5 lessons of 2021
It’s been a tough few years since the last round up - worldwide with the pandemic and personally with my Mother’s death and moving my husband and I up to take on full-time care of my Father, the family house and my Mum’s animals; Moby-the-dog and Lisa-the-cat.
So, needless to say, 2021 will not win any records for my most creative year, but it has been a year to reset, rebuild and renew the direction of my art business and I’m beyond excited to share the development of these plans with you throughout 2022.
Can you resonate with any of these 5 things I’ve learned from another year of making a full-time living creatively and how will you implement them into your art?
Moby-the-Dog and Lisa-the-Cat
Number 1 – Certain Uncertainty
We’ve all been living through uncertain times these past few years.
But uncertainty can be somewhat split into two types - the uncertainty you choose and the uncertainty that is imposed on you.
Chosen Uncertainty is something you actively create - perhaps that’s moving to a new town or giving up your job to start a business or trying out a new product or art series. Although the uncertainty still feels uncomfortable, it’s ok because we’ve signed up for the ride.
Imposed Uncertainty on the other hand, comes from the outside such as losing your job or health problems. The biggest challenge with dealing with imposed uncertainty is that it feels unfair - it’s not what we asked for, nor what we wanted.
But it is only once we embrace the inherent unfairness, can we get down to focusing on making things better, which is ruthlessly pursing the things we can influence and being grateful for what we have. Which of course is much easier said than done.
The Small Things Challenge of 30 days of grateful miniature paintings became the result of this important lesson. (I’ll be running this challenge again this year, so keep an eye out for it, or better yet, sign up to make sure you hear!)
You will always control less than you’d like, and you can easily find the unfair things to complain about, but despite this, what is entirely within your control is asking yourself; What are you grateful for?
Grateful Paintings
Because the Small things in life really are the Big things.
Number 2 - Recharge to Supercharge
My husband and I bought an apartment by the sea.
The apartment was not on our horizon 2 years ago, our forever home was. In fact, we'd never been to this town before viewing and putting an offer down, but life has a funny way of changing your direction.
We bought it to recharge, for respite, and for peace. And it works! Every time after a night away, I feel lighter, brighter, and more energised and ready to tackle my projects head-on the following day.
It has been a welcome reminder that time out matters, walking along a beach matters, and self-care matters. We are like rechargeable batteries - sometimes we need to recharge to get back to, or at least edge closer to 100%.
How will you Recharge to Supercharge your art this year?
Number 3 – The stage of crap art
By September, we had finished converting the garage into a functional home studio and so I spent the final quarter of 2021 getting reacquainted with making and trying to develop a new product.
But it had been 2 years since I’d been properly making and much longer since I had been right at the very start of the ‘developing something new process.’ I was quickly reminded that the most difficult part of the process is keeping the faith and ploughing on when every day produces 'crap art'.
I kept reiterating to myself the words I tell my beginner students - about the 'rubbish art' and the 'not talented enough' stories we tell ourselves is merely resistance prodding us to give up.
But it got me thinking about how to reframe it more constructively, from 'this is just utter crap' to ‘this is just development.’
The conclusion?
Compost. Crap art is like compost - the good stuff grows from it. Now, each time I make something terrible, I think of adding it to my compost heap so it can nourish my future work.
‘Don’t dig up in doubt what you’ve planted in faith.’ - Elizabeth Elliott
Before
After
Number 4 – Trust the Leap
Last year, I moved my teaching online with challenges like, 5 Days to Better Painting, The Colour Crash Course and 6 Days to Overcome Obstacles to Make More Art, alongside my first online book, Demystify 52 Colours in 15 Minutes: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Watercolours.
To say it’s been a learning curve is an understatement!
It’s been more like a Leap of Faith!
Because instead of working on the product I had intentionally planned, I submerged myself in the world of Colour through Glaze and Paint because I needed a bit of Colour to brighten a year that was so saturated with grief and the pandemic.
But it's not easy to veer from the perceived control that comes from 'the original plan' and to instead take a leap of faith, trusting that the reasons you're called to veer off-course will make themselves clear.
