These are the new calendars I'll be using in 2011. I guess I must really love to keep track of the date!
I also have this calendar in my studio. January through May is shown on this bulletin board. This is where I'll put my painting goals for the first half of the year. Right now it's still blank. On Monday I'm going to start filling in what I'll plan to work on in January. I think it will be a mix of painting and working on figuring out how to get my existing paintings published by a fine art printer who sells prints and posters. I need to get out of the selling business myself, so I can just enjoy painting.
My friend Kyle (the Famster artist) gave me one of her 2011 Famster calendars. Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I think she's still selling them if you want one too! Click on the photo for a link to her blog.
This calendar hangs in my kitchen. I love June. How I wish I could put this page up tomorrow. But I guess then I'd miss out on five months of possibilities.
This is the calendar I made for my family this year. It has 12 of my paintings in it. I always hang this in my studio to keep track of what's going on with our schedule.
This is my journal for 2011. I've had about 8 or 9 versions of this same exact calendar over the years, but then stopped doing this a few years ago. I'm starting the tradition over again this coming year.
Here's the inside. This is where I'll record my list of 5 things I'm thankful for each day, along with the people and requests I want to remember to pray for. Won't it be cool to go back and read this in 25 years?
This calendar sits on my desk. I use it for my daily to-do list. I love having a list to check things off. I wonder what I'll be doing in November? I hope I'm on a beach somewhere in Mexico. It will be right after 11/11/11 which is a day I've been waiting for since the late 90's when I realized it was coming. I'll turn 41 on that day. 🙂
I love opening up my new calendars and seeing not only the new images I’ll enjoy throughout the year, but the possibilities the blank pages mean.
What will I accomplish? What will I see? What new things will God teach me this year?
It dawned on me this week that not only is the YEAR changing, but we’re beginning a new DECADE tomorrow.
So in the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve decided that 2011 is going to be my “Year of Gratitude.”
My plan (I always have to have a plan) is to write a simple list of the 5 things I’m thankful for at the end of each day. Nothing profound required. Just a quick list of the blessings or events of the day that I want to acknowledge, record, and give thanks for.
The book I’m currently reading has inspired this idea of becoming a more grateful person. It’s called Radical Gratitude by Ellen Vaughn. It comes highly recommended by two people I highly respect: Tim’s mom who is an avid reader, and one of my professors from Grace College who performed part of our wedding ceremony back in 1993. Read it in 2011!
