 2021 was getting Gus. Another German Wire-haired Pointer and possibly the happiest snuggliest dog in the world.
Work-wise, an absolute highlight was illustrating Heroes of Black Summer for Australian Geographic. Visiting Nowa Nowa for the book launch and meeting Kylie Miller the author was a real treat. As it turned out it was the only trip away I managed all year.
A low point this year was definitely my husband getting stuck overseas when we were all put back into lockdown. We're very fortunate that things have worked out now, but it definitely put the breaks on things in the middle of the year.
I did that!
During the first half of the year Global Sisters were a massive help to me. It still amazes me that their incredible services to women in business are completely free. With some excellent guidance I created my Sew Together Dolls and got them onto their beautiful Marketplace. I'm looking forward to developing this further.
I also completed a Cert IV in Training and Assessment this year which means I'm now qualified to teach adults. I've always enjoyed sharing skills and working with other creative people so I'll be looking for more opportunities to do this.
So what next?
I get overwhelmed at times. So it helps my muddled brain to think of my little business as divided into three parts; creating illustration, creating and selling products and teaching. In any given year, or quarter, there can be more focus on one of those areas. For the coming year I'm really keen to work on communicating and getting out 'there'. The pandemic has been the perfect excuse for me to hide and create work. I plod along quietly and create work for clients without actually stepping out of the front door. This year though I'm planning on taking some products to a few actual markets. I loved creating my 'Sew Together Dolls' in the first half of 2021 and I have a nice collection of products so it's time to have fun and talk to people about it. I'm also planning some more Skillshare classes so watch out for me sharing a little more about that.
In the meantime, I'm illustrating another book for Kylie Miller about a greyhound.
Happy New Year