My Top Nine Images as posted on Instagram during 2020

We have come to the end of this strange and, in many ways, difficult year. You know the negatives. For me, there have also been positives. Really good positives. Two words sum up the majority of the good: connection and community.

My year began with a new weekly offering of a Monday Night Open Studio. The format we started with changed after we began to meet online, but it has been a pleasure to meet up weekly and see what has been happening and to learn from each other’s experience and interests. Meeting online has allowed for people in other time zones to join in. I still get a kick when someone out of my area joins in.

Because of so much going online this year, it also meant that many of us who were not used to video calls or conferencing before staying at home, were all getting used to it at the same time. Having classes online worked because it was that or nothing. It’s a little strange looking at my face so much on screen, but I do like the commute to class!

I’ve offered a number of new workshops over the year and have found a format that I like and people seem to enjoy as well. One especially is my Monthly Sketchbook Sampler where every month we explore a different topic. I introduce the topic based on my experience, show some examples, suggest some ways to start, and then everyone can try it for themselves. We share challenges and celebrate effort and sketches. I record the sessions which means that if anyone misses class, they have a chance to see what happened. The joys of technology allow for what was never an option before.

In February, I signed up for the first running of The Creative’s Workshop offered by Akimbo. It was 100 days of making and shipping everyday. I felt like a kid in a candy store with a world-wide community of all self-described creatives who were all making and sharing the ups, downs, frustrations and successes with the creative process. So much fun!

Those 100 days stretched into 150 until the workshop closed in July. Another online creative community began from wanting to continue the spirit of that earlier workshop. The members continue to share their work and support one another. It is because of this place, and after the fact from The Creative’s Workshop, where I began to understand how valuable it is to have a safe and supportive community to be creative and vulnerable in. I had mostly worked alone before this. My projects are still my own, but I have a place where I can talk about what is and isn’t working. I can share in the community and get feedback which really is invaluable.

I’ve begun reading again this year. This is partly due to a weekly reading retreat I’ve been part of since maybe March. We meet, say hello and a bit of greetings. We then say what we’re reading, and for the next while, we put ourselves on mute and read. At the end of the session, we share one or two things from what we had just been reading. It’s lovely and I’ve enjoyed the sessions immensely. I’ve been collecting titles of books to read everywhere I go now. So many interesting books, so little time! If you are on GoodReads, feel free to friend me. I love to see what others are reading.

And there were other groups, and weekly Zoom sessions with my mom, and my art, and cooking, and making sourdough bread, and my quilts, and… In many ways it’s been a great year.

What was a positive for you in 2020?

I wish you all the best in 2021.