Set New Year's Painting Goals to Stay Motivated

Sunfish
Oil on Canvas Panel
16 x 20 in/40.6 x 50.8 cm

After last week's blog, which was the last one for the old year, I suggested that painters take stock of their year's work with an annual painting review. Doing this helps us painters see where we've made progress (or not) and where we need to improve.

Well, that was last week, and now it's a new year and I'll make another suggestion: set your new year's painting goals now. This will help you both manage your time and progress better, but most importantly, it will keep you motivated. Do not procrastinate; do it now while you're fresh in the new year.

Painters malaise, as I like to call it, is that time when you are in a painting slump or you think you are in a slump. Either way, it's not good. It wastes time and energy and saps your creative skills.

Your goals don't have to be elaborate, They can be a simple list in order of priority of the things you want to accomplish, Or they can be calendar-based, for example, "by April 1, I will have learned how to (fill in the blank)."

I have set a few simple goals for myself that may give you some ideas.

- Become adept at painting with water-mixable oil paint; understand which brand(s) I like best and how to use them to achieve better painting results.

- Decide on not more than three sizes of supports to use and paint on those exclusively; I think this will help my composition and brushwork skills.

- And an old goal left over from last year--paint more boats, and to show I'm serious, it's the subject of today's image.

Stay MOTIVATED!