Happy Holidays to all of you! Wishing you all the best during this holiday season. Here is to a happy and healthy 2022! Here is a look at 2021 in review for me and my art business. Here are the goals I made for 2021- you can read about how I maintain my goals here!
2021 in Review - my goals
Post consistently to social media (5x a week to instagram, 1-2x to facebook, every day to Pinterest, twice a month to my email list, blog post 3-4x a month, YouTube 2x a month)
I did well with these goals and was able to really grow my following. I was more intentional this year with planning what I wanted to post and doing it ahead of time and not last minute. I took the summer off from posting on YouTube to allow me to focus on other projects and relax after a stressful year of teaching during the pandemic.
Apply to art calls twice a month - I want to have more exhibitions this year!
With Covid there are still less available exhibitions but I did participate in a few exhibitions including Landscape Transformed in Orillia, a paid opportunity with Create Waterloo to do my Patched installation in Regency Park during the month of July. I had a grant project from the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund for a series of acrylic painting tutorials - link to playlist and link to blog. I also participated in the Mask Required exhibition at Gallery Stratford. I have a current exhibition for SHOW. 21 which is a juried group exhibition of emerging artists -with 10 other artworks present. My work Precariously Perched is on display until February! My solo Patched exhibition at the Kitchener Public Library has been tentatively rescheduled for next year.
Spend time in nature for inspiration- I find this really helps with my art practice.
Once a month Gordie and I made it a habit of hiking, campinging or walking outside. I’ve taken lots of photos that I have shared on Instagram
Make consistent art sales- I would love my art to be my main source of income.
I have started to make more consistent sales with my art and in April I started a Teachers Pay Teachers Store and in October I started a print shop for my cyanotype art with Society6 . Having these extra sources to sell my art and art teaching resources has allowed me to have more consistent income and I am excited to watch it grow next year!
Keep my website updated monthly- I like reviewing my website at the end of each month to make sure everything is current.
In August, I created my www.jackiepartridgeart.com website where it focuses more on acrylic painting, YouTube channel, my TPT store, art teaching articles and tips. My www.jackiepartridge.com website now focuses on my contemporary art, my paper art in my shop and blog posts related to my art news and contemporary art practice/what I am working on in the studio. I have liked keeping these areas separate but I have definitely doubled my workload!
Set boundaries for teaching for more work life balance- no work on Friday nights and Saturdays, no emails past 7pm, no marking on the weekend.
This past summer I worked the month of July at a day camp at my school. I was very intentional not to start working on school stuff until the end of August so that I could have a break from school. I did well not responding to emails after 7pm and will continue to do that this year as it gives me more time to relax.
Make art during school breaks- Teaching full time has made me really miss having time to make my art.
During school breaks I started working on cyanotypes and creating print designs - you can see them here! I also worked on my painting tutorials from a grant from the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund- you can watch them- here. I also installed Remnants outside and photographed it this year. I finished my Patched installation video.
2021 in Review -
Overall, 2021 was a great year for me. It was my first year teaching full time in the classroom. I had a lovely small class of 12 grade 4 students. We had a fun time going to the park, learning together and seeing them grow. This year with Covid was challenging! We were online twice. We wore masks and it was hard to not see each other smile.
I made it a habit of going outside more. It was hard to see people less and not being able to hug people especially when I’m not really a hugger.
I worked on starting to new streams in my art to continue to grow my business. I read a lot of books this year including: Everything is Figureoutable, You are a Badass at Making Money,
My friends are having babies. My sister-in-law got married.
2022 Goals
Exercise 2x a week
Purchase a Home
Have 5 exhibitions or publications
Grow my mailing list by 200 people
Grow my YouTube to 500 subscribers
Have 200 products in my TPT store
Thank you so much for following on this journey. I appreciate you being here and supporting me along the way.
Here are some FREE Ways to Support me (if you aren’t doing them already)
Join my mailing list ( I send lots of tips, free products and painting tutorials) -join the box below
Lastly, I would appreciate it if you like something I post to like, comment or share to help me to reach more people!