artist intuition — News/Blog-Jackie Partridge

How to make time for art is an ongoing question I ask myself. I’m sure other artists ask themselves how to make time for art and maybe you do too. I want to share my tips with you for how I have time to make art and how I find pockets of time in my busy schedule to get creative. Learn how to make time for art below!

How to Make Time for Art- tip #1

Track Your Time:

In order to have more time to make your artwork it is important that you understand how you spend your time. You can do this by tracking your time. Create an Excel sheet or grab a pen and some paper and start making note of how much time you spend on typical tasks. Once you have totalled how you spend your time you will be able to assess if there is any room for improvements that could give you more time to make art.

For example, check your screen time usage on your smartphone. It is amazing to see that we spend hours (2-3) even more scrolling on our phone. Ask yourself how you can reduce it. Maybe set a timer. Check your email only once or twice a day, have an intention before going on social media so you avoid mindless scrolling.

Another time waster is mindless tasks like folding laundry, or doing the dishes. I try to listen to a podcast or audiobook during this time or I give someone a phone call.

A big culprit is watching TV. Again, it’s important to have an intention and limit your TV time. What could you be doing instead? Working out, painting, reading, making art?

How to Make Time for Art- tip #2

Make a Plan

Now that you have tracked your time and have a better understanding of how you are spending your time you can begin to make a plan. Your goal is to make more time for your art. So ask yourself what can you give up or shorten the time to give you more time to make art.

You could agree to have a night with no TV and this day of the week could be a painting day. You could reduce your screen time by an hour a day. You could leave work earlier instead of staying late all of the time. You could wake up an hour earlier than normal.

See how much time you can give yourself to make art. Start small with 30min. to an hour and see if you can add more time to make art later on.

How to make time for art by writing it down on paper

How to Make Time for Art- tip #3

Make a Habit

If possible try to block off time in your online or paper planner to schedule yourself time to make art. When making art make sure to limit your distractions. Put your phone on airplane mode. Tell your loved ones this is your uninterrupted time and they should respect that if this is something you truly care about and value!

Bonus Tip:

Habits help to stick when they are goals. Make sure you are clear about why you want to make art and why it is important to you. Does it bring you joy? Is it stress relief? Once you have established why making art is important to you -you should continue to want to strive to make time for it. Realizing why art is important and giving myself art goals has helped me to stay motivated in making art. For me the process of making art calms me down and makes me feel more relaxed so I try to fit it into my schedule whenever possible. You can check out my article about tips for achieving your art related goals - here!

There will be days or weeks that you don’t make art and that is okay. Give yourself some grace and know that you will make art again! You can read this post about tips for adding freshness to a stale art practice here!

Need some accountability to make art for your portfolio application - try my art portfolio coaching so you can create an application that stands out and gets accepted without the stress and overwhelm!

6 Tips for Hitting Your Art Goals

How to Add Freshness to a Stale Art Practice

How to Stay Motivated as an Artist

Sleeping Tips for Artists

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You Got this sign for how to make time for your art

Trusting your gut feeling when it comes to making art can be difficult. I get that you don’t have time and there are other things on your to-do list. As an artist trusting your gut is an important step in the art making process. Without following your intuition you might not be making enough art or the best art. You have to trust your gut and listen to your art intuition.

If your art intuition is telling you to try something to add a different colour, to try a new technique, to make something- you should follow that. Just like any other form of intuition like a red flag warning sign in a bad relationship your art intuition usually isn’t wrong. If the art you are making looks off or doesn’t feel right make sure you are trusting your gut feeling.

For awhile and I mean awhile, I have struggled with finding time to paint and make art. When I was living in Montreal doing my MFA it was easy because I had multiple studio spaces and designated time to make art. I was only working part-time and my main job was being a great art student.

Fast forward a few years, I had a mountain of student loans and was working multiple jobs to pay off the debt quickly. I didn’t have time to make art and was feeling tired, frustrated and unhappy.

Now, my student loans are paid and although I am teaching full-time I have been making more art.

THIS IS A RECENT CHANGE...

Trust your gut when you are playing with new materials like this clay!

I started to make art a priority and stopped saying, “I’ll make art when I have time.” Or, “When I have finished my to-do list.”

I have realized that if you don’t make time for your priorities or what you value most that you won’t magically gain more time later.

There might not ever be a great time to do something.

I’ve made it my goal to make art everyday. Even if it’s something small or just for 10 minutes. I have been doing this for two weeks now and recording the days that I have made art and how I feel versus the days that I haven’t.

I have seen a HUGE difference in how I feel! I have more energy in my day because I have prioritized doing something that makes me happy and provides stress relief.

I encourage you to do the same. Start making time for you and what you enjoy most!

How to Trust Your Gut as an artist. Desktop of supplies to organize yourself as an artist

How Trusting Your Gut Feeling in Art Can Be Helpful

You will make better art
You will be making art you are passionate about and not listening to other outside forces like society, family, or the art world pressure
You will feel happier and more proud of your art
You will want to make art more and naturally feel like you have more time to make it
You will feel in align that you are doing what is right
You will feel more confident in your art and naturally in yourself

Desk space to organize yourself as an artist to trust your gut

How to Trust Your Gut in Your Art

Start making it a habit - part of a morning or evening ritual to make art
Schedule a time to make art daily/weekly
Record in a journal how making art makes you feel and on days when you don’t make art how you feel
Try rewarding yourself to establish your art making goals
Lay out your art supplies so they are visible and ready to be used
Write art goals and give yourself deadlines for what you are making
Set reminders/alarms on your phone for when to make art
Remove distractions that might prevent you from making art like leaving your phone in another room or putting it on airplane mode

Trust your gut in design choices like flower arranging this vase

Once you start making art consistently by blocking out time to make art you will be trusting your gut feeling while you are making art.

Part of my goals that I made in January were related to wanting to make more art.

Here are the goals I made in January-let’s review them and see how I did:

I have written in italics how I have been doing on these goals in the last 6 months.

Post consistently to social media (5x a week to instagram, 1-2x to facebook, every day to Pinterest, twice a month to my email list, blog post 3-4x a month, YouTube 2x a month)

I have posted consistently to instagram usually about 4-5x a week, I have done 2-3 posts on Facebook per week, emailed my list 2x a month and YouTube. I have been blogging 4x a month.

Apply to art calls twice a month - I want to have more exhibitions this year!

I have been applying to 2-4 exhibitions or art calls a month. I have gotten a couple of new art exhibitions and grants this year!

Spend time in nature for inspiration- I find this really helps with my art practice.

I try to walk every day and plan a hike on the weekend. Although this doesn’t always happen I feel a lot better when it does.

Make consistent art sales- I would love my art to be my main source of income.

Artist hands covered in clay. Artist tips by Jackie Partridge on trusting your gut with new art techniques

I started a Teachers Pay Teachers store a couple of months ago to help add consistent art income. I am continuing to grow my business.

Keep my website updated monthly- I like reviewing my website at the end of each month to make sure everything is current.

I usually update my website every couple of months and I know I can get better at this.

Set boundaries for teaching for more work life balance- no work on Friday nights and Saturdays, no emails past 7pm, no marking on the weekend.

I have done really well with this goal which has helped me to have more time to make art.

Make art during school breaks- Teaching full time has made me really miss having time to make my art.

I have been doing this and recently started to make art everyday even if it is something small like a quick sketch or taking a photo.