© 2013 Becky Joy River Shadows oil 6 x 6 inches $200. 
I continue to work on getting ready for the Celebration of Fine Art. I’ve had a lot of running around to do in the last few days, picking up frames, taking paintings to the photographer, getting prints, framing, writing blog posts, lists of supplies, finishing a few paintings and supplies for my booth. I have also been putting together a gallery show in April. More about that later. Busy, busy……
After assessing the year and putting my books in order, I found that I had a substantial increase in sales and the year went very well. In between everything, I have been setting some goals for 2013. I realized this year that I have often been thinking small. I’ve worked very hard on my art in the last 3 years and there has been a marked increase in the quality of my work. My art and my hard work has been starting to take me places. It is time to step up the game and think bigger.
I didn’t commit to writing down a lot of goals in the last three years. My focus was to work on my art and improve as an artist. I just entered every national show that was appropriate for my work and to my surprise right from the beginning three years ago, I have been accepted into every major show and organization. I had never entered any national shows until 3 years ago.
My goals for 2013 are as follows:
- Paint 2 studio landscapes a week bigger than 16×20
- paint 3 small painting each week,
- more paintings will be in between sizes
- Paint 25 hours a week
- Paint on location at least once a week
- attend 2 life drawing sessions a month
- draw or paint some figure and portrait sketches 3 times a week
- paint one pastel painting a week
Teaching
- finish my painting ebook this month
- write 2 more ebooks
- make dvd’s to go with the books
- book 2 or 3 workshops in US
- book 2 European workshops
Art Business
- increae my prices (It’s been 5 years since the last increase)
- write 3-4 blog posts each week for Easel Notes
- write 1 inspirational post a week
- once a month interview an artist
- add two new galleries this year
- put on a gallery show that all the participants feel is a success and gains some publicity
- participate in the Plein Air Convention
- enter and be accepted into some national shows
- find and enter some new shows
- continue to send thank you notes & press releases as needed
- release 4 limited edition prints in a series
- 4 ads in Southwest Art Magazine
- Facebook ads for the release of the prints
- sell out my limited editions
- make one video a week
- get my newsletter out each month
- net increase of 22 people a month on newsletter
- increase income (I have written down the amounts for myself) through online sales, galleries, Celebration and prints
- continue to use social media
- get some media coverage.
- write a story for each painting that I post on my website
- continue with the year of participating in Alyson Stanfield’s art biz classes
I have written these goals, plus a few daily and weekly tasks on a spreadsheet. I’ll revisit the goals once a month to assess and see where I am, if I need to revise something, etc. At the end of the year I will look at my goals and compare them to what I accomplished for 2013.
In another post I plan on writing down what I accomplished and what was a failure in the last year.
To another successful year for all of us!
Becky
Becky, what a well thought out plan. Very involved, and full! It is ispiring to see what another artist is doing regarding organization of their business. I have tried, and seem to fail at being well-organized … in other words, flying by the seat of my pants. I have done one Alyson Stanfield class … organizing, last year at first of the year. I need to get that notebook out and revisit. Your post inspires me along the lines of what I already was thinking. Thank you for being you. I always enjoy your Facebook posts, and I keep up with what you are doing! Love your work, also. You definitely have increased the quality of your work. Wishing you much continued success in the New Year!
Thanks Marsha. I also took Alyson’s organization class a couple of years ago. I need to go back and refresh all the time. In fact, I put that down on my calendar to do once a month. It helps to keep me on track. I have daily, weekly, and monthly lists of tasks and goals. I refer to my task lists for almost everything I do, so that I don’t forget a step. I’ve been a real list maker all my life starting in HS, But Alyson’s class helped to organize my lists. lol.
A couple of months ago I signed up for the conspiracy class. I decided to commit and stay with it all year to help keep me on track, because focusing is something I really have to work at. This year I went a little farther with the goals making a spread sheet and breaking it down even more. I want to record everything this year so that I can go back at the end and also see what I need to work harder on. Hopefully, it works. But, I thought putting it on my blog would make me commit more fully to it.
Thanks Marsha for your comment and support, appreciate it.
Becky
Becky, I thought I was passionate and dedicated….however, after reading your goals for 2013, I feel so inspired to do more! Thank you for sharing and encouraging all of us out here! Have a great Celebration in Scottsdale and I hope to meet you one of these days!
Jo
Thank you Jo. This year I went farther with my goals, also committing to them on the blog. Just a little more of a push. I’m glad to inspire others.