Every so often I need to clean house. I think its important to purge ourselves of the unnecessary “stuff” that piles up over time. Its amazing how refreshing it can be to let go of it. I like to do this to my work space as well as my living space, as it tends to yield similar results.

This week, I found myself buried in a ton of stuff from old jobs and unfinished projects all the way back to my college days. At first I took a strict approach to throw out everything I haven’t used or seen in the last 6 months. It was going well, but then I started to get into my old papers from college and reading through some of my sketch books. I forgot how much I really enjoyed things like Art History and Photography. I took a Surrealism class in college which was the very first time I actually cared about art history for more than “interesting art.” Something about the meaning behind the work and the troublesome woes that surrealistic artists expressed made sense to me. I had always been a fan of Salvadore Dali, but did not really understand the meaning behind the craziness in his work. I thought, when I took the class, that I would write my term proejct about Dali.

I found a small sketchbook that I dedicated to this term project, which included a series of different writings, photographs, sketches and ideas. I forgot that I even had it, but I started to flip through the pages and was really inspired, again by the work and poetry from the time period. Hans Bellemer was the German artist whome I wrote about (surrealistic).

I have tons and tons of photos of his classic mutated “dolls” which were essentially an expression of his hatred of the fascist Nazi regime. I ended up writing a short book inspired by Bellmer, as well as a series of different art pieces with oil, craypas and watercolor. I also wrote a couple of poems which turned into a song that I have yet to finish, but am excited to get to work on it again.

Most importantly, I was really excited to find something NEW in my sea of OLD. It was rewarding to spend time and look through some of the clutter, even though most of it was rubbish. It was great to remind myself of old inspirations, and perhaps revitilize them into new ones.

I’m really excited to embark on a brand new year. This week is my 1 year anniversary of my decision to be my own boss, and run my own company full-time. It was an interesting year full of ups and downs, and mostly learning experiences. I found new strengths that I never knew I possessed, as well as many new challenges along the way. I took my time and slowed down. I reflected and rebooted. Mostly, I never let myself get too overwhelmed. I decided that it was most important to try to take my craft to a higher level, than ever before.

In the web-space, I especially developed my understanding of the content management system in regards to functionality and design. I think its so great that the web is finally catching up to the depth and dimension of print-design. It is extremely exciting to be at the forefront of the ever-expanding web-world, and I hope that the momentum continues. I have various interesting projects down the pipeline, and I look forward to working on them, and sharing them in this space in this new year. I can’t wait to see what else is in store this year and I hope it is a wealth of new beginnings and experiences that enhance my creativity and ability.