The End of my Daily Art Challenge

Despite being determined to see this challenge through to day 312, this blog post marks the end. Unfortunately, I have decided to quit the daily art challenge, having only completed 43 days.

My goal was to find my art style and document my progress as an artist over a year. It's still my intention to improve my art skills, document my progress, and find my unique style, but I have realised that committing to working on it at least six days a week is too much for me.

Each week of the challenge, I would have two or three creative days where I had ideas and inspiration and wanted to make art. The rest of the week, creating art felt like a chore, and the art I was producing was not the quality I would have liked, and I didn't enjoy it. By committing to doing art six days a week, I had made it feel more like a job, like something I had to do, and that took the fun out of it for me.

The nail in the coffin came when I started a branding project for a client. I don't often get design clients, and this particular one is not the type of client I am used to. It took every ounce of creative juice I had to develop some logo concepts for them. I'm enjoying the challenge, and it's great to be paid for something creative, but when it came time to create my daily art, I had nothing left in the tank.

I had already had my day off for the week, so I felt the pressure to create something. But I couldn't think of what to draw, and I just didn't want to. I needed to switch off and watch tv, so I did. I felt creatively burned out for a few days and had no enthusiasm to return to my client project, let alone to create artwork.

So I have decided that is it. No more daily art challenge.

I felt really guilty to start with. I committed to doing this challenge for myself and announced it on my blog, Instagram, and YouTube channel. I was so excited to have a year's worth of daily art to reflect on, and I felt like I had let everyone down.

I have tried and failed several times at challenges like this over the years. I'm a strong project starter and a week project finisher. I should have learned by now not to set myself such a big challenge publicly.

But that's not the end of me creating art.

I fully intend to keep creating, but for now, that will be as and when inspiration strikes. My client work has to take priority. Like most people, I'm penny-pinching due to the state of the world; I'm also still trying to save to get on the property ladder. I already struggle with motivation, and as we head into winter, that gets so much worse. I can't afford to put too much on my plate to distract or negatively impact my work. So forcing myself to be creative almost every evening when I need to rest ready for the next day of work is not something I can do right now.

But spending an evening or weekend afternoon lost in creating, when I want to be, will be a welcome break and a way to relax that I probably will need. And I hope it will feel that way if I'm not forcing myself to do it daily.

I hope to participate in art challenges such as peachtober, which is just around the corner. But I won't be forcing myself to do it daily, I will pick and choose the prompts I want to have a go at, and I might do a few in one day or skip a few days. I'm taking the pressure off and ensuring I enjoy the ride. Art is not a business for me yet; I'm not making money from it. And until I'm more dependent on it, I need to treat it a little more like a hobby to ensure I enjoy the journey.

I'm sorry if you were invested in my daily art challenge journey over on Instagram. I do hope to get back to posting as soon as I have something worth sharing. But watch this space for new art as soon as I get my creative flow back :)

Day 43 - 28/08/22

This was the last piece I created for my daily art challenge. It's a mixed media piece created using Ohuhu markers and oil pastels. I don't love it, and I think you can see the love for the challenge had gone out the window. It is of a view somewhere in Cornwall I found on Unsplash. Hopefully, I will find some fresh inspiration soon and create something I'm happier with!