In my last post I wrote about how I am changing this year from setting goals to another system – focusing on just five areas of my life. Goals are great, and I’m sure I’ll put some in place this year, but I am going to use “Areas of Focus” as a more strategic way of managing my life. Then goals can become part of the tactics I use to stretch myself in those areas of focus.

So this brings up this question – if you had to choose what areas would you focus on this year?

In Peter Bregman book “18 Minutes” he recommends that you keep your “Areas of Focus” to just five spaces in your life – to in essence limit your focus. This means that you have to choose the best ones, and learn how to say “No” to some things that might look attractive, but that just take up valuable time. So where might you focus?

Try to think of some major areas in your life . . . spiritual, fitness, your job, etc. Then narrow that down to five major areas. You can change it later if you find yourself gravitating toward something else. But I think you might find that this way of focusing your efforts will help you make decisions with your time. Because isn’t it often the case that we are forced to choose between what is the easy thing to do, or the more difficult thing that is more in line with the person we want to be? Or sometimes it’s a choice between several “good” things, to end up with the “great’ choice.

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.

.

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.

One of the best things I ever did as an artist was develop my own style. This means having a recognizable “look” to all your artworks. This has helped my in many ways:

1. It helps when I market my art. There is a lot of artwork out there for people to look at. If you paint in different styles people will have a hard time defining your work. Then they might just pass on by.

2. Chasing my own style has actually helped me improve my work. This may come as a surprise, but focusing your work will help it improve.

3. It helps me decide what to paint. Another part of focusing my work has been this – I am drawn to subjects that lend themselves to my style. While not being tied down to one subject, limiting my subject matter has helped me to increase my talents in that area.

4. Painting is just more enjoyable, too, when I’m taking my own path.

You may think that focusing this way will hurt you because it will limit your potential. Actually, the opposite is true! You are limiting yourself and the growth of your art by being all over the place with different styles. Copying other artists, or going after the latest trend or technique, will never set you apart from the crowd.

So . . . . how do you go about developing your own style? Here are a few suggestions:

Concentrate on your stengths . . . not your weaknesses. What is your strength as an artist? Write down some of the best thinks you do. It could be a technique, and eye for design, a subject you are strong with. Then pick the strongest one – that’s what you should focus on now. One of my favorite quotes is from Marcus Buckingham’s book “The Truth About You”. He says, “You grow most in your areas of greatest strength”.

Manage your weaknesses . . . just like we all have strengths, we all have our weaknesses too as artists. Don’t spend too much of your time trying to improve in an area that you are weak in. Just manage those areas by spending enough time on them to make sure they don’t bring you down. Marcus Buckingham also says, “Working on your weaknesses will drag you down and, at best, will lead to small improvements. Instead, you should call your weaknesses what they really are, “things that weaken you”, and then you should figure out ways to manage around them”.

Set up your own show . . . don’t worry – I’m not talking about a public show. But do this – set up several pieces of your work in an area where you can review them. Then take some time to honestly look at your work with this one question in mind – what is my strength? Sometimes it can help for a friend to look at your assembled works too and help you out with this.

Concentrate on what you enjoy painting . . . this may seem pretty obvious, but some artists miss this when they choose a focus. You will probably do your best work painting what you most enjoy! And that doesn’t always just apply to the subject. I most enjoy playing around with negative shapes in a close-up format, so that’s what I concentrated on to build my style. That meant I sould use a lot of different subjects and still have it say something with my “look”. However, I have been drawn to subjects (like flowers and other close-up items) that lend themselves to this style. See how that works?

I’ve seen my work really blossom ever since I decided to go after my own style. In fact, years ago I made that my number one goal as an artist! Why don’t you try this, too? Don’t forget – you don’t always have to stay with one style or subject. You can change your focus to something else later, and watch your artwork grow again.

If you want more of my thoughts on this, I have a free package on “Finding Your Own Style” here on my website:

http://www.learnwatercolors.com/webcast_style-order.htm

For more information about going with your strengths, check out Marcus Buckingham’s website: http://www.tmbc.com

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″.

It’s pretty well known in the business world that speaking and writing are great ways to build your business or enhance your image. So what does that have to do with being an artist? Everything!

As artists we need to learn how to present ourselves and our work in ways that help people understand what we are all about. I have found that learning these skills has helped me present my art to the world.

So how do you get started? It’s easy . . .

You just start. Speaking. Writing. It’s that easy . . .  and that hard.

Why is it that whenever something is important it is more difficult to get started? Many would-be writers or speakers get sidetracked before they even begin. Which is a shame – they will never know what these skills could have done for their life or business. Don’t let that be you!

You start small with both speaking and writing. Let’s look at them separately.

The best way to get started with speaking is to join your local Toastmasters club. Toastmasters International has been helping people learn speaking skills for 85 years. It’s how I learned the basics of public speaking, and I recommend it to everyone I meet. There are 11,000 clubs in 90 countries, so I am sure there is at least one club in your area. Go to www.toastmasters.org  . . . enter your zip code in their search engine and you will see a list of the clubs in your neck of woods. Go for it – there is no better way to get started speaking.

What about writing? The best way to get started is to just begin writing about your favorite subject. It doesn’t have to be for publication or for anyone else to see – just sit down at the computer and key in your thoughts about any subject. Let the creative thoughts flow. Don’t worry about editing your work at this point. Just have fun with your favorite subject. Enjoy the process. At its essence that’s what writing is all about.

I hope I have inspired you to begin speaking and writing. Once you see how rewarding both of these are, you will want to learn more. And then you will continue to grow.