What did you love to do as a kid?   Or a young adult?  I used to love to do many things drawing.  I do a good job of trying to keep up with my hobbies and passions but a few things start to creep in.  My closet is already filled with paintings!  Art supplies and frames cost money.  What will I do with all of them?  I sell about two paintings a year.  Now what do I do with the rest?  And then there is the ever, well, I am not quite as good as other artists…I try to quiet down these rogue thoughts that try to keep me from doing hobbies I love.

I have moved to an enchanting place.  It is the most beautiful and most magical place I have ever lived.  I have seen bald eagles, two different types of owls, hawks, rabbits, foxes, coyotes, antelopes, horses running across miles and miles of open pasture, and sunsets and sunrises that have left me in awe.  Without the neighbors and buildings so close, like in town, I have been able to greet the dawn as soon as she makes her way over the ridge of prairie grasses and it fills with me a sense of peace as I admire her colors and paintings.  I want to capture them as well.

I purchased some pastels and paper from the store and woke up before dawn each morning and painted a different scene from each window.  There are more dawns to capture, and sunsets too, as soon as the weather warms.  I placed them in frames that were on sale and will take them to a local coffee shop.

If you are an artist, a previous artist, or a budding artist, you can call around coffee shops and ask to hang your art work.  Many of them will let you sign up for a month at a time.  They get rotating art from local artists and you get exposure and perhaps sell a piece or two.

I am also going to look into Etsy.  And art galleries.  And displaying art at our shows (though I do not like doing outdoor markets with art.  Too nerve racking!  One gust of wind and….eek!)  The point is, if we love to do something, even if it doesn’t bring us an income, then we should find ways to incorporate it into our lives and if it is only because things are piling up in the back room that we stop, then we should share our hobbies with the world.

I gave art as Christmas presents this year and sold one.  This month at the coffee shop I will bring my new pieces and a few of the old.

The landscape out here is different than any other I have lived in, even though I am a Colorado native, it’s like I have never seen my own state before.  Out here feels like one western painting after another.  Like every piece of fine art portraying western scenes was painted out here.  I also bought an inexpensive set of oil paints.  I used to paint with oils and I would like to try it again.  Why not?  When it gets warmer I will be out on the roadside attempting to capture a snippet of what God’s painting looks like.

How to price art?  Let’s talk about that.  Few can afford fine art these days.  Don’t price your art according to the huge dealers downtown.  One would be hard-pressed to get $700 in a small town or even a big town these days.  Price it reasonably.  Then you’ll have more room to make more art and a little change in your pocket.  I am going to sell my pastels for $20.  After the 20% the coffee shop takes and the cost of frame I will make $11.  But I loved creating it.  It made me get up and view the dawn, to greet the day, and it was a pleasure pursuing what I love.

What would you like to do this year?  Grab a sketchbook?  Start quilting?  Start a blog?  Learn to make cheese?  Take a dance class?  Finish a project from a long time ago?  Go to a knitting club?  Let’s spend this year doing as many things as possible that we love!