This year has been a blur of wonderful, stressful, topsy turvy events. I continue to find my footing as an adult by finally securing a full time job teaching art at the amazing Henderson Inclusion School (lower campus). The book Spit and Sticks, which I illustrated what seems like ages ago, was published and released to the public. I’ve been able to watch my students’ faces light up when they see that I illustrated a book that is on bookstore shelves, and share in their enjoyment of the pictures I created.

In addition to inspiring young ones, I immersed myself in a longtime love of mine and found my way back to a fine art series. The “Found Houses” developed into large, horizontal landscapes with dramatic lighting and scenery. I discovered similarities between watercolor and oil paint layering, using thin layers of paint and color to create highly emotive lighting in my compositions.

 

My creative reflections coincide with personal goals reached this year, collected in my “remember-lutions” jar I created with my sister. We recently revealed and relived the moments we jotted down on scrap paper that brought us pride or joy, and realized we had a lot to be grateful for over the year.

Two stress relievers of mine – running and sewing/knitting – hit an all time high this year. I challenged my body and trained for the B.A.A Half Marathon, and completed it in under 2 hours without stopping. And while I wasn’t training, I was sewing up toys and plush versions of my character Darwin. He is becoming more real every single day!

I’m hoping that Darwin’s stories find their way to me this coming year. I won’t stop drawing, sewing, and writing down all the bad ideas that pop into my head. All I can do is keep on going, and hope to share as much of the journey with you all in the years to come.

Wishing you all good things this 2016,

Nicole