© Katie Jeanne Wood
Oil portrait painting
WIP
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 358

With less than a week left of the 365 day project, I’ve been looking back, and reflecting on the past year. I want to share with you 7 tips for painting daily, which might help you out if you’re thinking of doing a challenge like this.

1. Think it through carefully before committing.

When the idea of doing the 365 project first popped into my head, I jumped into it without hesitation. I assumed I had given it thought over the past year or so, but I had no idea what I was doing. I highly suggest you have a realistic, doable plan in place before you begin.  

2. Figure out a reasonable amount of time you have to spend on the project each day, and stick with it. I would say, no less than 15 minutes because you want to give yourself a little time to dig in, but no more than an hour a day. Set a timer, and walk away when it goes off. 

I say this because I took the challenge too seriously (type A, INTJ personality..what can I say?), and I’ve let it completely consume my life, and blog. You don’t have to work your fingers to the bone over a silly challenge. 

3. Consider your strengths, and weaknesses. Know what you’re going to be good at, and what you’re going to struggle with the most. 

My strength is painting. The more I paint, the more I want to paint. 

A HUGE weakness of mine is writing blog posts. I’ve been blogging since 2000ish, long before it the words “blog” or “blogging” had been invented, and I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with it. Forcing myself to blog daily for months throughout this challenge has completely done me in, and at the moment, I’m sooo over it. I can’t wait until next Wednesday when I get to set myself free. 

Because of my weakness, if I had to do the project over again, I would highly consider keeping it to myself. I can’t help but think I would have gotten so much more out of daily painting if I hadn’t made it public. 

Stop all the noise in your head
© Katie Jeanne Wood
Oil portrait painting
WIP
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 359

4. Pace yourself. No matter what challenge you’re doing, whether it’s 30, 100 or 365 days, you’re going to have bad days in the studio, and you’re not going to accomplish as much as you planned. Don’t expect too much from any given day because when you’re doing a challenge like this, there’s always tomorrow..and the next day, and the day after that.  

5. The time frame of a project or challenge is everything, and I say choose one that involves less days, not more. 365 days is too long, imo. No matter how much you love what you do, forcing yourself to do it every single day is a good way to burn yourself out. The project became repetitious, monotonous, tedious, and boring…and yes, most of these words mean the same thing, and I used them for a reason..because that’s what it felt like to be in the middle of this challenge with no end in sight. 

I used to do 30 day painting challenges, and think how tough it was, and now I look back and laugh at my naivety. Thirty days is like dipping your toe a tiny bit into the water. 365 days is like plunging in, diving deep, and setting up camp underwater like a freaking mermaid. I truly felt like I was drowning in the project some days, and that wasn’t a good feeling. If I had to do it again, (which I don’t, thank goodness!!) I’d set a much shorter time frame, like 90 to 100 days tops. 

Impeccably Dressed
© Katie Jeanne Wood
Acrylic portrait painting
WIP
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 360

6. Set clear boundaries before starting. I would definitely take weekends, and holidays off. Yeah, I know it wouldn’t have been a complete 365 day project then, but endurance isn’t everything. Life is too short to work all the time. 

7. Get a friend to do the challenge with you, so you can cheer each other on, and get through the ups and downs together. I felt isolated doing this challenge by myself. Sure, there were people who had done the challenge before me, but I was alone in a group of one. Once I started the project, I felt like I had alienated myself from the rest of the world. I couldn’t relate to anyone, and they couldn’t relate to me. That’s not much different than my normal life, really, but I often wished I had gotten others on board with me. Let’s face it, tho, nobody is this dumb. haha I would have liked someone in the know to share milestones, successes, bounce ideas off of, and also commiserate with privately when it wasn’t going so well. If you can talk a pal into joining you, do. 

I hope this helps if you’re thinking about or in the middle of a long challenge. If I think of anything else to add to the list, I’ll let you know.