This time of year has always been special to me as an artist. To me, the holidays mean restoration and renewal.

After hustling through November and December shipping prints, I love unwinding between Christmas and New Years. It’s the perfect time to sit down with a warm cup of tea and make things, just for the sake of making them. Around this time of year, I tend to up my shop processing times, so I don’t have to ship orders as quickly.

In the past, I’ve taken a social media break from Thanksgiving to New Years. This habit has been life changing. This year, I was already off social media (more on that here), so the break came naturally.

When I think about my art, I categorize it by year - literally and figuratively. I associate each year with different creative milestones. A big tradition for me this time of year is starting a new art storage box for the coming year. I store my art by year in archival 9x12 boxes, and put everything in protective plastic sleeves. This is how I find past work quickly. Part of starting a new box is making sure the past year’s box is organized and ready for storage. This gives me a chance to review my art from the previous year. I like seeing the ways my style has evolved, and noting things I want to work on in the following year. This box tradition is important to me because it gives me closure on the past year’s art and renews my commitment to make art in the coming year. It feels ceremonious. In recent years, I’ve gotten so close to overflowing the box, but there’s always just enough space. My goal is to one day have an A and B box for each year.

Last year, I started the tradition of an illustration series in January. I’m continuing the tradition this year with 30 Home Objects. If you want to paint along with me, details are here. This tradition feels like a jumpstart on my art habit. I get so much better over the course of the month, it’s unbelievable! Also, it makes art feel easy the rest of the year. My husband and I also have the yearly tradition of going vegan from January 1st to St. Patty’s day, so it feels like a great time to reset our health. My art series is a good distraction from any food cravings I may be having. The tough part is all the holiday sweets that have dairy hidden in them. I have a major sweet tooth, so I’ll be eating all the sweets I can before the new year.

This week, I’m having a painting night with my little sister - something I especially enjoy doing over the holidays. I love getting together with others and creating. I’m going to paint a holiday-themed piece to get in the Christmas spirit. We’ll definitely have some Christmas music playing in the background as well. This week, I’m also going to make a big batch of holiday macarons. Channeling my creative energies elsewhere can be really therapeutic for my art. It gives me a different perspective on the creative process.

In addition to my box tradition, I love getting my studio organized at the end of the year. This week, I’ll be making sure my Dropbox art files are in order and my desktop is clean. I’ll also be deep cleaning my space. Part of this process is hanging up my new 2022 wall calendar. I’ve had the Stenig Wall Calendar hanging in my studio for years now, and I look forward to hanging up a new one each year.

The final piece of my holiday traditions is goal setting. When I say goal setting, it’s not so much New Year’s resolutions, as projects and pieces I want to work on next year. I have a habit of blocking off 50 minutes per day to work on “big” projects (read about that here), so I like to noodle on what will fill this space.

I live in an area of the country known for its harsh winters. While this isn’t ideal, I’ve try to lean into the seasons and make a lot of art indoors during this time. The bad weather gives me permission to do so. I love using this extra time to experiment with new techniques, take courses, and write more. After an extremely busy year, is it bad if I say I’m looking forward to this part of winter?