Wrapping up 2023

[denisejhoward]

Wow that was a fast year! The first post-pandemic year that felt completely normal again. My first full year of “retirement” was supposed to be my first full year as a full-time artist, but the universe conspired to keep my art part-time after all. It was jam-packed with art activity just the same:

• Exhibited work in 14 exhibitions, from local to international, including the prestigious de Young Open in San Francisco
• Finished 7 new artworks
• Won 8 awards (two 2nd Place, one 3rd Place, Award of Merit, Award of Excellence, three Honorable Mention)
• Taught 2 virtual workshops
• Taught 3 local in-person workshops
• Gave 4 presentations to local art groups
• Exhibited 2 weekends in Silicon Valley Open Studios
• Finished my first full year as president of the Colored Pencil Society of America
• Attended the CPSA convention in Cincinnati
• Had a piece chosen for inclusion in the book CP Treasures, Vol. 9
• Published an article in the June issue of Ann Kullberg’s COLOR magazine
• Published a tutorial in the UK Coloured Pencil Society’s magazine, Talking Point
• Finally joined Instagram for my art
• Reorganized my studio and installed shelving

Alas, I didn’t sell any original artworks, and since the rent on my art storage unit increased quite a bit, I finished the year “in the red (art income vs. art expenses).

Non-art-related but just as important:

• Continued to avoid COVID
• Took my first real vacation in several years: a week in New York City where I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, MOMA, the Museum of Natural History, the USS Intrepid, the Museum of the American Indian, and saw “The Lion King” on Broadway
• Organized a memorial exhibition of my mother’s lifetime of quilting at the Pacific International Quilt Festival
• Rescued and raised 20 very late-season monarch caterpillars to adulthood

I didn’t meet my goal of experimenting with some additional media. Being president of the CPSA was sometimes a full-time job, especially in June and July on the run-up to the convention!

So, here comes 2024! I already have three workshops and a presentation scheduled. I’m going to re-commit to experimenting with some additional media (watercolor, acrylic, oil, pastel, airbrush). I’m going to skip Silicon Valley Open Studios so I can teach a two-day workshop in Florida. The CPSA convention will be in Brea, CA, so I’m going to make a vacation out of that by driving down the coast to get there and taking a couple of extra days afterward.

Happy New Year!