Happy New Year

Santa # 25

2013 was a year of growth and change for me. I started off the year with a long term plan of getting back to my roots in illustration by enrolling in the RISD Children's Book certificate program. It felt so good to be drawing again! Then I made the commitment to go"full-time" with my art business by leaving my part time job as a fitness instructor....I was really full-time with the business anyway, putting in more weekly hours than I could count. In June I closed my Jelly Beads shop on Etsy, a tough decision as it was thriving, but I knew it would allow me to narrow my focus and concentrate on my long term goal. With the closing of Jelly Beads, I was able to expand my other shop on Etsy, Jelly Cakes, and I just watched order # 1002 come through this morning!!

 I feel very blessed to have had so much success on Etsy. In the works for 2014 is a website, exclusively for my cake toppers and another website dedicated to illustration, under the brand Jelly Lane Designs.

                                   

I took the summer off from classes to focus on family life, my business, and training for Ironman, Lake Placid and started back up again in the fall with the Lilla Rogers E-course, Make Art That Sells. 

This was a total get-out-of-your-comfort-zone experience, and although it was quite a challenge to squeeze it on to my already overflowing plate, it was well worth the late nights and early mornings. I am looking forward to the 2nd part of the course this spring. Here is a little wrap-up of my MATS experience.

After MATS we rolled right into the holidays and wanting to keep the momentum in high gear I created a little challenge....31 Santas for the month of December. I was, for the most part, able to do one just about everyday, although I fell behind in scanning and posting them here. Instagram was fabulous though, as I could snap a quick picture with my phone, edit, and post instantly. I highly recommend checking out Instagram if you havent already.

Here are the remaining Santas from my series:

Santa #26

Santa #27

Santa #28

Santa #29

 Santa #30

 Santa # 31

While all of this was going on, I was getting some really fun custom orders through my etsy shop. I have not had time to post pictures here, but I do try to keep my Flickr page up to date. One resolution for 2014 is to post updates here and on my facebook page more frequently (probably a very common resolution amongst all artists!) Here are a few pics of recent custom-ordered toppers.

Candy Shoppe

 Pink Circus

 Minnie Mouse Icecream Shoppe

Winter Wonderland

Up next. . . 30 in 30 painting challenge in which 360 artists will be painting 1 painting a day for the month of January. I know that it is quite a stretch for me to even consider painting 1 a day, but I love the motivation of the challenge and will be giving it my best shot! Here is some prepping I did yesterday.

That's alot of canvases lol! I will be posting daily WIP updates on my Jelly Lane facebook page. Please stop by for a peak!

So marching full steam ahead in 2014 and wishing you a wonderful year of creativity and success!