retrospective introspection

be love 8x10 giclee print of a mixed media collage piece available for sale in my etsy shop - Susan Black 

oh my goodness ! I am still here, intending to blog each and every morning and then I get swept away by each day's giant Let's Get It Done list - truth be told I'm tired, I'm doing many things, much of my day(s), that don't (in any way shape or form) turn my crank. What do I want to be doing ? How do I want to spend my time? It's all food for thought, food for planning + learning from the experience and ya gotta know with 24.5 days left in 2012 I am in big full-on planning mode. Hullo, I love a new day, a new week, a new month ...  as Kathie so sweetly said in the comments a few weeks ago (& still has me laughing when I think of it) Shut The Front Door ! ...it's a brand new shiny year in 24.5 more days.

Oh the goals, oh the dreams & schemes I've got simmerin' and you can be sure that I will spill all those details one day very soon when I get a chance to come up for air. I've got lots of new plans, e-courses & stuff already pencilled into my new hot pink Cavallini day planner (sung by a chorus of angels) yes I did say hot pink, planner & Cavallini in the same sentence.

Between madly pitchin & promotin', filling my two fabulous retailers Inkwell Modern in Halifax and Dots & Loops in Lunenburg with calendars & prints & stuff, advertising on My Owl Barn (Bonjour !) & Elise Blaha's blog, selling my etsy shop stuff, keeping up with inventory and packaging supplies, more pitchin & promotin', post office runs and packaging up my wares (and I do mean MY WARES) for this Saturday's Pugwash Christmas By The Sea Farmer's Market & Craft Fair - be there or be Square !! omgoodness is right. Every giclee print I've ever offered in three sizes, a zillion matted giclee Lil' Art Cards, 2013 owl calendars & my big beautiful Botanica calendars all in one place + I plan on having some fantastic specials. I think my little friend Sweet Bee is manning the table with me (with some of her own wares - hooray).

So ... it's been really interesting to be looking at, one by one, examing closely & packaging (in cellophane with backer board & business cards) giclee prints of practically everything I've ever done. Last night was the big print packaging extravanganza. Methodically & meticulously packaging up hundreds of giclee prints of my art. Normally doing a task such as this one I would divert my intention by listening to an audio CD or watch/listen to some guilty pleasure TV on my computer like America's Next Top Model or favourite soap The Bold & the Beautiful but for some reason last night I decided to work away in silence - several hours of reminiscing over my work, my love, my passion - an introspective retrospective if you will of me & my creative empire, thoughts about where I've been this past year and where I'm headed this brand new shiny year. Tons more good things are waiting just on the horizon !

Scrutinizing all my artwork while packaging it up became the perfect time for a little constructive ponder + critique and the two pieces shown here today feel like favourites to me - they speak to me of the future, my future  ... the art & work that's brewing away inside of me just itchin' to come spilling out - one day very soon I'm hoping.

One last thing. If you're a seeker and a planner in that over zealous, crazed way just like me you have to check out the fantastic workbook and 2013 planner downloads that Susannah Conway is giving away + how to Rock It And it is fantastic & gorgeous graphic design & typography to boot - so important.

Shut The Front Door ;-) & see ya soon !

A tiny life No.7 -  8x10 giclee print of a mixed media collage piece available for sale in my etsy shop - Susan Black