New Year's Resolutions Follow Up

Back in January I posted a some of my goals for 2011.  We're past the halfway mark to 2012 now and a new school year is starting, so I thought I'd take a moment and post my progress towards my resolutions:

• Paint! I'm still doing plenty of painting, although I'd still like to do MUCH more!  I have been working on larger paintings of Lake Mineral Wells and other landscapes, and gradually sinking my teeth into images from Caprock Canyon.  Now that the school year is starting I have a big project planned involving the students and events at the school I teach at in the Dallas ISD.  You'll have to stay tuned for more info on that once I get it rolling.
• Take advantage of non-traditional exhibit venues.  I've been lagging behind on this one.  I just felt like I needed to have a little more success in terms of my larger pieces before I tried to mount a show again.  I'm feeling like I'm ready now though, and I'm planning to contact the possible venues in the next few weeks.  Wish me luck! 
• Enter Juried Exhibitions.  I just paid my entrance fees and submitted images of some of my paintings to three different national competitions.  Two are for publications and one is an online gallery.
• Submit work to galleries.  I've still been keeping a list of potential galleries to approach, their submission guidelines, and dates that they review portfolios, but have been focusing more on getting my name out there online and developing a few current exhibits for my resume before I submit my work.  I have had one gallery contact me, although I didn't feel like it was a good fit.
• Amplify my internet presence. My website (http://www.marknesmith.com/) is looking better, and I've gathered a few followers for my Paint Daily Texas blog.  I added it to the Networked Blogs on Facebook and that's really helping my traffic stats.  I've also become quite active on Flickr and regularly post paintings among the many groups I participate in.  I've been leaving my virtual footprint all over the net, and even had a two-page article about my work in and online magazine.  I've been accepted into the Artists in Texas group (kind of a webring/co-op for Texas artists) and just need to pay my membership dues.  I think I'm starting to get to the point where Galleries and collectors can see that I'm serious about actively promoting my work again.

I think it's good to set goals, but part of the process is checking your progress towards those goals.  That's the part I've been kind of missing the mark on.  Every once in awhile it's good to re-focus on the target and clear our heads of all the extra junk that accumulates throughout the course of surviving in the real world each day.  I hope you've each had some success towards your own goals and resolutions, and remember, there's still alot of time left in the year to make it happen!