New Year’s – BZTAT STUDIOS LLC

For the past few years, I have marked the end of the year with a post envisioning my goals for the next year. I have created “vision boards” in past years, following a trend that claimed that visualizing goals with representative images will make it more likely that the goals will be realized.

I have had mixed results with my past vision boards. Some of the same goals have been posted and re-posted, yet, my progress on them has been haphazard.

I am a visual person, so bringing an image to a goal is more fun than exercise for me. I suspect that takes away from the impact of a vision board for me.

So this year, I am not posting any images other than the one that you see above. Instead, I am going to post a word -one word only- that, I hope, will characterize my desired direction for 2014.

FOCUS

A person can have great ideas and visualizations. But without focus, those ideas either fail to be implemented, or their implementation is scattered. For me, it has been the latter, especially in 2013.

I believe that I needed to take a scattered approach previously. Being new to the concept of entrepreneurship and the business of art, I needed to try new things and I needed to explore without being definitive of my purpose. But it is time to get serious now.

I know where I want to go. I know what elements of my repertoire that I want to emphasize. And I know what things may tempt me, but actually can end up becoming mission creep.

For 2014, I plan to focus on my pet portraiture as my main activity. I plan to establish 4 lines of work in this area:

Premiere Contemporary Custom Pet Portrait Paintings (formerly called Pop Art Style portraits)
Contemporary Folk Art Pet Portrait Paintings (formerly called Folk Art Style portraits)
Contemporary Pet Portrait Drawings (new)
Contemporary Digital Pet Portraits (new)

I will create other artworks as well, however, I am not going to pursue the market for these items as rigorously as I have in the past. If opportunities arise, I will consider them, but I am not going to beat the bushes for the opportunities. Less emphasized will be:

Paint-a-thon paintings and drawings
Public Art
Community and Social Awareness artworks

I will continue Okey’s Promise based artworks, however, these will likely be scaled back to smaller projects. I will also continue creating artworks that are part of my creative drive and simply call out to me to be created.

I have chosen my areas of focus for both business and artistic reasons. Pet Portraits are my most popular creative items from a profit perspective, but they also are my best work. I enjoy creating them. I enjoy the interaction with the pet lovers who commission portraits, and I feel artistically challenged with each new work. It makes sense on many levels to focus my creative and business energy in this direction.

On January 4, 2014, I will debut a completely restructured website with this new focus. New items will be announced and new pricing structures to accommodate various budgets will be established. I hope that you will like the new look and focus!

The new site will have a completely new URL, however, the current URL will be redirected to the new one. All previous blog posts will be migrated to the new site. I will post the new information for RSS feeds and posts to email here on January 4. This site will remain, however, eventually it will have all site info directing to the new site.

I am looking for 2014 to be a great year for BZTAT Studios. I hope that your year is grand as well.

Happy New Year!

It has become my annual tradition to create a vision board as I welcome the new year in and say goodbye to the old one.

The purpose of creating a vision board is to define your outcomes and goals, allow them to manifest in your life, and share your vision with others to make your intentions more powerful.

I created vision boards for 2011 and 2012, and I shared them here on my blog. I accomplished some goals, and I am still working on others. (I still haven’t gotten off the Super Size Me Diet).

On my accomplished list: I did publish my book, and I did complete the second Okey’s Promise Project, which will begin touring this year. I did create and sell a lot of paintings and other artworks. I did put together a licensing portfolio.

On my not yet accomplished list: I have not yet developed any significant or lucrative licensing contracts, and I have not yet increased my wealth substantially. I have not done as much public speaking as I would like.I still have to plunk quarters in a washer and dryer that is in the dungeon of my apartment building.

On my always in progress list: Although I sometimes lament that change is a slow and crooked journey, I have continued to do my part to change my world for the better.

So here is my vision board for 2013. Some things from previous years have reappeared, and there are some new things. I hope to check back throughout the year to review and reflect on my progress!

Create my third Okey’s Promise project – a mural on a building in Barberton, OH, that educates and inspires people around the world to take action against animal abuse, child abuse and domestic violence.