I really need to be the one that holds myself accountable to myself. I want to setup a schedule of work outside of work, a schedule for art & making, and hold myself to it. I don’t need to spend a whole world of time spent outside of work but it does need to be enough that I accomplish something on a regular basis. I want to. I need to. Like my tattoo says “want or need”. This is both. I will be able to accomplish this. I am going to put it down on paper and in my calendar on my phone as something that has a definite time and place. Weather permitting or not. Inside or outside. A commitment. A commitment to myself, to art, to my sanity, to the world at large. That’s my goal. To set aside time for art & making and then make some art in that time. To use the whole time allotted and not a minute less but maybe more.

What will I make? What goals will be set in stone? What ones will be less rigid? What will the timelines look like? The short answer is that I don’t know… yet.

As for the amorphous, general b.s. kind of ideas for goals: make some stuff like books and paintings and drawings etc., do some prints, look at very small presses and other equipment, look at a while mess of art online, in print, and in person. Make a real effort to see new art in person. Make an equal effort to see old art in person. Find some time to research art and art history to rediscover some roots and running ideas from the deep and recent pasts. Think about the future. Think about the futures of the past and how they differ from the now. Learn from what I look at and research and think real hard about what will or won’t change in the future. I will make a concerted effort to learn something new every day.

These are the vagaries I have about my plans. Nothing definite. I need to do more thinking on what I actually need to accomplish. I will also be more flexible and forgiving with myself. I’m extremely hard on myself when things don’t come out as planned, or at all. I’m my own worst critic by a wide margin. I will allow myself some room to breathe and grow. I will not beat myself over the head with failures or digressions. Everything will lead me to where I’m supposed to go eventually. We’ll just have to see where that ends up being.

The accountability part comes in strong here. I will hold myself to accomplishing things. When I set it down I will do it when I say it gets done as much as possible. Accountability and flexibility are going to be tough to manage together. But I will. I guess that’s part of the reason for this blog, to hold myself accountable to something other than myself without direction.

Wish me luck…