How I do my annual creative review + planning

Since committing to my art full-time in 2020, at the end of each year I’ve taken time to look back on the art I’ve made over that past year. I use that to learn more about my creative development, decide the focus for the art I want to be creating next, and get clear on all the ways I want to learn and deepen my art practice in the coming year. Several people have asked me about how I do this, so I thought it worth sharing with you all. So here we go…

1. Collate a visual of all the art I made

I start by printing out little thumbnails of every painting I completed that year. How many paintings do you think I completed in 2024? Here’s the answer!

2. Reflect on the art I made

Then, looking at these visual pages of all of the art I made, I have a series of questions I reflect on…

What are some themes I see coming up a lot across my work? Are there trends in mark-making or colours or shapes, lines, textures, types of contrasts I used, subject matter, proportions, and so on?
What kinds of things inspired me/ the art?
What did I love creating? Why? What exactly did I love about it?
What art did I struggle with or find uninteresting?
What helped or hindered my creativity?
What habits/ practice/ people/ learning/ materials supported my creativity and what was not a good investment of my time/ energy/ money?
What new materials/ techniques did I try that I enjoyed?
Where was I brave? What inspired that courage?
Where was I too tight? What brought on that constriction?
What art did I sell?

3. Focus on the art I love most

What were my favourite artworks that I created and why? (Here’s my answer for 2024)
What exactly do I love about each of my favourite artworks?
What exactly did I love about the process of creating these artworks?

4. What do I want to create more of?

From these reflections on my favourite artworks it then flows easily into looking forward into the upcoming year and deciding what art I want to make…

What are some words for what I loved in the art I loved most?
What do I want my art to be about?
What do I want my art to feel like for the viewer?
What do I want my creative process to feel like for me?
What do I want to practice more or learn or be braver about?
What regular practice, support, training, mentoring, or materials do I need to invest in to be able to make this a reality?

Below is a distilled version of my words for the kind of art and creative process I want to go deeper into this year. I have it posted up on my studio wall. I’m excited!