Summer is for fun, sun, road trips, and long, lazy days.
Or is it?
Some people might have day jobs that allow them to be more flexible and devote more time to their art in the summer.
Do you have art career goals for your summer (or winter if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere)?
Share them here. Tell the world about them and hold yourself accountable!
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20 thoughts on “Deep Thought Thursday: Summertime goals”
Goals- you bet!
Late this spring I went through one of those sweet spots where everything seemed to work out better that it should. Produced a half dozen intimate pastel studies that I can’t wait to turn into large oil paintings.
Before I can get to that I have to finish off building large wooden crates and packing them with work for a traveling museum show. It goes next to Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA June 20-Aug. 16, I’m excited.
So excited about plans for this summer. Plan to enter competitions, put my work online with American Artist Forum, write a bunch for Fine Art Views, teach a bunch – things I’ve learned from Schmid and others.
Plus travel – painting trips with artist friends. Ah, loving this career. Has taken me 15 years to develop my work to this point, but was worth every minute, week and year.
This summer I’m doing all the heavy-lifting work for my traveling raw-art journals. They are part of the 1001 Journals Project. The heavy lifting is talking to libraries, schools, art retreats and getting a variety of institutions involved, giving workshops and finding funding. The institutional part is completely new to me, lots of phone work, meetings.
My goals are to paint very day, teach, and enter more competitions. I am also revisiting some of my art books to tune my work up.
Only one plan — just to paint through my current slump, malaise, discouragement. Just. Keep. Painting.
I’m fortunate to be retired and to finally have the time to pursue the passion of art quilting full time. Summers are no longer filled with days of preparing to return to teaching in September. I’m participating in SAQA’s Visioning Project, where we each set a long-range goal and help each other work towards it. So this summer will be one of contemplating, planning, and producing.
this summer is all about getting thing in perspective and leaving the chaos behind. I plan to make some thing everyday
This summer is the first with only little travel, and lots of painting, which is the reverse of what I usually do. But I will also include creating new postcards, and a newsletter thanks to Alyson and “I’d Rather Be in the Studio.” I show my artwork at a street fair all winter, so this summer, I’m going to create a new body of work. My goal is to have 12 new pieces to introduce this October. There it is… my summer of fun.
I’m going to try weaning myself off of tea, get into some sort of healthy physical shape, grow my hair in long, & kindof let summer tell me what it wants from me…oh & visit & talk to the horses at my parent’s farm- they always have good ideas about what I should do with my life…
My goal is to hang on tight, keep painting and try not to file for bankruptcy! =-)
I have a full time temp job, another part time job, I volunteer and I paint. (alongside of being a husband and father to 3). I hope I survive.
Philip: I sure wish I could be there to see your work! (and to revisit Cape Cod)
Lori, Quinn, Amy: Sounds like a lot of work! Quinn, I’m going to have to look up that project. Sounds interesting.
Nicole: Sorry about the slump. They do say to paint your way through it, though. Sounds like you’re on the right track.
Christina: Yes! And enjoy the processes.
Jackie: Yea! A newsletter! Twelve new pieces is 4 a month. I wish you well.
Sari: Yours sounds very healthy and summer-y.
i have 2 solo shows lined up and my goals deal with quality presentation, effective advertising and some goals for sales.
I also have goals set up for online sales; using some of the sites already out there and available.
and lastly to attend more shows. You have to be present on the playing field if you want to play.
Because I am a portrait artist 90% of my work is commissioned…so this summer I want to make at least 15 paintings that I willkeep and not sell so I’ll have something to show galleries…rather than just referring them to my website to “see” my work!
I’m not an artist, but my girlfriend is. I just came upon your site and think this would be great for her. I am an entrepreneur, so in a way I am an artist because I make companies come to life.
Just stumbled and submitted your site to Viralogy: http://www.viralogy.com/blogs/my/6775 Hope you get some great traffic from it.
– Jun
I have two overlapping shows in the Fall, so have a lot of painting to do this summer in order to have enough work for both. But I keep selling work, so I guess I am playing catch up until November…and then there is marketing, which is onging no matter the season.
Also, I plan to go to more openings and develop my relationships with other artists.
It is encouraging to read the other comments!
My workshops are winding down until fall and I am getting ready to visit Paris for a couple of weeks in July. In between working on new images (hopefully from Paris) I will be trying to come up with a few new ideas for workshops. That seems to be my bread and butter these days so it makes since to go in that direction. Stay tuned….. Oh and I will keep up my blog! Thanks again for the great class!
summer is always my slow period (due to my hate of warm weather) but this year I have a couple big changes.
First, I’m going to be in Chicago for a month – so my goal there is to paint a series of small work (acrylic on paper probably) of Lake Michigan. I’ll be staying on a boat on the lake for a week so would like to do at least 25 pieces altogether.
Over the whole summer I’m going to catch up with reading. Finish my Motherwell writings book, read “Looking at Barnett Newman”, and Rothko’s “The Artist’s Reality”.
Fortunately my new studio is lovely and cool. In fact we’ve been having 30C days (strange really) and I’m wearing a sweater in the studio. So I should be much more productive this year. 🙂
I am moving in about 3 weeks, it is taking a bite out of the beginning of my summer. I will have all my paintings supplies ready to pounce once I get situated. I hope to make my annual trip up to the High Sierras later this summer and paint plein air like I always do. It is the most gorgeous place on earth to me with far too many choices of mountains, streams, cattle and fields to paint. I paint in oils mostly but I also do a couple of watercolors featuring Sierra wildflowers. I keep all my paintings from the Sierras, they keep me happy looking at them throughout the rest of the year when I can’t be up there. Someday when life slows down I will make larger paintings from the many studies I done. So far, I just have been having fun capturing different vistas and streams. Summers in Southern California where I live are mostly spent doing seascapes, I sell those. Can’t wait to feel that warm sun and dip my body in the salty sea on hot days. I love taking picnics to the beach.
Road trips are first and foremost as usual for me. Michigan brewery tour, Boston, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Very excited to see the National Portrait gallery in D.C. for the first time.
Am working towards two solo shows in August and September. Right now I’m feeling lazy, but I love deadlines, so I expect things will get into gear the closer I get to the hanging date. No matter how much I goof off, things seem to get done.
Just signed a lease for a studio, my first ever! Trying to make it pretty and will for the first time be able to have something open to the public. I think a party is in order. I’m very curious to see how a studio away from home and distractions will change my art making behavior.
Alyson, Mavis and I, both ABP grads, will finish up our Off The Highway series of 100 paintings in 100 days. It’s been challenging and exciting. No better way to learn than to leap first and worry about the landing later! Thanks for your guidance over the past year.