Shayla Maddox

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. The concept is lost on me. If you've resolved to change something, why wait till New Years? Wouldn't you want to start resolving immediately? I dunno.

I do believe in setting goals though, and I do have a small list of things I'd like to accomplish before 2009. (Yikes, just saying that makes me feel old. Or futuristic. One of those.)

• I'm going to submit to a few contests, and my first deadline is January 15th. It's a big contest. I'm readying my slides and application info now. Yes, I totally should have done this earlier.

• I'm also going to submit my materials to some galleries and museums. I haven't completed a full list yet, but a huge gallery in Orange County (California) and a huge one in New York are already on it. (Plus a few not-so-big ones in and around Los Angeles.) This is a long term goal. It can take well over a year to complete the submission process.

• I would also like to host some sort of art event. To show my art. I have some new pieces that I really want people to see in person. My art cannot translate properly online. There is so much more that can only be understood when you look at it in person. Like, for example, how thick the texture is, and how light bounces and reflects off the painting when you stand near it. Also, UV light is terrible in pictures, and photos never show how intense the colors can get, and how the canvas seems to glow from within when you shine a blacklight on it. So... I need people to look at it.

(These, along with the never ending stream of little ones that I constantly obsess over and vow to follow through with, of course.)

The truth is, I have lots of big plans for 2008. Some are personal, some are boring, and most are only important to me. There are certain ones that I like to say out loud though, as that creates a sort of internal commitment to accomplish them, factoring in my typical lag time. (I said before 2009, right?)

Labels: 2008, goals, new years, resolutions