I love the New Year. I love making lists and casting visions of what the next year could look like. Lots of things made the list this year. I want to use up the art supplies that I already have to make new things instead of buying more. I want to learn to tailor clothes that I find at the thrift store, specifically a pair of jeans. I want to work through a pile of vintage linens that my aunt Barb gave me from my great aunt Jane’s collection, crafting new pillows another quilt coat and a window panel from the collection. I want to work through a list of house projects that I have bought all the supplies for but never tackled the actual projects. I want to go to Denver to visit my uncle and his family. I want to visit a friend who recently moved from the city to a farm. I want to repair our broken vacuum, walk dogs, and get new makeup. The list is weird and very specific and it feels really good. I want to protect my energy, tend to the things we own and I want to have a lot of fun.
I also want to continue to grow my skills as an artist and try to grow my audience. I wanted to create a rhythm of making art, sharing it, and giving it away. I thought this newsletter would be a fun way to facilitate that aim. Every week I’m going to be sharing a piece of art and giving away the art file so that you can print it yourself if you’d like. You can also buy a print of the art from me if you would rather do that. I just ask that if you like the work you would share it. Tell your friends about the things that I make so that I can grow my audience and share my art with more people.
Here’s the first piece. It’s called Route 81 which is the road we drive on when we go to visit Jason’s family in Alabama. The whole drive looks like this. Fields and fences and barns and livestock. It reminds me of a Ravilious painting. We made the trip the week before Christmas and it was just so beautiful, especially towards the end of the trip when it was raining and everything was covered in ice which I captured here. So download it here if you’d like. I’d love to see it if you hang it up. You can also buy the print from my shop here with free shipping. Tell all your friends! Here’s a picture you can use to share on your social media feed and link to this newsletter http://haleyharmon.substack.com