January 3, 2023

Art Toolkit Staff Share Goals for the New Year

Everyone relates to art in a unique way, so we are starting off the new year by sharing our staff’s (mostly artistic) goals for the year ahead.

By The Art Toolkit Team

Five members of the Art Toolkit team sit with legs dangling off the edge of a concrete wall, smiling with sketchbooks.

Yesterday, we shared a blog post featuring artistic goals from some of our favorite artists and found their answers truly inspiring. Everyone relates to art in a unique way, so we are starting the new year by sharing our staff’s (mostly artistic) goals for the year ahead. Read on to hear from everyone at Art Toolkit and to see some fun snapshots from a recent outing to Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA.

Windswept view across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, from Fort Worden showing yellow beach grasses and waves in the distance.
View north across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Fort Worden.
This year, I’d like to broaden my artistic horizons by trying out a new medium I’ve not worked in before and by traveling to a new landscape and exploring it with my sketchbook.
—Carolyn
I want to carry a little sketchbook for practicing value sketches in pencil. I also hope to make at least three physical objects other people will see, use, and appreciate.
—Darin
Justin Lesser sketches whilst sitting in a tree at Fort Worden.
Justin finds the perfect view high in a tree.
I want to get my kiln running and my pottery studio functioning. I have a goal of making dishes for the house!
—Justin
I would love to incorporate urban sketching into my artistic practice. I can’t wait to play tourist in downtown Port Townsend and spend time sketching architecture and the urban landscape, which I hardly ever do!
—Nakaia
Nakaia and Maria walk and talk, toolkits in hand.
Nakaia and Maria walk and talk, toolkits in hand.
I want to get back to having fun with art again this year. To do that, I need to go back to creating things that excite me! I want to explore multimedia, scrap-booking, and painting once my studio is set up!
—Cole
Cole sketches with the Explore Palette Plus and their water brush.
Cole sketches with the Explore Palette Plus and their water brush.
A goal for me is to set up a space so I can start making woodcut signs again. I haven’t made any since I moved to Washington, but I think I’m almost at a place where I can start making them again.
—Noah
As I oversee Art Toolkit shipping, I would like to work on feeling connected with the person receiving the products and picturing them unboxing their new supplies with everything in there, all in perfect condition, and wrapped up nice and pretty.
—Mila
I will move into my she-shed, which we built so I could have a place to create and dream and write! My goal is to have a regular writing practice and host art evenings with my friends.
—Renée
Maria sketches with a Kakuno fountain pen.
Maria sketches with a Kakuno fountain pen.
This year, I’d like to get back into bookbinding. Sketchbooks are both functional and satisfying tools to create, and I’m excited to share the process with my daughter as well.
—Maria

Best wishes for 2023!
An artist sites on a rock, dipping a paintbrush in a Pocket Palette.

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