Paintings Created: 66
Paintings That Found New Homes: 65 (including one in our home)
Murals Painted: 2 (read about them HERE)
Festivals Participated In: 15
Pets Requested by Children: 27
Pets Adopted: 0
Frog Costumes Purchased: 1
Jason Voorhees Comments Fielded at Festivals: 37 (look it up if you don’t know)
Jason Voorhees Costumes Worn: 1
Field Trips Chaperoned: 1
Art Museums Visited: 3
Weird Liver Cleanse Diets Completed: 1
Cups of Coffee Consumed: 629
Times I Quit Coffee Cold Turkey for Weird Liver Cleanse: 1
Times I was Bedridden from Quitting Coffee: 1
Foreign Countries Visited: 2
Wanderlust Satiated: 10%

Another productive year! Last year, I painted 64 paintings and this year I managed to top my previous best by a couple. I continued to refine The Jobs of Yesteryear by using more reference photos when they were available. The end result of this practice is that my paintings have more life in them. Less cartoony, more realism. Overall sentiment about my work over this past year: forging my way forward on this painterly path of progress. Way to paint, me!

I also fell in love with a new character: The One Man Band. It’s got that right mix of whimsy and symbolism and good ole-fashioned smirky fun. We even made a shirt of him. I will be painting more of this fella (and maybe a lady version, hmmmmm) in the coming year. Yeehaw!

Two murals also furthered our collective creativity as Ashley and I (and the boys, a little) collaborated on our most successful mural projects to date: The Bloomington Ferry in Minnesota and The Brewer in Belgium. We’ve always wanted to mix more international travel into our art business and these both helped us along in landing those international mural commissions. Let’s go!

In our personal life, we were delighted to find out that kids continue to grow and mature if you give them sustenance, sunlight, and rest. As a result of this realization, we’re rediscovering what it’s like to be independent adults who love each other and have time for conversations not interrupted by snack demands. Ivan is old enough to watch his little brother and Orin is old enough not to lose his sh*t when we leave. We’ve reached the promised land of parenting and it’s even better than I’ve heard. We both worked in the studio/office at the same time, went for walks free of whining, stole away for a couple of rando date nights, and spent what felt like a very luxurious amount of time dreaming and scheming about what’s next for the Fourhees. Wowsers!

I’ve felt an overall sense of peace washing over our life. Not that there is less stress or less to juggle (it feels like more than ever!) but it feels like God has given me a new boat to ride the Lake Michigan-sized waves and it’s a little less emotionally jostling. Thanks, God!

We hope your year has been productive in any sense and that you’re enjoying the stroll down your very own unique path. We sure do appreciate being part of that promenade in any small way and thank you as always for following us on our adventures in art. Onward!

ONWARD! 2023 Wrap Up /January 9, 2024 by Tyler Voorhees

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