Spending time creating is obviously essential to being a prolific artist. However, as many artists have another job, this can be overwhelming. Personally, I balance teaching art in the afternoons and being an artist in the morning. This can make time creating art feel limited and precious, especially because being an artist also involves time doing other tasks (marketing, website maintenance, applications, emails, etc.). So how do you accomplish this balancing act?
For me, I started the year with a big goal to guide myself. My goal this year is to build a large series of impressionist inspired artwork. Then, I set a smaller daily goal that is easy to accomplish most days of the week: to paint for at least 10 minutes. This goal sounds like nothing. What can really be accomplished in 10 minutes? Here is the thing though, sometimes I have busy mornings - teachers cannot take time off for appointments without a substitute stepping into the classroom. So every extra appointment or chore that comes with life is taken from art time in the morning, as well as marketing, photography and more. However, I can still paint for 10 minutes even on my busiest days. Most days I can accomplish much more, but I think about it in 10-minute increments. On days that I paint for an hour, I think to myself that 6 times I did a 10 minute set. Side note: This also helps me to protect my wrists, which get sore from painting for extended periods of time. It reminds me to take breaks.
The next thing I do is start a new painting every week. The first week of the month I try to make the work a bit more challenging, to help me grow as an artist. For example, at the beginning of February, I started a bridal portrait. The other weeks I painted lower pressure subjects- a skull, a pomegranate, and a San Francisco landscape. By the end of the year, I should have 52 paintings started (with a few still in progress). Between painting daily and starting a new painting weekly, I should easily reach my goal of having a large series.
Do you have to copy my plan exactly? No, this will never be one size fits all, but setting a small daily goal, medium weekly goal, a monthly challenge, and larger yearly goal is a great path to success- in many fields. Most importantly, hold yourself accountable. This doesn't mean you have to be perfect - but be aware if you are doing what you set out to do. I personally keep a bullet journal with my goals which works great for me. Simple check marks and writing in the time I spent painting. I know I am accomplishing my goal because I can look back at every month this year so far and see that I checked off working on the series almost every day. I can see that I am starting a painting every week because I have the title and time spent for each piece. My personal philosophy with goal setting is if it isn't simple enough, you won't stick with it. Something simple that you can accomplish will keep you coming back long term. Then reevaluate as needed (every new year can be a great reminder.) Good luck with becoming a more prolific artist!
Note: This blog was inspired by a post I read written by a part-time author who wrote 200 words a day in order to make progress on their novels. There were a lot of parallels between our goal setting approaches. It really reminded me of how I work - take a goal that seems inconsequential and do it regularly. I cannot find the post, so if you know it, please contact me with the link and I will add it below.