So here we are, 2013, and time to take stock of the past year and start a brand new one. There’s been some heartache this year for us, with the 2 very tragic losses in our family, but there have been some great things as well… and so as not dwell on the negative I will write about the good stuff going on.
Firstly, on the personal side, we’ve moved! This has been quite an adjustment but definitely the right decision! After (for me) about 15 years living in the middle of downtown Vancouver we are now a little outside the city and in a bigger apartment where I have a separate room for my office and Babak has a much more friendly commute, avoiding as much bridge crossing as possible. But one of the best things about the move is our building allowed pets! So we’ve added a couple of furry family members to our household in the summer 🙂 Sophie and Salvador the sister and brother tuxedo cat duo. We are completely smitten and can’t imagine life without them. They often help me work by hiding my pens.
On the work side, I’ve also had some great changes. I moved to a new publishing company and am art directing and editorial designing a couple of magazines (Canadian Yachting and Boating Industry Canada) there now, plus I’ve just started hiring subcontractors to handle some of the overflow from my freelancing business. The latter has been a big challenge for me personally because I’m so used to being in control of every little thing I do for clients that it’s hard to let go just the right amount where I’m still responsible for the outcome of the work but I’m not actually in control of every little thing. It’s doable but a bit stressful to get used to. I’m determined to make this work though as I find it incredibly fulfilling to provide jobs to people! And my clients get better service and more varied styles to choose from. Subcontractors will mostly work through PKD Studios (a name I made so they wouldn’t have to have emails that said something like joe@petradueck.com.. which sounds kinda creepy). Thank you to the subcontractors who have helped me out so far!!!
As far as how my skills are doing, which I try to improve whenever I get the chance; I’ve been focused mostly on increasing my skills in editorial design this year so I’m better at InDesign, long documents, some photo editing, editorial design and art direction in general and I’ve been keeping fairly up to date with the new practices in web and mobile design/development but haven’t had much chance to apply these ones. I was planning on doing more mobile app development in 2012 but was slightly sidetracked by the type of work opportunities that came my way this year. I didn’t have much time to pursue it. So still my only apps in distribution are the 2 Cookulator apps on the Apple store. I am however just starting work on more digital publishing including interactive PDFs and eBooks for app store distribution, which is all very exciting! And right up my alley! We will see what the New Year will bring but I do plan to do more programming this year…
And speaking of New Years resolutions.. a big one for me is to finally make time to redo my website and other media! I am sooooo embarrassed as a highly trained and experienced web designer/developer to still have a Flash based website up 🙁 I promise you I do know that you can’t view Flash on Apple devices! And I promise I have heard of html5 and css3 and can program more than ActionScript… I just have a very bad habit of procrastinating working on my own projects… especially when it has to do with re-branding myself. Anyway, enough excuses! If I haven’t done this job by the end of this year then… well I’ll have to do it next year 🙂 NO! I will do it! Ok ok ok!
Lastly I thought I’d throw in a little note about what I’m doing in my hobbies. I try to stay busy with hobbies to keep my creative mind happy, and 2012 was mostly about sewing for me. In the latter part of the year I tried my hand at quilting and finished 2 full size lap quilts as well as some other smaller projects. I’ve enjoyed the social aspect of quilting and have joined a few swaps where a group will swap fabric or blocks to complete common personal projects. I also really enjoyed exploring some color experiments with this fabric art form and plan to do more in the New Year. Earlier in the year I was more into garment sewing and completed a couple of dresses, a blouse, etc… some of which I spent a lot of time wearing. I had a goal over the colder months to learn how to make and fit pants properly but got very busy so have put that off till this year. So the New Year will probably be a mix of quilting and garment sewing. I’d like to make a quilted wall hanging soon and some pants for Babak… and I’m still part of a monthly swap, at the end of which we all intend to make a full quilt from. Also, spring will be here before we know it with a whole new colour palette to inspire! We shall see how it goes…
So that’s most of what I’ve been doing this year, with some glimpses of what’s to come! There is more going on, as well as news from my businesses but this blog is from petradueck.com so… you know… I’m writing about me 🙂 One thing I haven’t had a lot of time for is writing… which you may have noticed since I have hardly done any blogging… but I might have more time this year so if there is anything in particular you’d like to hear about let me know. Otherwise, it will all probably be posts about my cats! 😀
Happy New Year all!!!
–Petra Dueck