I’m going to do something I haven’t done in a while. I’m writing a blog post!

Dear Readers, I hope I still have a few stray readers out there; it has been a full year. I have tried many new things this year and now at the near-end of 2015, I have sort of come full circle – back to the sketchbook and the act of sketching from life - in watercolor and colored pencil. I just ordered six (6!) new sketch books from Dick Blick – who, by the way, is having a sale until midnight tonight – 20% off and free shipping if you spend $69. I can go for that!

I got very much into Documenting my Faith around the first of the year with Stephanie Ackerman – you can read about that here. I enjoy that and plan to continue it in 2016. That led me to also try Bible Journaling. I bought a journaling Bible, actually two, and tried it for a few months. I eventually decided I don’t like drawing in my Bible, but would rather read my Bible and study it as I did before. I’ve always written in my Bible, made marginal notes, and colored the text and underlined it. I love using colored pencil in my Bible as a highlighter. But drawing in my Bible actually distracted me from the Word instead of drawing me more into it. So I gave away one journaling Bible and I will keep the one I did the most art in. Now I know. You can’t know until you try; right?

In October, I realized another dream of mine – I opened a booth in the downtown antique mall – Deborah’s Designs and Finds. My plan was to create like mad and fill it with hand painted glass rescued from local thrift shops, my artwork, and things I find at auctions and thrift shops. Stocking and running my booth has proven to be far too much stress for far too little enjoyment and no profit whatsoever. So December will be my last month renting a full booth space. It is located in the downstairs of the antique mall and maybe doesn’t get enough traffic. The owner suggested I rent a small display case upstairs at much less rent and with far greater exposure. I am considering that very seriously. That way I’m not giving the idea up entirely. And most of my “finds” are teacups, books, art, and other things that would fit nicely on display shelves.

My most exciting (for me) new endeavor is My Etsy Shop! I have an Etsy Shop – DeborahAlexanderArt, featuring notecards and prints of my artwork! I hope to expand this shop and add original artwork.

Another endeavor I took on this year is the role of my church’s librarian. That’s a huge project as the books have never even been catalogued!

I lost my job in June of 2015. The first time that has happened to me in my career. Feeling worthless and devastated and rather desperate I looked frantically for a job for months, and when I say looked I mean online looking – I posted resumes for every job that I was remotely qualified for. I even contemplated – was this my chance to finally make art full-time, the thought of which sent me into hyperventilation. I’ve wanted to do that for years and years – as long as I can remember, but when I was faced with the actual possibility of realizing that dream, the thought of not having a steady income and health insurance for my family was more than I could handle. I got so nervous at the mere thought of it that I froze. Faced with a whole day at my disposal, I paced the floor not knowing what to do with myself. Then I made a list of all the things I could do to make myself useful and not idle. Thankfully, within the next day or so, I got the awaited job offer! I have a wonderful job at the community college where I got my Associates degree! Back home. Full Circle. It’s a busy, fulfilling job that I absolutely love.

So you see 2015 has been a very exciting and busy year.