It’s been a while since I’ve posted on the ol’ blog here! 2018 has been a big year. There were some ups and downs, both professionally and personally. I won’t get into the downs because I want to focus on the year’s accomplishments. I think it’s important to reflect upon the year that has ended before making plans for the new one.
At the end of last year, I was feeling discouraged and unenthusiastic with my day job. After 5 years, I had hit a plateau. There was nowhere to move up in the company and no openness to help me grow into an art director position. With a decade of graphic design work under my belt, I needed some bigger challenges. I considered looking for a similar position in another company, and received an interesting offer to do just that. But in the end I knew I would end up feeling the same way in a different cubicle. So I game 3 weeks’ notice to my boss and felt an enormous weight off my shoulders. At the beginning of March, I started on my freelance journey.
The beginning of the year was also memorable with an impulsive decision to attend a sign painter meet up. My calligraphy teacher mentioned it to us during a class and it would be in Quebec City (just a few hours drive away). I was taking Copperplate level 2 that winter and was enjoying experimenting with hand lettering so of course this meet up peaked my curiosity. I met so many interesting people at the event and had no idea how much fun it would be! It was basically 3 days of painting, with a few casual workshops being offered from different sign painters and carvers, we only stopped for meals. There were artists from all over the world come to see old friends, make new ones and show off. Needless to say I immediately wanted to drop everything and become a sign painter. I especially grew fond of Meg and Stinky of I saw the sign in Nashville. They were 2 badass girls, kicking ass in a male dominated industry! I also made friends with male sign painters from different countries and they were all so fun to hang out with. I’ve yet to break into the sign painting world (I’m a little intimidated to be honest) but Ive been working on my lettering and have had some cool projects come up that allowed me to use these skills. I would love to do some sign work in 2019 just so you know, Universe. Attending the meet up also reinforced my feelings about leaving my day job, I was very inspired by all these people making a living PAINTING (the dream, right?).
One of my goals I set for 2017 was to create more. It was the year I started pottery and calligraphy classes, and also the year I learned new skills for canning and fermentation. In 2018, I wanted to make sure I created even more. I had opened pandora’s box and I just kept riding that creative wave. In April I took a brush lettering class with Jodi of Someday Art Co, a baby step toward my sign painting dreams. In the summer I took a more advanced pottery class in a new studio and made a whole tea set! In the beginning of winter I took a quick little workshop on embroidering and loved it. In between these, I worked on projects where I was able to use my creativity. I designed wedding invitations with calligraphy and watercolour integrated into the design. I lettered some wedding placeholder cards for 150 guests in calligraphy. I worked on 2 custom botanical watercolour projects and painted some baby animal prints for my new niece Charlotte’s nursery. I was asked to do a calligraphy piece of a 130 word poem for a client, and was happy to have a new challenge. At the end of the year, I started a project (which is in the last steps of completion) that involved food photography, lettering and layout design; basically the trifecta of projects I enjoy.
I started the year planning to do lots of canning. I knew I wanted to take advantage of the seasonal produce and make it last through the year. I didn’t quite do as much as I wanted, but I did my fair share of canning. We went strawberry picking in the spring and I made a small batch of jam. In the summer, my mom came into town and we made spicy pickled cucumbers and dilly carrots. I also made a few batches of kimchi and sauerkraut throughout the year. These all made great Christmas gifts for family – perfect for my struggling artist holiday budget.
I also continued working toward reducing my waste in 2018. I signed us up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) basket that came every 2 weeks between spring and fall. We payed at the beginning of the year and enjoyed fresh organic vegetables for several months. This helps the farmers out because the winter/spring is when they need money the most to start their crops but also have little income coming in. Every second Wednesday I would walk down the street to the pickup location with all my bags and bring home a ton of fresh produce. This was a great alternative to packaged vegetables in the grocery store and we didn’t need to drive anywhere, I just had to walk down the street. Getting a basket every 2 weeks forced me to try new recipes to use the different veggies. It was a big investment in the beginning of the year but completely worth it in the long run. We knew where the food came from (just about an hour outside the city) and it was from a small organic farm. I am already looking forward to doing it again next year! I also did my best to buy from the bulk store with my own bags and make more food from scratch without processed ingredients. And though I’ve been using my own cups when ordering to take out at coffee shops for years, this year I have made it a point to bring my cup with me any time I leave the house. Sometimes it’s best to plan for all possible situations. When I was in California for a week, I brought my own food, my reusable cup, a bamboo spork and a cloth napkin onto the plane. And when I was out and about exploring San Diego, I brought my cup with me. I was surprised there weren’t more people in California being more proactive and bringing their own cups. I think I was the only person in any of the coffee shops bringing my own cup. Here in Montreal, I usually see at least one other person doing like me. It kind of made me proud of our city with our city compost pick ups and all the green initiatives.
