UPDATE: Calendars are restocked, but going fast! Quick link here: A Tender Year 2024 Watercolor Calendar by Alicia Paulson. Thank you, thank you, beyond words, everyone! XOXO, a
Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments on Amelia's quilt! It has been pure joy seeing her sleep under it every night. I am about halfway through my thank-you notes for the fabric, I swear. I'm sorry I am so slow! Today I need to finish making sixty sweet pink poufy flower barrettes for the Little Flowers and the Big Flowers dancing in the Nutcracker in a few weeks! I will show you them when/if I finish them (due on December 1). I also have a hand-smocking nightgown project I want to get going on for Amelia. And I'm trying to knit some washcloths as Christmas presents.
I'm a very capricious crafter. To write this post, I was thinking back on all of the crafty things I started trying when lockdown began in 2020. Short list: Jewelry making (mostly with beads, and I learned how to properly finish strung beads with crimp beads and crimp covers and fancy clasps). Perler beads (fun craft, and if you have kids you probably have and giant jar of these somewhere, and they really lend themselves to using cross stitch patterns, too — it's all just pixel art, after all). Pottery (I took a wheel-throwing class at our community college and it was AWESOME). Norwegian tole painting (I bought a kit that came with a video class, but didn't get that far with it). But my favorite was watercolor painting.
I started by watching a few YouTube videos (Shayda Campbell and Emma Jayne Lafebvre are great) and took some Skillshare classes (I love Elisabetta Furcht's classes — super unintimidating) and just started painting things from around my house and from some little embroidery designs I had started drawing the year before (still hoping to finish those someday, too). Sometimes Amelia would sit with me and we'd paint together, watching Skillshare classes together or just listening to music and sharing my pretty Japanese watercolor set that I had splurged on when we first started Covid homeschooling for third grade.
But often, it was just me, painting at my desk throughout the autumn, with the TV on for company while Amelia was at school and Andy was at work, and I started to curate little subjects to be part of compositions for each month. I would paint them somewhere between maybe three inches tall to about six or seven inches. And I just kind of lost myself in the process. And it was really nice. It was nice to be in watercolor world.
Little by little my piles of paintings grew. I started to have actual opinions about things like whether I like hot-press watercolor paper or cold-press watercolor paper. (I like hot. It's smoother.) I thought about brushes and bought MANY brushes. I went to the art supply store down the street and started making actual wishlists of painting supplies I wanted. I kinda became a painter, just because I was painting. It was such a cool feeling to learn something new.
Eventually, I started watching more YouTube videos to learn how to scan my artwork and prepare it for printing. I decided to make a calendar that was very simple and kept all of the artwork in a small grid on top, with a very simple monthly calendar on the bottom. I printed some 2023 calendars for my Christmas presents to friends and family last year.
But this year I redesigned all of the dates for 2024 and took the calendar down to my local printer (Rhino Digital) and worked with them to find a paper that reminded me of the hot-press watercolor paper that I loved. They have printed up 100 200 [we're printing more—thank you!] calendars for me to sell and I must say, they look absolutely amazing. If I do say so myself. I am THRILLED. I am literally thrilled with this.
So here I am, officially introducing A Tender Year: A 2024 Calendar! It is 8.5" x 11" (U.S. letter sized) and comes with months from January through December 2024. It is professionally printed, single-sided, on lovely, heavy, 80# paper called Cougar Natural, which has a really pretty, warm, vanilla-cream tone, and is almost exactly like the texture of the paper I originally painted all of these little creatures and crafty things on. All of the pages are held together with an "antique bronze" wire binder clip, which comes with your calendar. So it is totally ready to go. It costs $30 and is available to ship immediately.
And when you're done with each month, you can trim off the dates part and frame just the illustrations. These pages are all printed single-sided, and I specifically did not want to bind this calendar so that you could re-purpose this artwork when each month has expired.
If you'd like to see an enlarged version of these thumbnails for each month, please click the image above (and there are also larger actual images of each month on my web site):
Please let me know if you have any questions about the calendar or painting or . . . anything! I am so excited to finally have this calendar in the world. It is such a special project for me and I hope you love it and give it to all your friends for Christmas! :)
Your work is just beautiful. Love the calendar, so so pretty. And what an appropriate name - tender indeed. Thanks for everything ~~~~~
Your artwork is beautiful! The calendar is simply darling... I will have to get one for myself!
Just lovely. You got me again, ordering my own present.
thank you for sharing this! i have been having the desire to learn to paint recently and this is so inspiring.
Your talents are endless. These watercolors are so sweet and beautiful.
You inspire me to be more creative! Congratulations on your beautiful calendar :)
Completely charming! Of course I had to order 🥰
Love your calendar - it's darling. The quilt came out great and what a fun present! Your talents amaze me and I look forward to all that you share with us. Why do the months fly by sooo fast and there are sooo many projects I want to do! I cherish this season, the cooler weather, and fast approaching Christmas time. Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
You’ve outdone yourself—such talent!! Love these as they are such a window onto your lovely world and they are reminiscent of a favorite artist of mine who translates his work into darling return address labels, notecards, etc. The sky’s the limit with your wonderful creations. I can’t wait to see where you take this. xo
So beautiful.
Lovely! Your painting reminds me of Susan Branch with her lovely illustrated cookbooks.
Oh dear. Is there any possibility you will be making another calendar print order? I so was hoping to order 5.
I would love to be notified of the next batch. I missed out on the first run. It’s so darling!
Sarah
Would happily order a calendar if more become available!
Incredibly beautiful! I’m interested in being notified of a restock please, thank you!
I am so excited you are doing another reprint of your beautiful calendar! Please include me in the email when it is ready. Thank you so much!
Yes, please ! Save me a calendar !!
Ohhhhhh I would love to be fortunate enough to get your exquisite calendar. I have admired your quilting, knitting, sewing and now painting all the years i have followed you. And it’s the warm wonderful calm and cozy life you and Amelia and Andy share that is most admired.
Please alert me when you post the next batch on Friday.
I'd love to know when you restock your calendar! Love how your watercolors turned out!
Would love a note when the calendars are available ❤️
The calendar art looks so beautiful!! All your art work is absolutely lovely!
Worked a 12 hr shift today and see you’re sold out again. :( Glad you’ve had such a good response though. Best, Kim
A big congratulations on the calendar. You keep spreading and developing your many talents in all directions. Have a great New Year.
I absolutely love your designs and am just now finally finishing up the winter design! I would love to purchase a calendar.