Because Leaps are fraught.
Leaps mean entering the unknown, and with anything unknown, there’s a risk of this might not work. But as much as you’d love to, it’s counterproductive to skip the leap.
Because hoping your art will get better by willing your skills to improve isn’t nearly as productive as taking the leap into the process and the tension of trying something that might not work.
And with any painting or sculpture you create, any new technique or material you try, any new idea that you’ve not explored before, you take a leap.
My new leap has resulted in an Ebook on Colour: Demystify 52 Colours in 15 Minutes: The Ultimate Artist’s Guide to Choosing Colour.
It’s packed with all the information I wish I had when starting off and topped off with a Bonus Colour Crash Course that gives you the tools and strategies to fully understand your paints and I was overwhelmed by the support received and wonderful comments like:
‘It really is a very extensive explanation of colour which you obviously spent a lot of time over. It contains all the things I did not know but wondered about. I especially liked the facts re explanation of temperature and the colour mixing of greys etc. Compared to another on line course I subscribed to during lockdown I feel you could charge much more!’
You can wait until you’re pushed, but you could end up waiting a long time, or you can lean into the leap with trust and jump! How will you leap this year?
Number 5 - Honour your season
Sometimes you go through an entire season where you take a long deep breath (an inhale) for what could be months at a time, and in other seasons, you exhale. Sometimes its a slow and calming release and others it's abrupt - you can't force that air out quickly enough.
When you inhale, you may be reading books, learning from others, setting foundations, seeking inspiration, reflecting, experimenting, sorting through blocks or even treading water until your energy returns before you exhale.
You exhale through forward-motion, putting all the lessons learned and recharged energy into a period of advancement and action.
But here's the thing, after an inhale, you HAVE to exhale - you must move forward. You can't keep that air bottled up or it will deflate like a sad little balloon.
I spent much of the past year inhaling, trying to get my breath back and have been slowly breathing out. It’s slow and a little shaky, but it’s no longer bottled up and I can’t wait to see the results of this being expressed in 2022!
What season are you in, one of inhale or exhale? And when will that change?
So, what about you? What lessons has 2021 given you? I’d love to hear your answers, feel free to comment below.
And if you’d like to spend 2022 making much more art and getting over any obstacles, check out the FREE 6 day Challenge: Overcome Obstacles and Make More Art, I put together to help to get out of your own way and get down to making the art you want to.
It’s perfect for you if you are sitting wondering why you love making art, yet never seem to be 'in the mood.' You know you want to improve your practice but can't find the time and don't consistently commit to it.
Maybe it's because...
You're exhausted juggling the demands of work, family and life and have no time to breathe never mind create art.
Perhaps you've decided you're not 'good enough' so there's no point in 'wasting' your time trying?
You don’t know where to start, because it seems so overwhelming.
You don't have a dedicated space so you can't get in the zone.
You might tell yourself these things, but deep down, you know you have unrealised potential to explore and you're tired of leaving it to 'later.'
The truth is, you can make your art, even if you're busy earning and caring for your family, you just need to give yourself permission to commit to yourself.
This series will bring awareness to the most common obstacles that get in your way (as you can tell from my year round up, you're not alone) and give you the tools, strategies and inspiration to overcome them such as;
6 Methods to combat Inspiration Drought
How to Source Images so you're never Stuck for ideas again.
2 Deceptively Simple ways to Just Start
How to determine the Best time to Make Art
3 ways to overcome Imposter Syndrome
The Artist's Rollercoaster and How to Survive it.
The 3 Imperative things to uncover to make Art Consistently.
3 Art Myths you can demolish once and for all
The Most important 3-Letter word.
How to Beat a Rut
And Much More...
Take a Deep dive into the common problems that hold Artist's back, start to feel inspired again, less stressed and excited to make and share more of the Art you love.
Pop your name and email into the form below to get the First Lesson of this FREE Challenge - I’m beyond excited to see what you’ll end up creating:
ForM is by far my favourite group exhibition of the year to visit and I am honoured to have been one of artists involved in it this year.
If you missed the exhibition, here’s a round up.