Year’s End
As another year comes to a close so to does another opportunity to look at our art and creative efforts throughout the year. Like many artists, I document and catalog my paintings, an effort that is much easier with computers! Years ago I would write index cards for each painting with a title, size and other information and write on the card when it was delivered to a gallery and when it was sold.
Now, of course, the task is in a computer database program and I can keep track of far more information and an image of the work too. The reward for a year’s diligence in record keeping is a wealth of information and an ease of overview.
It isn’t complicated to build a ‘report’ on the paintings completed, where and if they were sold as well as other comments on sources, commissions and framing expenses. Since I have thumbnail images of the art in a file, I can get an overview of the entire year’s production at a glance. When I experimented with a new color or background technique, what compositions were more successful than others and other information is there in the images.
It is only from looking back at what we have done that we can recall what we were striving to accomplish. We can identify the strengths and weaknesses of our past work and plan the direction we want our art to take in the next year.