I’ve been experimenting a lot with how to structure my weeks and days now that I am pursuing art full time. It’s been a total joy to have so much flexibility and freedom, but also challenging as there are a lot of tasks that artists need to do that are not related exactly to painting.
In my corporate life, I lived by time blocking, and I’m using the same methodology to run my art business. Painting of course is front and center, but there is also photography, copywriting, supporting customers, shipping orders, developing new projects, bookkeeping, and marketing. Each of these areas gets dedicated time during my week, allowing me to focus on the task at hand without getting too distracted. It’s also allowed me to prioritize my creative process and time by dedicating large, uninterrupted hours for painting.
At first, I thought I could squeeze painting into other tasks, but learned very quickly that the creative process itself needs to come first in my day, and have a lot of breathing room for me to really sink into it and create my best work.
I’m also a big fan of the Passion Planner (link: https://passionplanner.com/) and have been using it for a couple of years now. This is not sponsored in anyway; I just genuinely love it. It’s helpful for setting goals and remaining motivated to pursue a long term vision.
I am still very much on the journey of managing my time as a full time artist. It’s a huge adjustment, and my natural instinct is to probably squeeze too much into my day. I’m on the journey of relaxing a little and letting things flow when they need to. Creative work is very different and requires a lot of time for self-care and inspiration seeking to do my best, and prioritizing that has been a fun and personally challenging process.
I hope by sharing my strategies and journey it will help inspire you to pursue your own creative efforts!
What I’m Reading: A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross; Red Rising by Pierce Brown; Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster; The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh
What I’m Listening To: “To Be Honest” by Christine and the Queens; “Shiver” by Fever Ray; “Labour” by Paris Paloma
What I’m Watching: Succession and the new season of Love Is Blind
What I’m Working On: I’m working on some new abstract pieces I’m excited to share, as well as an upcoming installation in downtown Seattle. And a few new ACOTAR pieces of course!