January Check-In And A Fresh Start

New years rarely unfold the way we script them, and that’s the point. I’m kicking off 2026 with a refresh that actually works: fewer public hours, more focused days for art, teaching, and community projects, plus a renewed commitment to play as a creative tool. That simple shift unlocked a cascade of good things—mahhjong nights at the shop, a monthly hidden art helmet you can hunt for around town, and a lineup of collaborations that stitch art into everyday life.

I walk through how I audited my slowest days, moved to reservation-only windows Sunday through Wednesday, and used that space to plan spring classes, summer camps, and a returning block of private lessons. You’ll hear about students who are stepping into real community work, a group paint night for 16 to 20 women, and an art-meets-music series with the symphony that pairs visual stories with performance. There’s also a peek at upcoming township projects, holiday window painting wins, and commercial work expanding to a nationwide scale—all the ways visibility grows when you show up consistently and keep the process human.

Underneath the updates is a message I needed to learn the hard way: don’t wait for perfect conditions to start. The shop still has its highs and lows, but the larger ecosystem—classes, events, collaborations, public art—keeps the momentum steady and the joy high. If you’ve been thinking about protecting a day for your craft, launching a small community project, or making a bigger leap into the work you love, consider this your nudge. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review to help more makers find the show. What one change would free your time for the work that matters?

Chapters

• 0:05 New Year Catch-Up And Apology
• 0:58 Redesigning Hours To Protect Time
• 2:22 Mahjong, Events, And Community Play
• 3:16 The Hidden Art Helmet Project
• 3:48 Lessons, Camps, And Homeschool Plans
• 4:29 Collaborations, Commercial Wins, And Gratitude
• 6:34 Choosing Art Full Time And Encouragement
• 7:35 Thanks, What’s Next, And Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:05

Hello, everyone. Welcome to 2026. We are almost done with January. Sorry, it has been a minute since I have got to record and come to say hello to everyone. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a wonderful uh beginning of the new year. I have just been super busy. I've rearranged a lot of things happening, and there's been a lot of reasons for that rearranging. So I had to literally prioritize some of the stuff that I was doing and take that time to get things done. So I apologize for the delay, but I am still here. I still have the studio and I have a lot going on and I'll explain it all. So let's see. At the end of the year, I decided to switch my, I want to say public normal hours to give myself my first days off that I've had in two years. So I have the store on reservation only or classes or lessons from Sunday through Wednesday. So that gives me some time to uh organize things in my life, like my house and the animals, and um some freelance work and some uh a work, commercial work that's coming up that gives me time to concentrate on that and not feel so guilty that the store wasn't um really open full time uh during the day. And I really reassessed what days in the last 18 months were busy and which ones weren't. And those were the days that if I did not have a class already scheduled or an event scheduled, the walk-ins were at a minimum, if any. So I thought that would be the best days that I could take to work in my freelance work and uh some of these other projects, and it's really turned into a good thing. It's three weeks into the new year, and I've been able to schedule some events for those days. Uh I am taking lessons to learn how to play mahjong, and that's been a lot of fun through our local library, and now I want to hold some uh space to play at the shop, and that's been um received very well. So Monday we have our first group meeting here to practice, and I've got to explore designing my own mat, and that's a lot of fun. Uh, so I am like very into this whole mahjong world, it's amazing. And I started an art helmet thing that I'm doing throughout the community for the whole year. So every month I'm painting a football helmet and then hiding it out in the community and giving hints on where you can find it. So the first one was hidden right at the beginning of January, and there was a big snow, and I put a picture online and kind of gave a hint where it was, and someone found it, and I'm anxious to get the February one sent out, and I have it actually right here. Let me see if I can show you. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that here's the helmet, and it's got a little pair of swans with the sunset in the trees on a lake or a pond. So that's going to be the next helmet. And um, I'm starting at private lessons again at the end of February, which um they ended at the um break, the winter break. Uh, so that's starting back up, and that'll be the last six weeks until probably next fall, because I have camps coming up all of June for students, while they're um on summer break. And um our homeschool lessons are going every Thursday, and that's been doing really well. And the students that are in that, you met Madeline last year, and uh she and Lily really come on a consistent basis, and they're going to be joining me on some community projects, and they're doing wonderfully in those lessons. So that's been continuing on. Um, I have some classes that are happening this month and next month, and some group projects and organizations and collaborations with organizations here in town. So uh my old employer, I have a group of about 16, 20 women coming to paint a spring rabbit, and I have a really cool series of art and music collaborations coming up with the symphony. I'm very excited about that. And um the commercial projects that I have coming up are going to be nationwide, so I'm super excited about sharing more of that. Just I I'm just blown away by looking back and figuring out if I would be able to do my art full time and if that was going to be a good move. I don't know how I worked and did my art and enjoyed it so much because now I'm just loving it. And it has just been the best decision that I could have made. And um the shop itself has its you know highs and lows, but everything else uh that I'm doing within the community and organizing uh as projects helps balance that out. I painted three business windows, including my own, during the holidays, and that was wonderful. I love doing that. I have collaborations with our township coming up with our amphitheater. Um just every day something else happens that gets me um in front of new people or they're investigating things that I can do to help them bring awareness to what their events are. And I just I I can't thank everybody enough for including me. And it makes me so, so happy and it reinforces the thought that this was the right move. So if you ever doubt what that move would be for you to do something that you're passionate about and that you love, don't be so afraid that everything isn't perfect ducks in a row and you're like a hundred percent ready to go. Just dive in and things will shake out and work out, and that's what's happened. And um, yeah, I just am so excited about this year and what's to come and everything that's happening and what we're doing, and I just I I can't even put into words how I wouldn't have known half of these things going on before making the decision to do art full time. I didn't know. I didn't know that they would be happening now. And that's okay. And it's a it's a wonderful, adventurous, I guess, place to be in. So I just wanted to say hello again. I'm anxious to share more stories and more people with you this year, and uh I appreciate everyone reaching out, asking how I was doing and where uh what I'm doing and where things are going. So I will keep in touch and I hope you have a brutally made, safe and warm weekend. So I will talk to you later, and we are almost done with January. So hang in there. Bye bye.