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The Road Traveled


Ice blue palmera mini easel art
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The Road Traveled

Happy 2012!  I hope your holidays were wonderful, and that the new year is treating you well.  It has been a lovely year so far, but before surging forward I wanted to take just a moment to reflect.

2011 was an exciting year here at Copper Leaf Studios, and ended with a record-breaking 350+ sales during the holiday season.  That’s more than double the previous year, and needless to say quite a surprise!  A few things fell by the wayside.  Writing this newsletter, for example.  Feeding my child.  Sleeping.  But all is good.  Life has (at least temporarily) slowed to a more reflective pace, and all’s well that ends well, as they say.

There were lots of fun commission pieces that I’m looking forward to sharing over the next few weeks, but today is a day for looking backward.  2011 was an incredible year in so many ways.  My artwork was featured on a TV show and a book cover, I received lovely interviews on Copper.org and Etsy, and was commissioned to create awards for the Cleveland Municipal Bar Association, the Council of Smaller Enterprise, Campus District, the National Science Foundation, and a handful of others. I finished two gigantic commissions, and lots of smaller ones.  I’m not writing this to boast, but with a sense of gratitude and amazement — it’s easy to get so caught up in the swirl of day to day that you forget that you’ve actually accomplished something.  And I am often guilty of being intimidated by the road ahead of me without fully appreciating the one I’ve already traveled.
So here is to what lies behind!  And to appreciating the journey, no matter where you are.

Until next time,

Chris

Wide Eyes and a Sense of Wonder

I’ve been debating what to write in this week’s newsletter… I have no new exciting projects yet (I’m still plugging along on the old exciting ones, and after that it’s time for wholesale orders and mundane things like bookkeeping and cleaning my studio).  I thought about writing an update of the large woodburned map using only bad puns (entitled “As the World Burns, part two” — totally tempting, admit it!!).  But this time of year sets me in a reflective sort of mood, and I think it’s important to embrace that.  It doesn’t usually last long, maybe only a week or two… just long enough for me to call all of the people I’ve been meaning to call, write belated letters, and reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one.  Plus, I’m a resolution kind of girl.  I know some people hate them, but to me they take two of the things I love the most — having dreams and making lists — and put them together into one neat little package.

So since you all have shared this lovely journey with me, I am going to share some of my new years’ dreams and goals with you.

2011 is a year of exploration and collaboration.  I hope to have some sweet small functional items to share in early January, as part of a collaboration with a lovely woodworker friend.  The rest of the month will be spent on a large-scale piece that has been waiting patiently on my “to do” list as the design was tweaked and materials delivered (and frankly, as I developed the necessary fortitude to tackle it without panicking).  It will be my largest piece to date at nearly 8′ tall, just edging out the 2008 COSE commission in ability to completely engulf my dining room table.

February is going to be a month of experimentation with both new products and new materials. I hope to find a good way to etch steel, a material that has thus far been finickier than the copper & zinc I currently use.  Not going to give too many details, save that I will call it a “quest” and speak in a British accent whenever I talk about it.

The rest of the year will include traveling out of state to shows, preferably ones with beaches — where admidst selling artwork I can take some time for “community research” like hunting down beach glass while “making contacts” with local diners and “networking” with turkey club sandwiches.

Beyond that, I’m going to let happen what happens!  2010 was full of lovely surprises, and I’m going to save some time to let those continue to take place.  Some of the most beautiful moments were ones I never could have planned, like losing my job, or falling off the self-employment cliff into the safety net of a lovely business, or meeting the man of my dreams.  One of the best things I did, admittedly reluctantly, was take a deep breath and let go of the false sense of security and control that was somehow comforting me.  Once I became at peace breathing in the air of uncertainty, the rest of life became much more calm.  I only hope to continue the journey that was started with wide eyes and a sense of wonder.

Have a lovely new year,

……………………..Chris

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