End of Week 2

The finish of week 2 saw some ups and downs (already!?), but overall it was all good :)

Formal Objectives for week 2:

1) work on painting #1 - this was a mixed bag.  First, my workshop class for this week was cancelled due to low registration.  I did get all my supplies ready and even bought my very first orchid!

I even made a nifty pencil crayon holder out of a bamboo matt and some elastic I had around the house.  I got a set of 4 matts at Value Village for under $3. Way better price overall than buying one for over $15!  It holds the 24 colours I need for my class, plus the blender and burnisher pencils.

I am disappointed not only that the class was cancelled, but also that I didn't work on anything art-related this week.

2) Make notes on the book "Start and Run an Art Teaching Business" by Tanya Freedman - complete!!  I am very pleased with this result.  There was so much really good and useful information from her book that I didn't want to lose any of it in the ether when I gave it back to the library.  I also wanted to take action on some of her points and making notes helps me to remember what I want to do.

3) 10/10 min sketches -  an abysmal failure :(  I didn't manage to do a single sketch this week.  I think that in my mind if I couldn't do a sketch while my family was home, then I couldn't do any type of sketch period.  I will definitely have to work on that!!

Other things I have done this week include setting up a weekly schedule to better manage my time.  There are about a million things I'd like to do, and I need to find a way to prioritize them and put them in my schedule.  This was a suggestion made by Ms Freedman in her book and it made good sense to me.  

I've also been looking into what volunteer opportunities are available in my community.  Since I'm not currently working full-time, I'd like to find a way to contribute to the community.  As well, I started looking into the local Toastmasters club.  Another suggestion of Ms Freedman's to improve self-confidence and public speaking.  I'm not necessarily concerned about my speech-giving skills, but I would definitely like to improve my public speaking in general - always a good skill :)

Still, not too bad a start on my year.  Some improvements to be had, but that's to be expected I guess since I'm starting something new.  Talk to you soon about week 3 :)