It’s finally 2012, and time to hear all about New Years resolutions. Or maybe you made your resolutions in 2011. I have never been a big fan of New Years resolutions, maybe because they sound so . . . vague.

They are easy to break, and nobody seems to stick with them very long. For these reasons, I’ve always set goals instead. You know, the “Smart” way of goal setting:

S . . . Specific
M . . . Measurable
A . . . Attainable
R . . . Realistic
T . . . Timely

This system has always worked for me, and has helped me with many of the accomplishments in my life. This year, however, I’ve decided to go a different route. I was inspired in this direction by the year-ending sermon by my pastor, as well as a new time-management book by Harvard Business Review contributor peter Bregman.

My pastor, Darin Garton of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, inspired me with his sermon about bringing glory to God. He often ends the year with a sermon about setting goals, but this year concentrated more about how we can glorify God with everything we do. This has helped me really think about what I am doing and whether it is for God’s glory. After all, if I miss that I will miss it all. So that’s the first thing to get in place in my opinion.

Then I happened to read part of a new book by Peter Bregman titled “18 Minutes”. The book has some great tips on how to fight distractions in your life, and really get things done. But the strongest part of this book talks about how to focus on the things that most matter to you. Peter’s advice is that you “Focus your year on only five things and decline everything that doesn’t fit.” He says to pick only five major themes to focus on this year. This means learning how to say “no” to some things that don’t matter as much. Sometimes things that are important, just not at the top of what you need to focus on.

So with this inspiration, I decided to focus on the following areas this year (in no particular order):

1. Glorify God in everything I do
2. Be there for my wife and our marriage
3. Finish my business degree
4. Stand out in my new job
5. Get a better handle on all my finances and debt

So now when I need to make a decision on what to do, I can call up this list and see if it fits into my “Areas of Focus”. That means some things, even valuable things, may get left out. Five areas can seem to be pretty short some times. I won’t give up on goal setting, but I am hoping this list helps me get more done . . . and the most important things.

Hello – I haven’t posted here in way too long. I haven’t been painting much, but hopefully that will change soon. I have been studying the last two years for my business degree, and hopefully will graduate in the next few months. I have taken an exciting new position as Senior 3D CAD Tech with Clear Creek and Associates in Goshen, Indiana. That has certainly kept me busy! I hope to begin a new series of posts here soon that will combine my interests in art, training, and business. See you soon!

At a recent meeting of the St. Joe Valley Watercolor Society, Ellen Ridenour did a wonderful demonstration of her mixed-media work. The watercolor society usually has demonstrations of – yes,that’s right – transparent watercolors, but Ellen thrilled us with her different ways of developing a work of art. It got me thinking about how much we can learn if we get out of our traditional ways of thinking. Here’s a few things I learned that day:

1. Let the project develop a mind of its own . . . it was a great to see how this artist let the artwork develop a life of its own. She just started messing around with shapes and colors and let the work suggest what to do next. This can be a great way to allow our own creativity and personality come through.

2. Don’t give up on something just because it isn’t coming out how you planned . . . Ellen showed us examples of how she re-used art projects from previous attempts – nothing went into the trash! If she didn’t like the look of a work of art, she came back to it later and let it suggest different possibilities.

3. It is important to use the best materials you can . . . . Ellen talked about using good, strong surfaces for her work. I think this is important if you want to keep trying different approaches with the same material – the cheap stuff wears out too fast for this!

4. Here’s the most important takeaway I had – Keep an open mind about different approaches to your work! Whatever we do, it is our tendency to keep going down the same paths. This can lead to stagnation and a lack of creativity. Keep your eyes open to new ways of thinking and approaches to your work. Sometimes the best way to do this is to watch, read or listen to someone doing something completely different.

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Here’s my latest painting in the series “Ready to Fly”. This is a larger (24″x24″) painting of the bird’s nest. It’s painted with watercolor and acrylic on Ampersand Art board. I love this slick surface! Hope you enjoy it!

I am a big fan of marketing guru Seth Godin, and have been thinking about how one of his recent blog posts might apply to an artist. It’s called “The Hierarchy Of Success” and has some great thoughts about how our approach to our work can sometimes be backwards. You can check out his post here:

“The Hierarchy Of Success”

Here’s his list of how we should approach our work:

1. Attitude
2. Approach
3. Goals
4. Strategy
5. Tactics
6. Execution

That order is not how we usually go about reaching a goal.

Mr. Godin believes that we get it backwards . . . in his words, “We spend all our time on execution”. In his case he is talking about marketing, but what would that mean from an artist’s viewpoint?

I have thought about this subject lately as I contemplate a “shift” in my artistic focus. I will be using Mr. Godin’s inspiration as I make this change in my work.

Stay tuned to see how I take this way of thinking to help me create a completely new focus for my work.

Here’s a painting that shows how you can use a “stylish” technique for a different look with a common subject.

I’ve always enjoyed painting carousel horses, and wanted to try painting one with my pouring technique. Let me know what you think!

This was painted on 300 lb. hot press Arches watercolor paper. This is one of the papers I most like to use – you can really get some interesting effects with it.

The actual image size is 14″ high x 10″ wide.

Here’s my latest sunflower painting. This is a small painting that I had a lot of fun with.

I poured bright yellows, golds and greens and then brushed in the darks.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did painting it!

This was painted on 300 lb. Arches watercolor paper. I love the rough texture of this heavy paper.

The image size is 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″.