2022 is coming to an end and it’s time for me to recap what I’ve worked on all year!
The most exciting thing I did in 2022 was become a mom. It was so exciting to learn about Baby Jewell being on his way at the end of 2021. I made Baby Jewell’s first painting in January of 2022 above, of his little ultrasound scan.
In 2022 I made countless paper animal bookmarks. I can’t count how many I made but I think I made about 1000 of these.
I went big with paper art in 2022, I made dozens of pieces of cats, dragons, birds, and other animals.
In 2022 I started studying watercolor and working with it. I had to study it and read books about this medium to understand it. My previous forays into working with watercolor were pretty bad. I learned about paper, colors, and brushes, and after I put in the time to do this, my art was much better.
At the end of 2022 in mid-December, I did a few oil paintings after taking a break from the medium while I was pregnant and breastfeeding.
I was really happy to get back to oil painting even if the way the paints smell is a pain to me. Maybe my mom hormones make me smell it more than I used to, because I am using the same paint I’ve always used! I am not sure.
Earlier in 2022 I also worked a lot with gouache, which I think is a beautiful medium and it doesn’t get enough credit at all!
Finally I am excited to say that I am working on a comic I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. It’s called “Merlin in the West” where Merlin of King Arthur fame finds himself transported to the American Wild West. I can’t wait to work on it more and I can’t wait for you to read it!
I’m not sure how I will publish Merlin in The West but I think I’ll do it online or on the web first. Maybe on the same domain as TiltedSun.com, we will see.
In summary, I made a lot of art in 2022! In total I estimate that I made at least 1300 pieces of art, including the bookmarks, tiny paintings, big paintings, and watercolors on paper. It was a different year for me since I spent the entire year working on being a mom. I think that being a mom has fundamentally changed how I work, but not the nature of my art. I’ve found that I am a bit more organized because time is so critical to manage, as I have less of it. I do think that this limit is helpful, though. I make more art in shorter periods of time than I used to make in longer periods of time. I find that I must make an impact with my time, instead of wait around and let things draw out.