Creating an Artistic Roadmap (2026 Creative Goals)
I adore the process of creating art but struggle to keep it as a consistent practice. This year, I would like to change that. Normally, I’m very opposed to any sort of New Year’s resolution. Resolutions should, in my mind, come from an internal place and not a calendar mandate, which is why, perhaps, this posts feels so awkward to write.
I’ve begun to recognize that I cycle through hobbies. Knitting → playing guitar → learning a new instrument entirely → drawing → painting. Not necessarily in that order, but generally oscillating between the above interests. Further, there’s been some awareness cultivated around my internal landscape when I re-engage with a hobby I’ve let fall by the wayside.
That cycle generally manifests as:
- A rekindling of an interest due to some external circumstance. For example, having a conversation with one of my friends who works at a nonprofit about their watercolor projects leads me to take up my own paints again.
- An intense fixation on the practice. i.e., not only committing a number of hours to the practice daily, but consuming content that generally romanticizes the practice, such as non-instructional YouTube videos about ‘progress’ or other ‘lounge’ topics.
- A disruptor to the practice. Perhaps a particularly frustrating piece or some time spent away leads me to feel a perceived decrease in the quality of my work.
- Distancing from the hobby. I end up feeling not as motivated about the practice, or find some other rationale for not engaging in the hobby as frequently. This compounds on itself until months have passed.
Rinse and repeat ad nauseam. I have, at the very least recognized that everything here repeats itself. It feels like I’ve found and settled on the hobbies that, at least intermittently, grab my attention, and nothing new has entered the ring for the past couple years. Additionally, considering that I work in the behavior change space, I know the relying on motivation and interest does not foster long term habits. It’s necessary to create structure that reinforces the behavior as well as find ways to reduce friction in engaging in a given practice.
All of this then dovetails together. Understanding that some of these interests have in the past and most likely will in the future grab my attention, I’d like to find ways to create structure that keeps me routinely engaged with the practice. Perhaps the most frustrating feeling is to distance myself from the hobby only to re-engage with it a year later and find myself thinking “If I only had kept with it, I’d be so much further along!” Not in a way that is too hard on myself, but in a ‘Self awareness! We knew this would happen! Aughaskdjfh!!!’ type of way.
And ideas for structure I have! Below are my goals for the following year:
- Take one art history course through a community college. Achieve at least a B.
- For the spring academic semester, enroll and complete two adult continuing education courses focusing on drawing skills.
- For the fall or summer academic semester, take a for-credit drawing class through a community college. Achieve at least a B.
To achieve the above goals, I've taken a few steps. First, I'm finalizing my enrollment at a local community college. To be clear - I am taking one class per semester maximum. I work full time, and even though I'm receiving a discounted tuition rate because of my proximity to the college, it's still roughly $400-500 per for-credit course, which is, in my opinion, well worth it considering many other art programs I've looked at are in the neighborhood of $200+ per month for art coaching/private lessons. Second, I've completed my enrollment in the first adult continuing education course (Drawing fundamentals). That is set to begin the 18th of this month. I'm also attempting to draw for a little bit each day. Ideally half an hour or so, but if it's 4-5 days per week, I won't beat myself up either. The main goal for me is to have this be a continuous practice I engage in.
For the blog, perhaps this is space to reflect and share (anonymously) what it looks like for someone with no real art education to try and learn the fundamentals of art. I'm a mostly blank slate, really. I've drawn off and on over the past few years, but due to where I grew up (very rural Kansas) I never had any sort of art curriculum or classes available for me. Maybe this will give people a frame of reference for what that process looks like, and it might even create some conversation about all of this.
I never know how to finish posts like these. Thanks for reading, if you're reading. Tomorrow I start a 7-day meditation retreat with my local Zen center. I hope to post sometime after that experience, and potentially upload some photos of my current art as well as supply some details about the art history course I intend to take.
Take care.