Messy 2025 Recap

Since 2023, I’ve been doing year-end reflections in May, the month I quit architecture to pursue art full-time. The start of 2026 has been an emotional wreck though (fuck you, fascists), so here are some highlights from 2025 to ground us.

2025 was pretty dead work-wise, and I fell into a depression pit early in the year. Art was always fun for me, but once it became my business, the need to monetize everything was demoralizing. Coming off a respected decade-long career and having hit a six-figure salary right before I quit, struggling to sell $5 stickers became a blow to my ego.

Tabled at Zine Party in Calgary and got to draw some speed portraits!

I needed to focus on something unrelated to art, so I threw myself into climbing to fight my depression. I was an avid climber throughout my 20s, but had taken a four-year break starting in 2020. There were many reasons: COVID, losing climbing partners and not being brave enough to find new ones, becoming attached to Mo and not wanting to leave her to go climbing, wanting to nourish myself in other ways.

My artist collective in Vancouver, happen stance, hosted our very first market in the summer, and it was such a success that they’re planning future markets! If you’re in Vancouver, keep an eye out for “happen stance presents”!

I applied and was accepted into two climbing mentorship programs over the summer: alpine and trad. I found regular partners through a local climbing group, and spent quality time with Mo when I could to make up for running off to climb in Squamish every few days. I hit several personal goals and firsts throughout the summer, and focusing on climbing instead of business helped me rebuild my self-esteem and (literally) climb out of my depression.

Somewhere along the descent from Bastardo, my first alpine climb with my mentorship group. It turned out to be a 14 hour day and I was covered in mosquito bites + super grumpy. But I never thought about my business ONCE!

Scrambling up Tricouni Peak with my partner

I did have some artist high points throughout the year:

• Won a $25k grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to conduct a research trip to Taiwan. I was there for 4 weeks, but fell ill for 2.5 weeks. Without this grant, I’m not sure I could’ve paid rent.

• Started a working relationship with Feather Friendly, a Mississauga-based bird-friendly solutions company. I found them on social media, reached out, and met the VP when I was in the area for a friend’s wedding. Stay tuned for some exciting collabs coming in 2026!

• Got my first commercial commission through XOCO, a chocolate store in Squamish. See Henry Likes Raspberry Jam and future posts!

• Won my first Calgary artist call; stay tuned for the reveal in Spring/Summer 2026!

A snapshot of what a lot of my days look like - just one corner of one tab of my spreadsheets. These are artist calls I apply to, and yellow ones are ones that were successful (orange=applied and pending results). You can see how the first half of 2025 is full of rejections.

I did some other life things. I took ASL 101, taught kids’ workshops and adult painting classes for some subtractor income, visited Canmore every month to see if I could live there, became a Canadian citizen, and moved provinces. But primarily, I focused on moving my body and stepping away from the stress of trying to earn rent through art.

Some small, fun things I did manage to make in 2025:

Cyanotype experiments with saran wrap, markers, watercolours, and coloured pencil on printer paper

Cyanotype workshop at the City Farmer Society, with the wonderful folks from Ritmos Climaticos

Put up Mo posters around Vancouver! Nothing came of them, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone for sure. Putting them up made me super self-conscious

2025 saw me go through pretty tough personal and business struggles. 2026 is off to a busy start art-wise, but I still make sure to balance it out with plenty of gym and climbing. It wires my brain differently, and keeps me sane. I have a lovely PT job now that’s unrelated to art, and I’m currently working on completing 3 sets of 6 pull-ups in one gym session! I’m a bit obsessed with pull-ups at the moment.

Here’s to rediscovering joy in things you used to love but somehow became sources of dread <3

Until next time,

Ann

Bonus Mo says hello