This year, why not try some Art Resolutions? Take your favored format (Artistamps, maybe?), and think back on everything you've accomplished this past year, even if that's just reading this column once in awhile.
Make a list of what your style entails: Are you fabulous at using color? Have you mastered the art of composition? Are you happy with the direction your fictional world is taking? Have you breathed life into it?
What about materials? Have you seen other artists use unconventional or unfamiliar materials that you've wanted to try? Is there something you've always wanted to learn how to do (printmaking, rubber stamping, collage, anything?) that you haven't, because you haven't had the time, or haven't known what you'd do with it if you did?
What about the basics? Do you think you draw well, or are you more comfortable with photography? Do you know your way around art materials, or are you wandering cluelessly amid the choices in the brush aisle at the local store? If you know all about art materials, have you tried going "lowbrow" and picking up some crayons and glitter from the local discount store and playing with those, as would a four year old?
Answer some questions for yourself in your art journal or some random notebook (if you're not the art journal type), and analyze your responses when you're done.
What, of all your explorations, has your blood racing, your mind churning up some creativity? (Don't worry yet about whether you know how to do it, can afford it, or know where to get it. That's later.) Chances are, there's -something- about your chosen medium that you haven't tried, or something about another creative pursuit that could be translated into your medium.
For example, if you really want to learn to make books, you could try making postal collection books -- like a guide to your chosen issuing authority/country with places to stick in Artistamps at various spots. (They used to make these to get kids interested in stamp collecting, and my goodness, did they work.) You could make travel guides to your fictional country and include passport stamps or first day covers.
Once you've dreamed up a few of these "fantasy projects", turn them into resolutions. Think of the steps you'd need to take in order to be happy with your finished result, and make each of them a New Year's Resolution.
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