January 2026 Art Practice

I’m beginning each month by creating a cover spread in my sketchbook, scanning it as you see here and then posting it on the top of my website for the month. So any time you visit, you’ll see what I’m working on that month front and center.

Except to tell you the truth, I’m doing this for myself more than for anyone else. You’re welcome to check in here any time to and see what I’m creating, but I’ve decided what I’m doing here on my website, a personal website, is really mostly for me. I’ve come to see that a website can be a sort of creative diary, a tool to help me think about my art practice and document my creative life.

This cover spread is meant to solve for the challenge I have in my art practice is to stay focused! It is so easy to start doing one thing and then another and another, and suddenly I’ve forgotten all about my intention to finish what I started. So with my creative focus items front and center both in my sketchbook and on my home page every month, I should be able to stay focused on what I set out to do for the month—and save all those other ideas (which I do track in a notebook) for another month.

I also set aside the next spread after the cover for journaling about the month. On the left side, I write out my intentions and I’ll come back to the right side to review how the month went. Highlights, challenges, Insights and Lessons. I think it would be nice to look back at this year and see that I sustained certain practices that led to growth. We’ll see.

For January, as you see, I’m going to focus on four things:

Illustrated Journal

I have done illustrated journaling off and on for years now, but very inconsistently and I haven’t yet come up with a sustainable format. There are so many ways to illustrate one’s life and I have yet to find my way. This month I intend to find a process and a format that will sustain my going forward—and I’d really love to keep an exclusive sketchbook just for that purpose.

31 Days of Drawing

I want to draw something every day in January

Geomoetric and Organic Shapes project

I love shapes! But I really don’t understand this response I have to shapes. So I’m going to spend the month exploring shapes. My thought is to choose a shape or shape set and then iterate on cards different ways to create with just that shape/set, then reflect, and then choose a different shape or shape set to explore again, and so on. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have more insight about my relationship with shapes.

Inner Magic Art Club

Yet, I just signed up to this membership with Jessica Swift and Becky Hershey where two times a month the group gathers on zoom to create intuitively—which is my favorite way to create. AND I could definitely use more creative community in my life. Both Jessica and Becky are lovely, the music is greatr, and when I tried it out last month I fell into such creative flow! More please!

Okay - so that’s what I’m doing month by month