Top Three Things I Have Learned from the Make Art Everyday 2019 Project
Hello,
At the beginning of this year I made a commitment to create art every day. Today is “Day 200” of the year and I am happy to share that I have kept to that resolution.
Here are the top three things I am learning about this “Make Art Everyday 2019” project:
1. Give yourself grace. By this, I mean accept that every day’s art creation does not need to be a complete work of art. Instead, just task yourself with spending the time you have to spare on creating.
2. If you can, schedule time in your week towards art creation. I have a few days each week where I know have been cleared of every other responsibility I have to just create art. I identify these blocks of time as studio time on my calendar and they are sacred, nothing gets scheduled into these slots. On all other days, I still try to schedule time into my day, however I might only be able to allot 10-15 minutes that day, and often it is the last thing I do before going to bed :)
3. Allow yourself to chase your inspiration. The thing I love most about this “Make Art Everyday” project is that it has provided me with the motivation to explore more than I have in the previous five years. This year I am drawing more, and I have also been using watercolors again. A medium I have not used regularly since my days as an architect, that was pre-2009! By following where my inspiration goes and because every day’s art entry does not have to be a complete expression, I am finding my artistic voice with greater clarity through these explorations beyond oil painting alone.
These are my big three takeaways; however, I have one last thing I have learned. And that is, life can always try to get in the way and often in the past it has gotten in the way of my creative growth because of other life priorities that I feel are equally important to my creative growth. But, with this daily commitment where I set no judgement on what my outcome must be, I am amazed how these daily recordings have made this year’s hiccups more memorable and special.
Here are two examples of hiccups that could have totally derailed my creative output this year, and did make spending time behind the easel impossible, but I kept on creating on a daily basis.
1. I cut my thumb open on the seventh day of the year! And it was bad.
Day 7: A left-handed drawing and watercolor of my right thumb wrapped in a splint to protect the injury.
2. Naomi and my husband caught the flu. And when Naomi is really sick, she wants me to sit beside her the whole time she is recuperating.
Day 36: Naomi home sick with the flu, and wanting me to stay near her the whole time.
And then on days when I am delightfully occupied with other interests and activities, I have still taken the time to spend just a few minutes recording the day… like in June when visiting family, and I made a quick sketch of my niece from a picnic lunch.
Day 173: June 22, 2019 Susie drinking a Capri Sun
I hope this inspires you to take up a daily art practice.
The results are just so rewarding.
If you want to keep up with the daily entries of this “Make Art Everyday 2019” project, I post daily to either my Instagram feed or stories. So if you do not follow me over there, go ahead and follow me and keep an eye out!