2017 Art Goals

2017 art goals http://schulmanart.blogspot.com/2017/01/2017-art-goals.html

This year, my family started a new tradition of writing our goals down together and sharing them. Even my son is on the bandwagon as he started a journal for his goals and a planner to track them. My daughter uses her planner as both an art journal and a goal keeping tool. I am not sure what cockamamie system my husband has, I just know that he has one and I have a few systems going on at once.

One exercise I find invaluable is reviewing the goals of the previous year and documenting how I did with each one as I plan my goals for the following year. I also have been documenting this annual ritual on my blog as writing goals down and keeping them visible holds me accountable.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me. I would love to hear from you in the comments about how you set goals for the year.

Year in Review

 

Here is a list of the goals I made for 2016 and how I did with each of them.

See blog post The Art of Goal Setting for a deep dive into my 2016 goals
One error I made last year was too many goals. Early on in the year I saw this problem and intentionally cut out a few of my business goals so that I could focus on my motherhood and my spirituality.

1) New online art classes..

I planned on launching 4 new art classes in 2016: an art journal class which became Painting with Words, a watercolor class which became Farm Animal Spirits, a Handcrafted Holidays course as well as a creative marketing class.  In actuality, I did launch 3 new art classes plus a private coaching series to see if I could build that into a course for those wanting to market their art. Since I had bitten off more than I could chew, instead of choking on too much I really only developed three of the four courses. Two of them did exceptionally well and the Handcrafted Holidays course was not as successful ( in terms of profitability) as I had hoped.

 

Outdoor art show… lots of compliments.. but less sales than online

2) Outdoor Art Fairs.

My goal was to do 3-4 outdoor shows. I actually only did two which was fine as they are very time consuming and difficult on my back. Not even sure why this was a goal.. One of them was very successful and the other venue I will not be going back to.
Traveled across the country (for the first time) to Portland, Oregon 

3) Travel

 
I traveled to Portland, Oregon to see friends and family and also down to North Carolina for an art retreat.
painting sold in 2016 (50% supported charity)

4) Solo Art Shows

I had a successful solo art show in May 2016 and cancelled a planned show in November when I realized I had too much on my plate. ( good decision!!) In 2017, I plan on 1-2 open studios
painting sold in 2016


5) 50 New Paintings

I don’t think I came even close to this number.. Unfortunately, I didn’t create a good tracking system for myself so I can’t say how many paintings I produced in 2016. I will change that for 2017 and actually track how many new artworks I create.
 

6) 6 Figure Art business

I did not hit this goal but my net revenue was up 20% in 2016 over 2015.

Goals for 2017

 
For 2017, I have broken down my goals into three categories: personal development, business and new skills. (although you could say that the new skills are also personal development)

Personal Development

 
1) Meditation

Although it wasn’t a specific goal in 2016, I began meditation. I also downloaded the “Calm” app which helped me track my progress. Since I downloaded the app in June, I meditated 215 times with the help of their guided meditations.
I introduced meditation to my children and my daughter has started meditating as well. She found it helps her relax before her cello sessions. My son has also started meditating as a sleep aid, although he likes the app “Headspace.”
I want to continue to meditate daily as I found it has both short term and long term benefits for my emotional well being and concentration. My specific goal is to meditate more in 2017 than I did in 2016.
2) Journaling

In 2016, I worked sporadically in my art journal, experimented with the “5 minute journal” app as well as flirted with the practice of morning pages. In 2017, I want to maintain a practice of daily journaling to keep my goals in mind and express gratitude. Specifically, I want to make sure I take the time every month to review and reflect on my month to adjust course.
 
3) Move my body

I actually have no weight loss goal in mind. My specific goal is simply to make sure I get some form of exercise every day, preferably in the morning. (since if it doesn’t happen then, I know it never happens)
A page from my 2016 art journal on Gratitude… 
4) Express Gratitude

This is actually part of the journaling and meditation process, as I want to make to create a daily gratitude practice. Gratitude is also my word for 2017.

Business Goals

1) Upgrade the Inspiration Place

I am investing time and money into the Inspiration Place software platform in order to create a smoother and faster experience for my students. Although they are happy with the old one, students who have been testing the new platform absolutely love it and I want to have a site that represents a high end experience.
This painting, that I completed during my North Carolina Art retreat will be the basis of my next series of paintings.

2) Create 4 new art collections

I plan on creating a new art collection each season. More on this in future blog posts.

3) 6 Figure Art Business.

Yep, it’s back on my goal list. I think if I keep my expenses down and release new and popular art classes regularly I will finally hit this milestone.
This painting is also on the easel and in development… can’t wait to share the finished painting with you. This is the type of art I will teach in “Mixed Media Masterpieces”

4) New Art Classes

This year I am revamping several of my popular art classes to make them better as well as creating a few new ones. You can anticipate a new watercolor class in Woodland Creatures as well as a mixed media course tentatively titled your Mixed Media Masterpiece.
My husband HATES this purple lipstick, but it makes me feel like a powerful artist… so I wear it.

5) Open Studio

I plan on hosting two open studios in 2017. The first one will be June 11th ( I think… waiting to hear when my mom’s 70th birthday party is scheduled). So save the date!

New Skills

“New Skills” is a new category for me which my son came up with. My kids and I have sat down to write our goals & I was so inspired that my kids both made “new skills” a category on their goals list.

My sixteen year old son wrote that he wants to learn a new language & also learn how to drive.

My nineteen year old daughter also wrote that she wants to get her driving license. (finally! goodbye driving my kids around) & also wants to learn how to cook.
Here the new skills I want to focus on

1) Play Bridge
2) Study the Bible ( Torah, or old testament)

 

What about you? What kind of new skills do you want to learn this year?

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I’m Miriam Schulman, your curator of inspiration.

I inspire art-lovers to reconnect with their creativity and profit from their art. Whether you paint simply for the joy of it or you’re serious about selling your work, and you’re ready to stop putting yourself on the back burner...You're in the right place. I've done it and I can inspire YOU how to do it too.

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