2025 has been full of challenges and opportunities for me. I have been dealing with a lot of things in my life but while all those challenges were going on since the start of 2025, some very interesting opportunities came my way. I said yes to two very exciting opportunities for me!
I am telling you this because one of the opportunities came way out of the blue, so surprising that I was shocked to be asked! You see, years ago I had a dream to teach Art/Zentangle somewhere outside of Canada but along the way, I gave up on that dream because it just wasn’t happening. Lo and behold, my dream came true that I thought I had given up on! I was asked by Martina Ramhapp to attend Swiss Mountain Retreat 2025 and teach a Zentangle Class in Glarus, Switzerland.
The other opportunity is going to actually happen in 2026 but I had to do a little drawing for it. I won’t give this one away just yet, again this opportunity came out of nowhere! I was so thrilled to be asked to do this thing, I said yes enthusiastically!
So two opportunities came my way along with many others in 2025 so I feel very blessed. I have had a tough year personally but I keep my personal life pretty private. Just know things are getting better for me in my personal life, the challenges I faced at the beginning of 2025 are done. Coincidentally, both these opportunities came to me from European Certified Zentangle Teachers!
My friend Julia Maria-Weber created a prompt for our Moon Phases Mosaic Facebook group in September, I kind of helped but she really did it. It was about the upward spiral in the last part of this year especially in September. I really felt like that prompt spoke to me on a personal level. I was kind of in a downward spiral for a bit this year because of things going on in my personal life. But I am very optimistic no matter what is happening in my life, I just keep a lot of things to myself.
It is not that I try to seem like I have it all together because honestly I do not have everything all together. I just choose to see the glass half full versus half empty. I am grateful for the life I have so I choose to look on the bright side of life. After all, my 2025 word of the year is Sparktackle! I did feel Sparktackle this year but at times felt lacklustre too.
Life is like that, full of ups and downs. I feel that even though I had a few challenges or downward spirals, I had a lot of great upward spirals too. If you think that I am just portraying the positive things in my life, that could be true because I feel that if I give a certain challenge too much attention, it will overtake my life. Negativity and I do not have a good relationship because I choose to be positive. That is not to say I am never negative, quite the opposite but I try to see the good even when things are going wrong for me. I have had plenty go wrong in my life but I am still here living my life to the fullest!
So in the spirit of an upward spiral feeling I am hoping to celebrate all that is good in my life for the rest of 2025 and beyond. I do not have to wait until the holidays to celebrate, why not start now?
I have to mention that I started teaching private coloured pencil drawing lessons to my friend Barb Bradley at the beginning of 2025. Barb was interested in learning to draw with coloured pencils and watercolour pencils so I created some custom classes tailored to what Barb was interested in drawing. We have drawn many types of flowers, glassware, landscapes, and dabbled in a little Zentangle as well. The focus in my custom classes is what Barb wants to learn so I take a lot of photos to choose from for our subject matter. I do emphasize originality in my custom classes.
Barb’s drawing skills have grown leaps and bounds this past year from all the drawing we have done! This was an unexpected opportunity for me that I was not sure I could fulfill. I am never overconfident because that is just a recipe for disaster in my opinion. I am confident enough to know what I am doing but spontaneous enough to go to unchartered territory.
I am grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way and are about to materialize in 2026! In January 2026 I will share more exciting news about my new opportunity from another European Certified Zentangle Teacher!
Sometimes you have to create your own magic! It helps to have other Artists support me in the most surprising ways. I want to thank everyone who has supported my business this year and every year since I started teaching Zentangle in 2014. My advice to you is believe in yourself even when others don’t.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!
ART FOR SURVIVAL is creating your own magic, your way, every day!