Social media is both a blessing and a curse. I probably don’t need to explain it to anyone out there using it. I am often inspired by other artist and its a wonderful platform to connect with artists around the world and my the community. Its a great place to access info for calls for art and to engage with venues, galleries, and various other spaces that promote the visual arts. BUT . . . . social media can also be a place to incorrectly compare yourself and your art to others. It can be a good thing gone bad as a lot of wasted time gets sucked up and before you know it, you’re watching videos that have nothing to do with art!

I found myself doing those negative things and it was demotivating me from my art practice and discouraging me from focusing on my personal art journey. So, my challenge and experiment is to get off social media and instead be intentional with that time and clearer head space to daily practice my art making —- not daily practice my masterpiece art making, but being committed to doing activity more regularly no matter how mundane.

Things included in my art making practice are: sketching in a sketchbook (how original!) for the sole purpose of improving my seeing/drawing skills, watching instructional videos on YouTube about things I’m not clear on (what are the different techniques for colored pencils? How do you really use Liquin?), applying for art calls (which is basically admin work), and of course actual painting painting!

I found that my goal to do an art practice DAILY became unrealistic because I couldn’t seem to do it on the weekends as ……. well, my weekends are my weekends to do whatever! So I changed my challenge to Mon thru Fri and that has also been a challenge. My ultimate goal is to force a habit into my life that makes my art practice a priority on a regular basis. Easier said then done.