2022 Year In Review
2022 Year In Review
6 Shows, 23 Paintings, and 27 Podcast Episodes later- This is a review of 2022
This year has been WILD. So many unexpected things happened and I was able to have a really successful art year. There have been many adventures and many heartbreaks.
Each year I write out goals for myself and my business. There are 9 major categories and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go through the goals I had written up for myself in December of 2021 and see which goals I reached, which I failed, and which I no longer wanted anymore.
I’ve been writing up goals for myself for the last 15 years and it’s a cherished tradition. The main categories I look at are: Health, Finance, Hobbies, Home, Art Business (including Twitch & Social media), Romantic relationship, Family, Friends, and Travel.
Some of my goals on here will be very private, but others i’m super willing to share. Shall we see how I stacked up against my ambitions?
Health
+Regular exercise- Three days a week I want to be working up a sweat. Yoga, skating, whatever it takes. Something social would be ideal, but I'd take free home activities too.
My Health was one thing I didn’t give a big priority towards in 2022. I had spurts of motivation and did get into a really great routine in yoga in February-April of this year. Have you ever heard of Yoga with Adrienne? She has these fabulous 30 day yoga series and my friend Ryan and I did it together.
What I’m really noticing about myself is that my favorite workouts are social. If I don’t have a buddy or someone to report back to- I simply don’t do it. But if I have a class I do with the same friend each week- Watch out world! I’m in it to win it. Are you like this?
A favorite exercise of mine is the daily walk. I do this more frequently when I have an audiobook i’m listening to and this year I was pretty consistent to walking several times a week.
I fell off my yoga habits when I did some traveling and never picked it back up mid-year. I also had several deaths occur in my life this year, all throughout the year. I tend to be lethargic when i get depressed or am in grief. So this year was frequently broken up by those periods.
I kept a consistent weight through the year, which overall i think is a win. I restabilized at this new weight since finding out about allergies and post isolation lifestyles.
I would say that my health goals in 2022 were reached to the best of my capabilities with the events that happened this year.
+Cook more interesting meals.
I like always having something ready to go in the fridge/freezer It makes me eat healthier and happier. I want to cook one meal a week that's a little more time intensive and also good for my body. This will keep things exciting.
I was successful with this goal! I did a lot more cooking and was able to keep ready, home made meals in my fridge almost all the time. I’d like to expand on that goal for next year.
+Mental health- find a therapist!
I never did find a therapist. I wish I had, I think i’d have gotten through grief a lot easier with one. Hindsight and all that.
Finance
Spending habits:
+Emergency Savings: +$5000 by the end of the year
+vault savings: +$3000 by the end of the year
+No more than 1500 on credit cards at any given time.
In 2021 I was overspending my means, I had credit card debts and really struggled to stay on a budget. In 2022 I was way more on the ball with my spending, but I’m not yet satisfied with where I’m at.
I’ve ended the year a little short of my $5000 savings goal, and almost had to use up all my savings. Luckily I was able to get savvy and avoid that.
In the Vault savings I DID reach that goal! I’m so proud of myself for that!
If you are wondering the difference of Emergency Savings vs Vault savings, it’s this:
Savings is for 3-6 months emergency fund AND a holding place for all my yearly expenses like car insurance. I try to pay the big bills all at once since you can save a lot of money that way, I break down the cost for the year and divide it by 12 months. Each month I save that money into the emergency fund on top of my emergency fun savings and it ensures I’m never caught unaware. For example if my Car insurance is 1200 for the year, I’d put 100 extra into my Emergency savings each month. I’ll stop adding to my emergency savings once it gets to 6 months living expenses and maintain it at that amount.
Vault savings is money I NEVER TOUCH unless its a dire emergency. It’s a small money market account that gets a little interest and I’ll never stop adding to it. My current goal is to get 3 months savings in there, then 6 months savings, and then I’ll set a new goal.
One thing I’m not super happy with is not sticking to my budgets- this is key for a healthy bank account and sometimes I am disappointed in myself for going over. Some months are better than others.
Hobbies:
+books 30 Easy. Pretty typical for me and i love doing it.
+Italian: confidence in basic greetings and small talk conversation by the time we leave for italy on April 15, 2021
- Daily rosetta stone, weekly talks with a coach, and practice with my friends.
