My 2024 Review - Pet Portraits Ottery

Like what you see? Follow for regular updates!

Commissions are currently closed as I am planning my wedding! I will reopen commissions in the future, but please feel free to email me to be added to my waitlist.

2024 Review & Goals for 2025

Natalie Grace
10 January 2025
19:18
0 comments

Welcome to my review of 2024!

Is it too late to say Happy New Year?! Normally January is slow but this first week has flown by and I haven't had chance to do a proper look back at 2024 and plan for 2025.

This year has been a really good year for me, I've had a steady flow of commissions and have now actually booked myself out until the summer which is great. I did a couple markets but not as many as last due to timings and schedules, it's been a busy year! I've done a lot of firsts in terms of commissions which has been really fun to achieve, and I've been working hard to keep things going as well as they did last year. And so far so good!

What I did this year...

Pet Portraits

Art Shows & Markets

Art Tutoring

The drawings I have completed this year...

This year I have completed a total of 9 commissions, which consisted of 1 horse, 2 cats, and 6 dogs. A couple of these commissions I am still yet to share as they were gifted for Christmas. I also finished an original drawing at the start of the year which I have been meaning to do for a while which was good. I also created another charcoal drawing to go with my Pastel Cow piece, it's fun mixing it up a bit a being looser with charcoal.

I attended 3 markets this year. The first market I did, I actually went back to school and I really enjoyed this. It was a different audience to what I've normally had, so I sold lots of bookmarks here. I then went back to the Honiton Hill Rally later in the year which did really well again, and then I went to the Ferne Animal Sanctuary for their dog show. Unfortunately it rained on this day so it wasn't a great turnout but it was still good to go to.

Ferne Animal Sanctuary is now also a stockist of some of my cards and bookmarks. I'm so pleased to have my products in their gift shop, and to be helping them with their charity work. I attended one of their events in 2024 and will probably be attending another one in 2025 depending on how the year goes.

On top of my commissions and markets, I actually did my first art tutoring sessions! A lovely lady enquired about having some one to one coloured pencil art lessons, and I was apprehensive at first about doing these as I have no confidence when it comes to teaching, but I challenged myself to do a couple of sessions and I actually surprisingly enjoyed it. I'm still not up for doing full classes or workshops just yet, but I'm definitely planting the seeds in my mind to lead that way one day.

My biggest achievement of 2024 isn't actually art related, but it's why I've been so busy and slack in the last month, and why this review is late! My boyfriend and I have just bought a house together before Christmas, and we are busy renovating at the moment! There will be pictures of that to come soon I am sure. We're both super excited, and this now means I get to have my very own art studio which I'm hoping will kick off the start for great things with my business. I'm currently saving loads of ideas to Pinterest of how I want my art studio to look 🎨😁

My Goals For 2025...

In 2024, I carried on the great progress I made in 2023. It wasn't a breakthrough year but it was still a good year. This year, I have big plans for creating myself an art studio. Once we get our new house sorted and ready to live in, I am going to be setting up a little room where I can have my own creative space. I am hoping that once I have a studio, I will actually be able to spend more time working on your commissions. Unfortunately I do still work full time so it is still only the evenings and weekends that I can work on my drawing.

I want to enter some more art competitions this year, whether they are big competitions or local events. I also want to attend some more markets this year as I always get a buzz after attending them, so I am on the lookout for more events. I've got one big one in mind, I just now need to book it and buy a decent gazebo!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year, and I look forward to the next 12 months. Hopefully this year will be full of big things! ❤️

Welcome to Natalie Grace Art!

Hello, I'm Natalie!

Hello everyone, welcome to my page! My name is Natalie, and I am a self taught artist based in East Devon. I specialise in pencil portraits of pets but love drawing all types of animal!