I’ve been giving a lot of thought to new years resolutions, why we create them and what they do to us. Last year I had several blog posts worth. Did I achieve them all? No, sometimes because the scope was too huge, and sometimes because as the year went on they lost relevance or new things came up that changed the game.

This year I am trying a completely different tack. I am shunning my old standby the list and going with a single new years resolution:

Identify opportunities and seize them

Last year I started to see how powerful this could be. I took a massive step forward in my career mindset just by being open to new opportunities. I liked it so much I want to dedicate my year to this single premise. And the best thing is that this doesn’t just refer to work, everything is an opportunity waiting to be seized.

What opportunities will you seize in 2012?

• I painted and painted and painted some more, my skills were increased and I know that I made some of my best work this year.
• my studio is a sanctuary. It is incomplete, but it’s going well and is a constant source of joy.
• I participated in lots of exhibitions. I unleashed my inner geek.
• I saw opportunities and I found shows in unlikely locations.
• two students interviewed me for their assignments on artists and inspirational art
• I did a public interview with Phantomimic
• I was invited to speak on a panel in Sydney and overcame my fear of public speaking to speak about a subject very close to my heart. I am intensely proud of this
• I saw Bill Henson speak twice, I asked him a question in front of thousands of people and cameras
• I filled my life with art and watched how that influenced my toddler to start creating.
• I made contacts with some really lovely people.
• I became more confident in talking to others and marketing face to face
• I made good sales even in this economy. Not as good as some years but still enough to be proud of.
• my affiliate marketing started paying real dividends, rather than just supporting my online costs. it provided a steady stream of income to supplement my art income.
• I watched a wonderful artist recover and survive a terrible beating with the health stick and come back fighting and ready to take his art career to the next level.
• I learned to ask for what I want, and make more of every opportunity
• I was one of 32 artists selected to be a finalist in the Art Revolution Taipei international art competition. Over 2500 artists entered!
• I got a new imac, it’s awesome. it picked up my rendering times no end.
• I started physics based rendering, I’m still really new at it.
• I watched Erica start to walk, and talk more, watched her love of books and drawing grow and watched her develop in so many ways. I’m very lucky to work from home so I can still share in these special moments!
• I overcame my fear of cameras a bit and started posing again. I intend to conquer my fear more and get some new profile pictures soon!
• I completed my 505050 project, despite paper shortages and uploading problems. Not all the works are up yet but I completed them in time. this is a pretty big effort!
• I redid my website, new back end, new design and all new traffic! it looks pretty sweet. I have more to do but I’m very happy with how it is going.
• People told me I was their hero. You can’t get cooler than that!

God and I were nude.

Link

The difference of a painting in the nude becoming lewd
Is in the shadows

Arthur Tugman

Scott only asked me to do the movie because he couldn’t get anyone else. He asked everyone ? Mel Brooks, Marty Landau, Carl Reiner. They were all afraid of the nude scene.

Garry Marshall

Even in Orange County, reference to nude figure drawing is not exactly stimulating in a sexual manner.

Jonathan Lovett

Her husband, he’s German you know. When her husband came to me, I said, ‘John, you don’t mind me painting your wife.’ And he said, ‘No, that’s fine, just don’t paint her nude.

Andrew Wyeth

As much as things change, they stay the same. There is still controversy about, maybe even more than before, not just nudity — a nude statue.

Hugh Hefner

Many artists say that to be a professional you need to rid yourself of the notion of inspiration. that you have to create all the time regardless of feeling inspired or motivated or artistic. That you should always create. And I agree, to a certain extent, we should always create, it is part of what makes us artists, and business people. The more you create, the more you want to create. The easier art comes. The better your technique, the better you can produce what you see in your mind’s eye. The more you practice the better you get. It’s that way with everything, writing, music, stock trading, the more you do it, the better you get, the more you enjoy it and the more people respond. But, I also believe that if you are open to inspiration, if you are always on the lookout, then inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime. My problem is that I have too much inspiration, so I am always excited about what I am working on… All 5 or 10 projects! I get overwhelmed by having too much that excites and interests me. And when that happens I go into overload mode and can’t create enough. That becomes a self feeding loop. But if I put a project on the back burner, then it is no longer shiny when I go to pick it up and the way has been blocked by another bunch of shinys.

Shiny Syndrome is a terrible curse to bear at times, but it is also wonderful for constantly finding new sources of inspiration. at any given time, in my mind, I will be working on 2 blog series, 3 blog posts, 2 new blog ideas, a newsletter (that I probably won’t send), a bunch of tweets, 2 exhibition concepts, 3 full sized paintings, 2 renders, 5 sketches and about 10 unformed concepts. And a partridge in a pear tree. And that’s just work stuff. So sometimes my brain wants to explode!

Do you remember the pensieve in the Harry Potter books? I think most artists would give an ear for something like that!

When I get overwhelmed I tend to hide away. this doesn’t do me, or my art, any favors. I need to learn to mitigate my Shiny Syndrome and put it to work for me, instead of against me.

What do you do to sort out all the ideas in your head? Do you have a pensieve system?