Welcome to 2013. I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. Like many people I have been considering what changes to make in my life in 2013, playing with resolutions and picking a word to represent 2013 for me. Last year I spoke to a colleague at work about New Year resolutions and her response was ‘you don’t want resolutions you want goals!’ I immediately rebelled! Resolutions seem soft gentle things whereas goals seem hard nosed ‘must do’s’ that can add to life’s pressure - so I will be sticking to resolutions!

One of my resolutions is to start keeping an art journal - I have flirted with the idea during 2012 but not really knowing where to start I have signed up for two classed to give me a kick start, Jani Franck’s Creative Journaling and Effy Wild’s Book of Days. I have also bought a book of daily readings called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach and I am intending to use these as a source of inspiration for journalling. The 4th January chapter introduces six principles which will act as guides for the year’s journey. These are gratitude, simplicity, harmony, beauty and joy and I have incorporated these words together with my word of the year ‘embrace’ into my first journal entry. I am not intending to blog regularly about my art journal but to write occasional posts featuring it as and when it strikes me that there may be something good to share.