Why plan your art output for 2024 in January?
It’s a route to misery and sets us up for failure
Reading through the many articles on planning at this time of year is bringing out the rebel in me. Why should we know where we are going in January, a month so cold and dark when we find our energy levels are at their lowest? And for me most definitely when imagination is somewhat stifled by the lack of light?
January and February for that matter is for me a time to hibernate, go walking, read books. That or to escape to somewhere sunny to feed the imagination.
The shed studio is at its coldest and dampest right now and it feels like a time to just be and not create to do lists.
I’m impulsive and my creative practice needs to be fluid to enable the creativity to happen in a way that is exciting and authentic.
This year I am going to avoid planning and setting deadlines that I know I won’t keep to.
Why do we do this making resolutions thing to ourselves? Why do we feel that just because we have moved into a new year that we must make all these plans and commitments. The depths of winter are the least inspiring months for me artistically but very good for hunkering down and just being.
Yes of course if we run a small enterprise we do need to act, to make, to market and work at our practice but planning is anathema to me and it doesn’t sit well, in my view, with creativity. Quite the opposite - I believe planning stifles the mindset that leads to flow - the state we all need to get into to nurture our creativity.
..not planning is not an excuse for laziness, but I want the practice to grow and thrive on my own terms.
This year I think I’m going to begin with a loose set of intentions that can at any stage be changed. Let’s face it new year resolutions straight jacket us into a set of must dos and leave little flexibility to respond to our world in the moment.
That said I might enter some paintings for juried exhibitions but I’m not entirely sure which ones yet. I will certainly spend time painting, travelling, learning and putting work out there to show everyone and hopefully some paintings will find new homes.
But I’ve learned that for me planning really doesn’t work. I’m impulsive and my creative practice needs to be fluid to enable the creativity to happen in a way that is exciting and authentic.
Social media will definitely be put in it’s place
This year I want to try to break free from creating to the tune of an algorithm determined by social media. I feel I have been a slave to Instagram for years and for me it no longer delivers. Despite having in excess of 40k ‘followers’ posts get seen by a fraction of the people who enjoy my work.
The same goes for artists I love to see - my feed has become clogged with sponsored posts and adverts. I want to get back into the driving seat rather than being driven to ‘create’ by following a narrow focus determined by Instagram reels and posts.
Let’s face it new year resolutions straight jacket us into a set of must dos and leave little flexibility to respond to our world in the moment.
For many years the sense of community on this little app served me well and before the algorithm took hold with its secretive formula for enabling reach I felt that I was connected and seen. There is so much to say about this and it may be that is for another future article.
This year I know that I will paint lots of paintings, possibly make some more folk art birds and hopefully create an online course. I will take concertina sketchbooks on holiday, go on artist dates, connect with artist friends and seek out to take part in collaborations. In short I will continue to live an artists life driven by solely by the desire to explore and create and..and this is important - strive to live an artists life that brings joy.
Non of the things I choose to do need to have a date or a deadline attached to them. New ideas will emerge. The reality as all creatives know is that ideas are easy, implementation however, is much more challenging. And making plans can mean that the list becomes too unwieldy, priorities become difficult to establish and room for manoeuvre stifles output rather than helping a practice.
These are my intentions for my art practice. There are no deadlines but creative work will happen. Saying this feels right. It feels unpressurised. Bringing joy back into the practice will, I am certain, result in better art; art that comes from a place of excitement and a need to create.
As artists we are always putting the pressure on and I want to reject this in favour of a gentler path into 2024 with full knowledge that I know I will work diligently, not planning is not an excuse for laziness, but I want the practice to grow and thrive on my own terms.
Intentions to support my art practice in 2024
To focus on enjoying the creative process and make lots of art
To endeavour to learn new things as the ideas arise and opportunities or impetus catch me feeling curious
To make time to play, experiment and explore new media
To continue to connect with other artists
To be very selective about what I say yes to - it has to align with my truest desires for the practice and not distract
Create an online course
Stay open to change
To put social media in its place and to try to make it work for me
What do you think about resolutions and plans? Are they important to you? Do you make plans? Or will you like me be treading a freer path this year?
I’d love to hear from you and very soon I will be opening the chat option here once I have figured out how to best use it.
I work with the seasons and my “new year” starts in Spring, so i totally agree with you about not making plans in January or February. I’m a hibernating artist at the moment.
Such a thoughtful and timely read - I decided just this morning that I’ll set ‘intentions’ not resolutions this year.