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2022 Wrap-up, 2023 Goals

I wanted to take a minute to review the past year and project into the future. This past year was a creative one and I am proud of the progress I made in my creative endeavors.

2022

One of the things which I am happiest about was the creation of my Rumble channel and the work which I put into that throughout the year. I went from having zero experience creating videos (which were pretty rough at first) to feeling like I have gained enough experience to now make videos up to my standards of quality. Cool new pages were created on my website such as my influences page (which I continue to add to), gallery pages, and a content feed, in addition to maintaining my art store. Today I updated by 2022 gallery to include many of the paintings which I created this year. A majority of those paintings even have video associated with them where viewers can watch my creative process in a timelapse video.

Viewership

In terms of viewership of my channel, I had about 3,000 raw views, 1,500 unique viewers, and I made .57c in ad revenue. While these numbers may seem insignificant to some, I take great pride and accomplishment in them. My baseline goal is to increase these numbers by an order of magnitude each year. I am excited to see what this graph looks like in one year.

My Rumble Channel ‘Plays’ Statistics, 2022

2023 Goals

In 2023 my goal is to begin livestreaming on my Rumble channel. I work two jobs and I create, paint, and make videos on the side, but I have decided to consistently dedicate two days each week to streaming and painting and content creation. I believe consistency is the best way to grow my channel further. As of now, I will likely be livestreaming every Tuesday and Wednesday starting off. In my mind, I see livestreaming as a way to add another monetization and viewership dimension. Each time I paint a painting, I get a painting which can be put up for sale, I get a video which can be uploaded to my Rumble channel, and I will also get the livestreaming content which can be viewed either live or afterwards. I see this as a three pronged dimensionality; a three for one. It is with excitement that I begin this process.

I aim to continue upgrading my video editing skills and improving my production quality. I have the basics down and now I can just experiment and be creative, which is a great place to be creatively. Looking forward, I will branch out into other forms of video content. Already, I have begun experimenting this past year by making videos where I speak directly to the camera about topics which I find interesting. I have covered some topics related to Rumble in recent videos but I will make more videos about topics related to creativity, art, painting, psychedelics, science, technology, philosophy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and many more topics of interest to me. There is an exhaustive list of content ideas in my mind which I hope prove valuable to my viewers. Another goal I have is to conduct interviews with other artists and creators in various fields. I foresee myself creating content in the vein of a podcast along with the types of videos I have already been making.

Long Term Goals

Other goals which I have in 2023 are to begin working on my Locals community. This is a longer term goal which dovetails with other projects I have ongoing. I am currently writing a book on acupuncture which is an epic undertaking for me. My hope is that I can finish this book in 2023 and begin making a community on Locals to teach people about acupuncture, herbal medicine, and the healing arts in general. This is a dimension of my creative practice which most people never see but which I know holds immense value.

It is important to state one’s goals clearly and give oneself general timeframes to meet them in order to have a benchmark to work by. To manifest my creative vision I must reach for these goals consistently and unerringly. I know where I have to go and what I have to do this year and I will do my best to meet them. 2023 will be a busy and creative year for me. If you are reading this, thanks for joining me on my creative journey.

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Videos

I have some updates to share with you.  I have added a new page to the website where you can find a link to videos which I am now making.  I have decided to begin recording myself making art in order to share my process and hopefully provide entertaining content for you.  If you are like me, you may enjoy watching people make art because it is an enigmatic and exciting process where humans dance with chaos and order, form and color.  Bob Ross is one of my greatest influences and inspired me so much growing up and I admit I am definitely taking a little bit from his playbook in deciding to make art videos.

This is a new process for me because I do not have any experience with recording or editing videos.  It has been a lot of fun so far experimenting with this new medium and content creation process.  I already recognize that every video I learn new things and figure out ways to improve my videos.  I know that video editing and also recording in general are arts in and of themselves.  I am always trying to learn new useful things. The way I see it, every time I make a painting and record it, I have made two pieces of art in one.  I get excited that every time I make a painting, I can also make a video. I want to share the process of art creation with you in order to entertain and inspire but also to simply record my experiences.

“Philosophy has a way of creeping its way into everything I do. “

I have plans for many different types of future content as well.  For now, I have been experimenting with creating time-lapse videos and I am very much enjoying this.  It feels like a simple but powerful start. But in the amorphous future, I hope to have videos where I talk about different topics related to art and creating in general.  There is a lot of territory to cover.  There is also the possibility of interviews and other different content like this.  I want to talk to other artists about all things art. Philosophy has a way of creeping its way into everything I do.

I am hoping that providing free video content will create new avenues for connecting with people over art and creativity.  I have decided to use the Rumble platform over Youtube because of the censorship occurring on that platform.  Maybe this is divisive because the state of the world has everyone at each other’s throats these days and I realize that we are all used to Youtube and that the new and unfamiliar can sometimes be off putting.  I am always willing to walk down a new path and go against the grain.  But I feel as though Rumble is a platform which can only grow from where it’s at due to its commitment to providing a censorship free environment, while Youtube is a behemoth which has reached its apex and is stifling people.  Youtube used to be the grassroots alternative to the hegemony, but now it has become the very thing which it replaced. This is my opinion, you may disagree.

Something about me is that I will always support platforms and technologies which bring power and freedom back into the hands of normal people.  All of the programs I use to make my content are open source free software.  This means that these programs are not proprietary software from a large tech company where the source code is hidden and potentially abusive to its users and their freedoms.  I use Gimp over Photoshop, OBS software to record and stream, Openshot video editor to edit my videos, and the Rumble platform to publish them.  Using Rumble is just more consistent with my preference of seeking out tools with more personal freedom.

With all that being said, please check out the videos and subscribe to my Rumble channel in order to be updated when I release new video content.  I am going to do this regularly because I am always making artwork.  Thank you for supporting me in this new project.  There are many future developments planned in the pipeline.  Every day I am working hard to push my artwork and creative projects forward!

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New Store Items!

Hurray!

I finally have built my website to a place where I feel both comfortable and proud to share it! I am not a web developer and every time I build a website it is a challenge but I also learn more and more about the process. I am so excited to add items to my new store and have a consistent medium to display my work to other people, separate from social media platforms and under my own control. I am in the process of adding multiple paintings which I created during the beginning of 2021.

I cannot begin to express the gratitude and delight which I have in my heart to be in a creative flow state again. This past winter was a very difficult period for me. I made one of the biggest decisions of my life, uprooted myself from everyone I’ve ever known and loved as well as my successful acupuncture business in Philadelphia, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.

I chose to do this for so many reasons, both cosmic and terrestrial. Sometimes synchronicity strikes my intuition so hard that I cannot help but get swept away by the river. This kind of thinking defies logic or sense, and challenges us to trust in ourselves as well as maybe even something greater than ourselves. I didn’t have a plan or a way to support myself, all I had was a feeling in my heart and signs from the universe telling me it was the right move.

A lot has happened since then which has been a struggle, but I am convinced that I am exactly where I need to be in the world right now as things continue to align and pieces come together. Creating a website for my art has been a goal which I have been meaning to accomplish for years but it has never been realized because of procrastination and distractions. I feel as though I have finally reached a place in my life where procrastination is no longer an acceptable activity. Every time we put something off for even a moment, it has profound exponential rippling effects in the physical world. The same is also true when we come through for others and for ourselves. I am blessed to finally be able to move myself forward in this regard and very confident that this year will be one of tremendous growth for me in all areas of my life. I have future plans to add more kinds of items besides paintings such as apparel to my store, as well as different types of art products at various price points. Thank you for your interest and taking the time to visit and read this post.

With appreciation and gratitude, Michael Keane