YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GETTING
CREATIVE EVERY DAY! “AND DON’T FORGET THE BIG, FAT DREAMS. DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO TELL ANYONE, BUT DREAM BIG. ANYTHING GOES, DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF.” BY JENNIFER LOVE GIRONDA
GOALS By the time you open this magazine and read the lines on this page, I will be within days of the five year journey of creating art every single day since January 1, 2012. That is 1,827 consecutive days of creating at least one piece of art, sometimes more. I am not a full-time artist, but I am a full-time art teacher, and have also worked part-time jobs and coached throughout my five years of making art. After graduate school and moving from North Carolina to Florida, I began to realize that I wasn’t living the creative life that I wanted to live. I was not making art—I did not feel like an artist. I wanted to make a change and make time for my art. If you also have the goal to try and create more, I can offer some insight on my experience and what has worked for me, specifically for visual arts, but this information can be applied to other art disciplines as well. I hope that anyone reading this can use the information towards making more time for art—for your gift.
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ARTHIVEMAGAZINE.COM
• Short Term Goals • Long Term Goals • BIG FAT DREAMS
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irst and foremost, realize that this is YOUR artistic journey. No one can live it for you—and it really has to be a goal that you set for yourself. That being said, the journey of a thousand miles (or over 2,000 works of art!) begins with that first “step”, but it certainly helps to have some kind of a map i.e. your goals. Start off with some small, short term goals. Write them down. There is something about writing or typing those words on paper and seeing them in front of you that makes it more real, which brings you that much closer to achieving the goal. I utilized lists that I jotted down in my planner to set small manageable goals by the day and week. Break the larger goal into smaller pieces so you can have some “wins” early on to fuel your success. Write down your long term goals. Do you want to be more creative for a whole year? Do you want to exhibit/perform? One thing that was a huge motivator for me was participating in local group art shows, working the themes of the shows into the works that I created. I would make lists of shows I wanted to participate in, create notes on blank monthly calendars—anything to get me thinking towards looking forward in my thoughts—towards more art making. You are so much closer to any goal that you set by taking the time to get it down on paper or a computer screen so that you can search for the path(s) towards those goals. And don’t forget the big, fat dreams. Don’t feel like you have to tell anyone, but dream big. Anything goes, don’t limit yourself. >>>
Wooden Mannequin ©Istock photo