I read 50+ books this year! Nice work me :D
Italian… language learning is one of the hardest things i’ve ever tried to do. I wanted to be able to confidently hold a small talk type of situation I studied for. Between January and April I spent 62 days studying Italian for our month long trip to Italy and I didn’t get very far. I used Rosetta stone and had fun trying though. I guess that’s what matters.
That’s 62 days I could have not tried. So i’m going to change my mindset- that was a win!
Home:
+Get 5 things marked off on the Fix list
+Make a food garden in the back patio. Pots for fruit and veggies. Everything moveable. Make it cozy and a fun place to be in.
+Upgrade bed/bedding
At the beginning of 2022 I had a bunch of things that I wanted to change about my house and I did most of them. I wanted to get some upgraded furniture and we did that in late summer. I wanted to have a garden that could be more than the neighbors grass and weeds. A place for raised beds and pretty ground cover and I started that! I have some new camellia flowers and I’ve been working on getting the soil to be more than just clay. Gardening has been my favorite new hobby in 2022 that wasn’t even on my hobby list. I got some furniture fixed up that I inherited and picked out new bedding. I love the improvements I’ve made to my home this year.
Art goals:
+group show
+solo show
+enter exhibition
+apply for galleries/coffee shops/etc
+Start an art bookclub
+Take a business class
+make consistent print sales
I was in 6 show this year! I was in a group show, 5 solo coffee shop shows, and an online art exhibition. I started the Art Book Club in late December of 2021 and kept it going though all of 2022 (we took a holiday break in December).
I took several classes for my business, got many audits done for my websites, STARTED THIS PODCAST - it wasn’t even a goal for the year.
I had one big goal for 2022 that didn’t happen. I wanted to sell every painting that i made in 2022. But I got pretty far in that goal! Over half of my paintings sold, plus i had many wonderful commissions.
In 2021 I had made 40+ paintings. This year i made a lot fewer. Art shows, traveling, and grief took up a lot of my painting time and energy. So we made less there. I’m not upset about it because I was able to sell more prints this year that ever before.
Twitch:
Come up with new engaging ideas! I want the channel to grow and I love streaming. I'd like to do:
-multi streams
-art class streams
-collaborations with other streamers
-art book club once a month
+100 subscribers by the end of the summer
+lots of active discord events and cool things.
+critique nights with other streamers? Could be cool.
Twitch has been less active for a platform for me, but so has the entirety of my painting schedule. I just haven’t put as many hours into actually painting, and that is the same for twitch.
Wins- I did several multi streams with my friends who are also streamers. I LOVED these and hope to do more in 2023
Art class streams didn’t happen, but that’s not something i wanted anymore.
I tried the critique night, didn’t get a lot of interest for it.
My discord died a bit this year, but so did my engagement with all things online.
Relationship:
+go on more dates
+Rearrange the house so that there’s more of him in it. Put up his posters! get more of his decorations in the common areas. :D
My relationship with my partner got more solid this year. Traveling together for long periods of time has made me more confident in our relationship. I feel like he’s more settled into our home too. It’s nice!
Family:
+Monthly dinners at my house. Ever since having peeps over for dinner on thanksgiving- I know that this doesn't have to be a big deal and I want it! Get take out and have them over! Chat about life! Be less-on.
I tried to have monthly dinners and FAILED hahah scheduling was hard. I did get to see them often though and that was super nice. I’m going to keep trying.
Friends:
+Plan more multi-people events. I like that my friends know each other and I want them to be friends and hang out with out me. Like it would be so cool. I like having the 'connector' role and i want to do more of it. It makes me feel good.
We had lots of little parties and gatherings. Any chance I could convince my friends to get together and play together I did and it was rad.
Overall, I hit most of my goals for the year. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made on multiple fronts in my life and am looking forward to evolving my goals for 2023. Next week I’ll be posting my 2023 goals so stay tuned if that’s of interest to you!
Host and artist Stephanie Scott breaks down the practicality of the art career with topics including: sustainable creative practices, social media skills, and the mindsets that keep it all together. New episodes every Tuesday!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniescott.art/
Website: http://www.stephaniescott.art/brushwork
Music by @winepot https://www.instagram.com/thewinepot/
Podcast Cover photo by Maryna Blumqvist https://instagram.com/picturemaryna