Good morning, everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was busy but very enjoyable. I was able to get a lot of errands, work & even some chill time into my weekend. Normally, I put the work side of things in my art studio away for the weekends, but since I have recently decided to make some changes to my business plan & art adventures, I needed to put in a little extra work.

I found a quote this weekend, that reminded me of what it takes to make your plans and dreams come true, so I wanted to share it with you. “The gap between the life you want & the life you are living is called Mindset, Focus & Consistency. Those are 3 important things that we all need to accomplish our goals. The quote really resonated with me because these have always helped me achieve my goals in the past. It was good to be reminded of that because I feel like I lost sight of this in my recent past, especially where my art journey/career is concerned. So, I plan to move forward this week with a positive mindset, laser focus & consistency in the art studio.

For the start of my weekend, I was able to pick up my new laptop computer (YAY!) and start getting it set up with all of my graphics software, as well as moving files from my old laptop to the new one. While I LOVE getting new “toys” especially for my art studio, setting up new technology & moving files is one of my least favorite things to do. I managed to get it done though, all except for one graphics package that seems to not want to cooperate. The customer service department for this software company is not very helpful, to say the least, so I have put it aside for now while I’m waiting to hear back from them with a solution.

I was also able to finish renovating my silk screen printing space to better accommodate the plans that I have for doing more screen printing. I am very excited because I now have everything conveniently set up to start doing more silk screen printing in my studio, as well as have a place to recycle/reclaim silk screens & safely get them clean & ready for new print jobs. So now the only thing that is left is to do is to get printing! I will be posting updates & lots of photos on my printing process in the future if you’re interested, so stay tuned for that.

I’m also happy to say that I finished my first course, that I told you about in last week’s blog post, in my Coursera online graphics specialization through California Arts Institute. Five more courses to go & I will be completely refreshed & up to date in my graphic design knowledge. Even though I’ve been a graphic designer for many years, one can never have enough knowledge!

This week I will be working on more Art-O-Mat mini art blocks, as well as preparing a job to be silk screen printed. I will also be adding more merchandise to my Redbubble storefront. One of the designs I will be adding is the one attached to this blog post. I will have stickers, journals, coffee mugs among many other things available, so be sure to check out my store in the next several days for the new arrivals. Here is the link to my store if you are interested: http://www.rebubble.com/people/GeminiPearlArt/shop (You will also be able to view this & other designs in clearer detail in my store. This photo has been watermarked & reduced in quality to make it hard for those pesky art thieves out there.)

So that is what I was up to this weekend and what is on my agenda for this week. I am also hoping that my new Wacom Cintique 22 graphics tablet comes in this week (YAY! Another new art “toy”) so I can get that set up with my new laptop & then get to designing more designs for my silk screen printing endeavors as well as my Redbubble store at a much faster rate than I am able to do with my current set up.

So now that I have rambled on & on…. what were YOU up to this weekend? What are YOUR plans for the near future? Do you have a positive mindset going into this week or are you struggling? What steps are you taking to keep focused & consistent to achieve your goals? I would love to hear from you & get your feedback, comments, and stories. Let’s chat about it!

Just remember that whatever your plans are for this week, take a moment to “Stop and smell the roses” and be grateful for where you are at this moment in your life!