Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I am not going to talk about the state of the world, what has been happening in the past or about to happen in 2026. There is plenty of news about that everywhere. The first thing I want to say is I have been pretty happy with how I have been doing on a personal level.

I have taken up getting out of the studio and going on trips during 2025. I have been to the UK twice, Thailand once, Saint Louis, MO twice to see family, Dallas/Fort Worth to see my daughter and grandson Henry who turns 6 this week. Los Angeles at least twice. Had a show in Los Angeles in April, gave three collage workshops, two of them with Les Jones and maybe there is other stuff but if there is it slips my mind at the moment.

I am a homebody by nature. I am perfectly happy staying in the studio and working along on my projects.

I kept my personal promise to myself of walking ten thousand steps a day on average for the entire year of 2025. I ended up at 10,145 steps a day for the whole year! Fireworks and sparklers! I can’t believe I honored that goal. That is probably the first new years resolution I ever accomplished or even remembered to work on. Well, now that I think about it, I did make a commitment to writing something in my journal every day in mid 2022. I accomplished that and kept on going. Now writing everyday is just normal. And I am writing a lot.

One thing I have figured out about writing is that you can let your imagination go wild at no extra cost! Wait a minute, I guess it is time to crack open a new word document and start my 2026 journal… There, done.

This week I am starting to get serious about organizing the Creative Lifestyle writings into first draft book manuscripts and starting the process of revision and editing. That is coming along well.

Studio production slipped substantially this year with all of the traveling and writing. But I wasn’t being pushed by the market which was very slow by comparison to previous years so, with plenty of inventory, I have given myself the time to work on other things of interest for a while.

I really appreciate all of you sticking with me on the Touchonian. I am glad there are all of you out there to share my thoughts with and tolerating all of the other crazy stuff I write. But I am having fun. There are now more than 625 free access posts on the Touchonian. Assuming you have been enjoying it, Consider becoming a paid subscriber to help me justify my madness.

And don’t forget the Hole Company! That is slowly brewing into a book in the background.