JANUARY 2023: Looking Back Moving Forward
Looking back while moving forward is a risky proposition and before doing so on a threshold of a new year, I offer this plea to Janus, the Roman god of endings and beginnings, for whom January is named:
TO JANUS
god of beginnings and endings
of liminal space between the years,
Looking Back
2022 was an hectic year starting with a new mural, then taking the art of eight Albuquerque Artists to show at the Attleboro Arts Museum in Massachusetts, laying out books, designing and illustrating covers, organizing a Metaphysical art show at Tortuga Gallery, and ending the year with beginning a new mural—and beneath the tip of the iceberg, my personal life has also been hectic with health issues affecting me, my friends and family.
Major Art Shows
The VIVID show included eight originals from the House of Cards series; the Let’s Get Metaphysical Show included more than 20 originals from the I Ching series; and the Protest show included two originals and three prints from the Postcards to America series.
Design and Illustration Projects
This year I continued to provide layout and cover design to Pamela Williams of Mercury Heartlink Independent Publishing—website design and technical support including for current clients and new client Aways North Studios—and a new book and illustrated cover to Marjorie St. Clair, whose website Writer’s Adventure I also support.
Illustrating the cover for Marjorie’s memoir, A Southern Belle in Paris, was especially satisfying.
Tree of Life Mural
It was fun to be out in the fresh air making another mural. The Next Best Thing to Being There is indeed “an extraordinary shop” where I show artwork and do their graphic and website design as well.
2022 Postcards to America
2022 I Ching Hexagrams
Moving Forward
2023 is full of potential and short on certainties. I am currently working on my sixth mural in the Albuquerque area, while in the planning stages for two more—and I may be taking the Alaska postcard work-on-paper to a nationally juried show in Georgia, money permitting. It actually feels good to be facing a new year by taking one day at a time. Below is the new Garden Gate mural currently in progress on 15th an Marble in Albuquerque.
