2019 – A Year of Saying Yes and Chasing Dreams
A personal philosophy that I adopted from Conan O’Brien: WORK HARD, BE KIND, AND GOOD THINGS WILL HAPPEN!
Hi, happy New Year and welcome to 2020! I have a lot of exciting things planned for this new year, and oh my gosh… NEW DECADE!
But, before I jump into the 20’s I want to talk about 2019. You may look at my archive, and say gee Deanna…there really isn’t much here from 2019, and you’d be a 1,000% correct. I’m sorry that I haven’t been the most present this year, but I hope you will forgive me because I have been doing some really big life-changing things, and I want to tell you all about it now!
2019 was a particularly fruitful year of hard work and chasing dreams. The fact that you are reading this is proof of that; since this blog has been an important part of turning my wishes and ideas into something concrete and real!
As you probably know, I am a visual artist with my BFA in illustration. I’ve had a focus on custom portrait drawings, for both people and pets as well as my own fine art collection. While I love drawing portraits and still actively take commissions, I felt like there was something missing in my artistic pursuits. That missing piece was directly connected to my roots in Illustration!
I can’t tell you how excited I was when I was accepted into to be a vendor, and then how nervous I started to become when I realized that over 15,000 people attend Art Beat annually (omg). The pressure really hit when I realized how much I’d have to create to put together a collection of illustrations and products to sell!
So, I decided to really focus most of my time and energy building a collection of whimsical things that brought me joy. Which, unfortunately, meant that the Trinkets and Love blog had to be put on the back burner.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I missed creating fun DIYs for all of you, but I am so glad that I took that time to pause! After all the hard work that I poured into each design, I was was able to debut my collection of prints, tote bags, sketchbooks of dogs in costumes, desserts, and feminine illustrations at the 2019 Art Beat in South Bend. It was a successful day, not only in sales but also in the kernels of lessons that I accumulated that day. I have to say that it lit a bigger fire to get out there and continue to share my illustrative works. I’ve already got big plans for 2020!
In addition to selling at Midwestern arts festivals, I have opened an Etsy store! It is a new way to expand myself into bigger communities of art lovers around the world!
Other plans for 2020 include picking up the blog again! I will be posting DIY crafts for you to try, I’ll also be posting more artistic tutorials like this one I did on colored pencil tips (link). In the past, I’ve done some lighthearted lifestyle posts, and I’ll still do that, but they will be more geared towards my artistic journey. I want for you to be able to come along with me, and for my journey to help yours! I’ll also be sharing behind the scene updates on my Etsy store, as well as my event calendar. And, I’ve got some new plans for the direction I’m going in my Fine Art career, so I will be sure to post about that as well!
To you the reader, I humbly ask that you check out my Etsy store, give me a like or a follow and be sure to sign up to my newsletter. It is the best way to keep up with current events, updates on my blog and store!
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