2021 Studio Check-in #1: Alcohol Everywhere

For once I’ve mostly stuck to a plan that I planned for myself: I decided that in January, I was going to give myself a creative break. I gave myself permission to play around with other mediums or less polished pieces instead of trying to produce a bunch of new work to stock up the Etsy shop. January is typically a slow sales month (though it hasn’t been completely dormant, thankfully) and this year I’ve been involved in my first webinar with Her Creative Collective, which has been a lot of fun but has also taken plenty of attention and energy.

Even with that happening, I couldn’t resist the urge to create some things. I continued playing with alcohol ink, mainly, as promised; my birthday was last Wednesday and I got more supplies, though now I’m wondering if I should have asked for a heat gun, too. I’m still having fun with the tools I do have, though. Here’s a bunch of the pieces I’ve created the last couple weeks, which are all 9″ x 12″ (instead of 5″ x 7″ like last time):

I did do one single watercolor painting this month, because I was inspired to try a technique I saw on Instagram. It’s not perfect, but I’m still encouraged by how well it turned out for a first attempt:

So that’s what I accomplished this month, along with listening to more Brene Brown podcast episodes and reading a bunch of books, which I hadn’t been making as much time for as I wanted. I still have another week to play before the month ends, of course, but I have started thinking about what’s next for Fairy Tree Studios, too, and the ideas are starting to percolate. I’m looking forward to planning them out with a rejuvenated mindset.