Champagne Toast – Happy New Year!

Today marks the last day of the Winter Wonderland adventure and I hope all of you who’ve painted along with me have enjoyed participating! This is also the last day of 2016, so here’s a little 2-color doodlewash of champagne to toast the end of the year. Thanks so much to all of you fabulous people who follow Doodlewash and are members of our World Watercolor Group (with an extra special thanks to those who read my little ramblings and comment!). I really can’t thank you enough for all the encouragement throughout the year to keep on painting and writing daily! You are amazing and I love you much. And I hope many of you will join me for the January Adventure as we keep that inner child giggling happily with a month of painting our favorite childhood memories. As for my actual New Year’s festivities, we’re going to be going to the cinema this evening with friends and coming home to toast 2017 on New York time. Midnight is just way too late to stay up these days, and I’m sure it will arrive with or without our being awake to see it.

It’s been years since I’ve attended a large New Year’s Eve party, and since I’m rarely up so late, doing so even once a year is a true challenge. Honestly, if you’re not at a party, then there’s nobody else to toast and nobody there to see if you’ve nodded off before the clock strikes midnight. Back in those days, all I can remember is waking up rather late to greet the first daylight of the year feeling lethargic from too much snack food and nursing a rather annoying hangover. So these days, my memories are far happier and I’m content with our quiet little tradition. That wonderful feeling of new beginnings is still there, however, and I’ve made all the appropriate mental notes of the things I’m hoping to accomplish in the fresh new year ahead. I should have probably written some of them down, as I’m already forgetting most of them, but like most resolutions, I’m probably not actually going to accomplish them anyway.

But the fun part about setting goals for the New Year is the sheer joy of experiencing that tingling sense of possibility. Maybe I’ll create my first painting video! Maybe I’ll write a book this year! These are just some of the things that are rumbling through my brain at the moment and even if they don’t happen it feels good to commit to attempting them, at least. One thing is certain. I’ll still be pursuing my passions by making my little doodlewash each day, writing a tiny story, and doing all I can to promote the work of other artists. These are things I love doing most! So as we head into 2017, I hope all of you are excited to pursue your passions and just let them take you where they take you next. If we all just focus on doing that, then there’s no doubt in my mind that, together, we are going to have a very Happy New Year!

Join us for the January Doodlewash Adventure: Childhood Memories,
Click Here to Learn More!

About the Doodlewash Sennelier L’Aquarelle: Quinacridone Gold and Payne’s Grey. Lamy Safari Al Star pen with Platinum Carbon with black ink in a little red cloth hardbound l’aquarelle journal I found in a Paris shop.

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

See author's posts