FOLKS! This is Number 52!! I did it! A blog post every week for an entire year, yesssss!!!!
But I'm taking next week off, I think I earned it. Lol.
So for my last blog post of 2024 I thought I'd do a little run-through of all the things I created this past year. I adore doing year-end reviews, and it turns out I was pretty busy. Ironically, I didn't FEEL busy. That means I must have been having fun and enjoying myself! Woo hoo!
Doing this review also helps me to consider what I'd like to do next year and to start dreaming up my 2025 adventures! So please join me in celebrating my first full calendar year as an artist and entrepreneur. Thank you to all of you who have supported me in this grand endeavor. I couldn't have done it without you. I'm humbly honored.
So here we go, where to start? How about chronologically?
Here's how the year started off. I made this wee little art journal drawing right at the beginning of the year. I have often told myself I'm not very good at drawing details. Guess I need to erase that old reel in my head, don't I? Turns out butterflies unintentionally became quite central to a lot of art I did this year. Love when that happens.
The first assembled art piece I made this year was a departure in another direction for me. Usually these kind of pieces involve rescuing old books that are headed to the landfill. But sometimes I've made a small handful of little assemblage art pieces over the years without a book as the base, but usually just for me personally or as gifts. This year I decided to dive into making a piece with the intention of putting it out into the world. I'm so pleased with how it turned out! There will definitely be more of these in my future. I already have an idea for several for 2025!
Mary's Portal
Then I went on to make three altered books in quick succession. I had all three of them going at the same time, and as I waited for paint or glue to dry on one I was working on another. I'm always intrigued by how ideas for these come to me. Sometimes I have a vision in my head before I get started but just as often I simply start carving and painting the pages when suddenly I'm inspired by a thought or idea in my head or by something I came across during the day. There seems to be no end to the flow of ideas coming to me for these!
Acherontia Lachesis (Death's-Head Hawkmoth)
Butterfly Dreams
Love Makes the World Go 'Round
Inspired by the bigger Mary's Portal assembled art piece, I spent much of February creating some smaller pieces with the intention that they would be fun and whimsical. For quite a while now I've been saving small gift boxes that were just too pretty to throw away. Several years ago I had made a couple wee desk altars (as I call them) as gifts for friends and it occurred to me that more people needed to be reminded ~ as they sit at their desks tolling away ~ to look up and be delighted in the simplest of things. And that's how this series was born.
Wee Desk Altars ~ Gnomealot, Harold, Usagi-san, and The Three Shenanigans
So while all that was happening, I was also designing and planning for my first ever mural project! I had created a mural on a wall of the back patio of my house during the days of the pandemic lockdown, but this was to be my first ever mural for someone else, and in a public place. I was super excited and of course a wee bit nervous, but it turned out to be the most rewarding adventure ever. It was a project for our local WIC agency (Women, Infants & Children) which has their offices located here in Sutter Creek. It took a few weeks of planning and then one week of painting to bring it to life. I'm super honored to have been asked and to have been able to create something for them. I'd love for there to be more mural projects in my future!
In April I participated in an online intuitive painting class in preparation for a six-month teacher training program that I had signed up for. The idea behind intuitive painting ~ very much my style all these years ~ is to let go of any planned out ideas of what you're going to paint. It's about developing a deeper relationship with an inner knowing and trusting the process. It's not about what you paint, but about the experience of painting itself. It's about learning to recognize and pay attention to the nasty critic in your head, to the doubts and fears, and to the inner dialogue that 's happening while you're in the creative process. And letting it all go. In the class we even use cheap poster paints and paint on paper, so we don't get too precious about that process either. Here are some of the paintings that I worked on during that class, and then some that I worked on during the six month teacher training. Again, this wasn't about making a "pretty painting," but about becoming present and having a conversation with your soul, whatever that looks like.
Turns out that last painting, on the bottom right, got me very excited about painting on canvas again, but more about that further down.
In May I got started on another altered book idea. This one was to be a little bit more ambitious than my previous attempts. The idea for this one came to me fully intact and ready to go. It seems ideal to have the inspiration come this way but the fear is that I won't be able to bring to life what I see so clearly in my head. This time? It worked out! Wahoo!!
Fairy Tale Dreams
While that one was coming together I had another altered book idea happen upon me and I couldn't wait to get started on it! I sketched it out during May and then in June got started on it. I finished it just in time for Summer Solstice.
This takes us to July when I started another altered book. One of my first ever books that I made was of a stage with a few animals on it. I'd always wanted to do another stage themed one and had lots of ideas floating around. It was hard to narrow it down to who I wanted to end up on that stage and in that theater, but I knew if I got started whoever wanted to be there would start showing up. And they did!
While all those were coming along, I spent the bulk of my summer designing and creating my first ever online course! I wrote a lot, I made tons of videos, I designed activities, and so much more. It was a lot of work and I learned so much!
The Portal to Creativity
In the fall I started painting again and it felt so good! I had taken a long break from working on any paintings (that weren't for the class or training I was in). I finally found my spark again thanks to one of those paintings (the one I mentioned above, on the bottom right) and it was a joy to remember how much I love my painting process.
I also spent much of October getting ready for my favorite time of the year ~ Halloween! I count this as an artistic creation for sure. All it took was to be inspired by an illustration on a tarot card and I was off and running. Oh, and I happened to win first place for my costume at an event I went to. So fun!
I finished up the year having completed two of the biggest paintings I've ever done. I tried something a little new for this first one, a slightly different style ~ a little more literal and figurative than my usual go to ~ that I'll be experimenting with again for sure.
The Queen of Wands
And then this one. A ten year project! I never knew it would take that long, but it was so worth it! I wrote all about it HERE if you'd like to read the full story. With this painting I really dove deep into my favorite ways of creating and finally, after all these years, I realized that I do indeed have a certain style, a certain technique, and a certain expression of color that are all mine! What an empowering realization that was.
Bear?
Lastly, I created another round of Wee Desk Altars because the first ones were such a hit.
And that's a wrap!
Oh wait...
Lest I forget, I also held six in-person workshops and one online class; I made a ton of videos this year (you can check out some of them on my new YouTube channel); I completed the six-month teacher training course becoming certified as a Facilitator of Intuitive Painting and Expressive Arts; and I have/had my art in three shows/locations this fall!
Whew.
What a year! So grateful!
Thank you so much for reading along! It's been wonderful to have you all with me for the ride this year. I can't wait to see what 2025 brings.
Happy holidays and Merry New Year!
Indi
You can find my art and all my other creations at indigomoone.com.
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If you know you want to be a more creative person but just aren't sure where to begin, this online self-paced course is for you, The Portal to Creativity. The activities invite you to be curious, to start reflecting on who you are, and to find out more about what moves you in life. It's a chance to get to know yourself better. By the end you'll have a clearer direction of where to start your creative path, and know yourself even better too.
I am so inspired by all that you did this year. I am amazed, thrilled, encouraged
xo