Happy New Year Everyone! My wish is that this is a prosperous year for all! With a the new year comes a new look for my blog. It’s work in progress, so this page may look completely different next week or next month. I’m exploring free themes that allow some flexibility, which for me means a custom header and background. Bueno is the current theme at the moment. I’m still getting a feel for what I like and what I can live without i.e I like 2 columns, I can live without a footer.

So I have some goals for the new year. Actually, most are really a continuation from 2011 with a few tweaks. I plan to:

• Blog more – First, I would like to thank those of you who read/subscribe to my blog.  I will continue to post content that I hope piques your interest. Let me know if it does or doesn’t. WordPress has compiled a report of my 2011 blogging year, check it out. It’s a definite improvement over 2010, but there were things I failed to do, such as post once a week. My goal is to continue in the effort to write each week, but of course do better.
• Build a better blogging network – I plan to be more active in the blogging community by following blogs I like and leaving meaningful comments. The goal is to build connections, make friends, and become more visible.
• Update my website – My personal website needs to change since situations  have changed. (need more clarification: read I’m Failing and Why That Isn’t So Bad). It needs to better reflect my graphic design work and photography, while paying homage to my architectural work. It’s also an opportunity to flex my design skills and teach myself more HTML and CSS. I’ve decided to drop a flash based site for now. The new website also needs to be easily updatable  (I think this word is made up), since my portfolio will continue to grow.
• Get a paid Graphic Design Internship or an Entry Level Position – It’s my mission to get hired full time this year at a company/firm/agency/etc. Any suggestions? Want to hire me? Let’s talk. 
  
  
• Read more
• Sketch more – I plan  to improve my sketching ability. I can replicate almost any sketch, but I want to start creating unique content of my own. I also want to explore different sketching styles. I already have a project in mind, but that’s to be revealed at a later date.
• Exercise more
• Take more photographs
• Create a wallpaper monthly – I plan to make a desktop wallpaper available for free each month. I appreciate when other artists do this and I’ll look to them for inspiration. There will be no continuous theme, just whatever techniques or ideas I would like to try. I’m still figuring things out like what’s the best resolution to use or which colors, since each screen is different.  Here is my first wallpaper, a tribute to the new year. It was done in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The color palette  was chosen from ColourLovers and it’s actually called Happy New Year by ljoobitza. Click the image for size 1440 x 900.

2012 Wallpaper Size 1280 x 800.
2012 Wallpaper Size 1400 x 1050.