Reflecting on 2025 - A Threshold Year (What Shifted and Why It Mattered)

What I Made When I Stopped Forcing the Work (Art in 2025)

This year, the work felt different. Not louder, but truer.

I focused less on output for output’s sake and more on creating things that felt aligned with where I’m headed, even when that meant moving slower or choosing harder paths.

Major creative steps this year included:

• Kickstarter: I launched my first-ever Kickstarter. It felt like stepping into public commitment, letting others witness the work as it formed.
  
• New items: I began offering enamel pins and woven blankets, allowing my art to exist as physical objects, meant to be held, carried, and used.
  
• Lunar Coven: I started my Lunar Coven series, a collection that continues to reveal itself piece by piece, without any official timeline, just inevitability.
  
• Client Work: I created several client pieces that challenged me in good ways and reinforced what kind of collaborations feel right for me.
  
• Live-streaming: I began live-streaming my painting process and found myself enjoying it a lot.
  
• Not everything made this year was meant for the spotlight, but everything taught me something.

The Year My Practice Sharpened (Learning What to Keep and Release)

This was a year of sharpening.

Through Smart School with Scott Fischer, alongside intentional practice and reflection, my process became clearer. I deepened how I want to work and what kinds of images I want to build.

Through Human Design Coaching with Marian Pham, alongside digging deep within myself, my vision became clearer. I realized what work to double-down on, and what methods no longer deserve my energy.

The questions got quieter.

The answers got steadier.

Finding My People in Real Life (Community, IlluxCon, and Kinship)

Very Important People from left to right: Carolina Lebar, Marian Pham, Sally K, Stephen Burks, Erika Taguchi, Rachel Perciphone and her handsome husband Brian

One of the most meaningful moments of the year was finally meeting creative friends in person at IlluxCon.

Connecting face-to-face with artists from the Unleash Creativity Club felt less like networking and more like recognition. A reminder that this path, while often solitary, is not meant to be walked alone.

That sense of kinship and comradery mattered more than I expected.

The Loss That Quietly Rewrote the Year (Grief and Love)

This year also carried a deep loss.

We lost our dog, Howler. He was one of the most important beings in our lives. His absence is constant and quiet, felt in the small moments of every day.

There’s no lesson here. Only love that continues.

What This Year Demanded in Return (Risk, Honesty, Patience)

Looking back, 2025 feels like the crossing of a threshold. 2025 was the year of the Snake.

It asked for risk.

It asked for honesty.

It asked for patience.

Creation and grief existed side-by-side. One didn’t cancel the other. Both were present, shaping the year together.

It was a bittersweet year, and it was a pivotal one.

What I’m Carrying Into What Comes Next

I’m moving ahead with everything this year gave and took:

• The work
  
• The lessons
  
• The friendships
  
• The loss
  
• The clarity
  

Nothing is being left behind.

The Word I Keep Coming Back To

This year, one word kept returning: Threshold.

Not arrival.

Not resolution.

A crossing.  With no guarantee of what comes next.

Everything this year seemed to ask the same question:

Will you step forward anyway?

- Joseph