How was 2017 for you, did you achieve what you wanted to creatively?

What have you got planned for the coming year?

Maybe you’ve decided that you want to draw or write more, or perhaps take up a new creative hobby? I must admit I don’t make New Year’s resolutions anymore. I find they tend to be too big and too vague to stick to. For example, imagine you had made a resolution to make more art. You’re not being precise about exactly what you are going to do to achieve to a achieve your goal. Does it mean you will paint once a week or every day? And what exactly are you going to create? Do you see what I’m getting at? It’s very woolly.

Try smaller bite size resolutions – aka creative challenges

Why not try bite-size challenges instead? For instance, for a month you could decide to spend 10 minutes every day drawing an object, a face, an animal, anything you like but choose something. See how much more specific and achievable that is? Once you have completed that 10 minutes you can always carry on and draw more. At the end of the month, you then have the opportunity to extend your creative challenge for another month or change it up a bit.

The value of continuous creative effort

I’ve taken part in the 100 day project for 2 years running. That taught me the value of putting continuous effort into a project for a set period of time. One hundred days is a long time though. I must admit there are times when I wanted to give up. That’s why I think 30 days/1 month is a good starting point. By setting yourself a target to create every day for a month, even if you miss a few days you will still have created far more than you would have done otherwise.

Creative accountability

If you want some accountability you could team up with a friend and cheer each other on. Alternatively, you could join in an existing creative challenge and share your progress in our Facebook group. We have Art Journal January this month, and lots of different challenges coming up. There’s also an external challenge called 30 in 30 is also happening during the month where artists are invited to create a painting every day in January. I’m sure there are loads more things you could try if you do a quick google. If you want to start something unique to you, you can still join our Facebook Group, share your work and we’ll help you be accountable.

Have a happy, healthy and creative New Year