I’m setting myself a personal goal and challenge to grow and experiment as an artist in 2022. Join along with me on my weekly 2022 Art Challenge, “52 in ’22”. Find the free printable sheet of prompts below.
My Personal 2022 Art Challenge
In July of 2020, I started learning to oil paint. I created several miniature paintings through the following winter. But then I started my blog and business in earnest and I haven’t had nearly as much time to paint as I would have liked.
However, since I set my own schedule and deadlines, that felt like a choice. And I didn’t want to feel guilty about taking time to make art and enjoy myself. Especially as painting is a really calming, and anxiety-reducing activity for me.
Therefore, I thought about my plans and goals for 2022 and how I wanted to find a bit more balance between work and everything else. As part of that, I knew I wanted to make more time to paint on a regular basis. I didn’t want anything too rigid. But I felt that setting a challenge for myself with some structure to it would help me stick with it and make painting a routine part of my schedule.
Experimenting Beyond My Usual Style
Almost every single painting I’ve done has been a miniature landscape completed in a single sitting. I typically work on a small scale, on gessoed index cards, mixed media paper, or a canvas pad sheet cut down to size. I don’t think I’ve made a painting bigger than a 5×7 yet. And I have been using a really limited impressionistic palette of colours, though I just recently added phthalo blue.
I really enjoy painting from personal photographs, such as these paintings of photos from our trips to Atlantic Canada, below.
And I also like to study paintings by other artists and attempt my own versions, such as the paintings inspired by Edward Seago below.
Recently I did experiment with some different colours when attempting some sunsets, and I briefly tried my phthalo blue. But ultimately, my paintings are still small landscapes because I’m comfortable with that.
Therefore, I decided that my second goal of my own art challenge would be to challenge myself to experiment and try new techniques, styles, subject matter, and compositions. I brainstormed a list of 52 different prompts (one for each week) to take me out of my comfort zone and expand my artistic horizons.
Some of them may turn out horribly and I may not like painting still life or portraits, for example. But I also won’t know if I don’t try, and I’m sure I’ll surprise myself. I want to grow as an artist, and I’d like to be able to stand back at the end of the year and look at the body of work I produced and all the challenges I attempted.
Sharing the 2022 Art Challenge With Others
After I had written up the challenge for myself, I decided that I would like to share it with others. Not only to share my art with other people and keep myself accountable, but to encourage other people to join in and create beauty in their own little corner of the world. And by sharing our work with each other, we can support each other in our experimentation and growth.
Let’s look at some FAQs you might have before joining in.
Art Challenge Frequently Asked Questions:
It is a year-long, 2022 Art Challenge that I set for myself as a way to experiment and grow as an artist, as well as trying to make regular time to paint. I decided to share the challenge with others who would also like to participate.
I decided on a weekly goal of 1 piece of art a week, give or take, for a total of 52-ish pieces of art in 2022. But I’m keeping it really flexible, and so there are no real rules. More about that below.
That’s totally ok. You can use any medium you like – oils, acrylics, watercolours, pen and ink, pencil, and so on. If you can figure out how to make art out of sandwiches, you can do that too! There aren’t any hard and fast rules – just making art.
The pace is up to you. I’m aiming to paint about once a week, or to create 4-5 small pieces of art each month. I know I’ll get behind at times and can catch up with a few pieces in one sitting. That’s ok. If you don’t have time to make art that regularly, or you want to work at a different pace, that’s totally fine. Sometimes other things take priority.
No problem! Join whenever you like – April, October, 2026. Just make art 🙂
That’s completely up to you. A couple of the prompts have time suggestions, but otherwise it’s whatever works for your life. I usually spend a couple hours or less on my little paintings. Obviously, if you make art that takes weeks to complete, you won’t make it through many prompts. But if that’s how you prefer to make art, that’s also fine. Again, there are no rules.
No! I didn’t number them for a reason. Complete whichever prompt you like, whenever you like. That’s what I’m going to do.
Absolutely! If you don’t understand my intent behind a prompt, leave me a comment on any Art Challenge post here on the blog, or on social media, or send me an email via my Contact Us page. Or interpret it yourself in whatever way you’d like.
If you don’t like a prompt, write yourself a new one. Or combine a few prompts into one for the week so you have less pieces to create. No rules, remember?
No, not at all. Or you can share the pieces you’re most proud of. But I’d love to see what everyone else is creating and be able to support each other. I know that I am my own worst critic, and I think that’s true about most people. But I do hope you’ll share some of your work 🙂
No. You’ll need some sort of art supplies to make art, but you can decide what those are according to your budget and preferences. I like to keep things from getting out of hand by working on a small scale on more paper-like surfaces rather than large canvasses. They’re less expensive, easier to store, and I can finish them more quickly.
As well, you can buy entry-level or any quality of supplies that you like. I keep a pretty limited paint palette, which also helps keep costs down.
To see more about the products I use and find recommendations to get started as a beginner, check out Top 5 Requirements for a Beginner Home Art Studio.
You don’t need to do a lot to prepare. I plan on cutting some small canvas pad and mixed media paper canvasses into smaller sizes in advance, and perhaps toning those in groups ahead. Though I’ll probably end up doing that monthly. You might wish to plan out what prompts you’ll do in advance, or you might wish to decide when you sit down to create.
Otherwise, it’s as simple as filling out the form below to get your copy of the free Art Challenge printable and printing it out to use as a checklist.
Have fun! This is not a serious art challenge, or a class where you’ll be graded. I’m making time to make art and to experiment and grow. And if you’re joining along, we’ll be sharing our art with each other and making the world a more beautiful place, one piece of art at a time.
Hopefully making time to create art throughout 2022 will be a nice routine or habit that’s relaxing and inspiring. But no stress! It’s all flexible and there are no rules. Just fun and art.
How to Join the 2022 Art Challenge
It’s simple to join me on the 52 in ’22 Art Challenge. Just fill out the form at the bottom of the post, confirm your email and receive your own copy of my free Art Challenge printable prompt sheet. You can check off or cross off the prompts as you complete them in any order you wish.
How to Follow Along and Share Your Own Work
It’s also easy to follow along with my progress and to share your own work. I plan to share my work in a blog post each month, and I’ll consolidate all of those, perhaps on a specific Art Challenge page. I’ve also created a new category under “Make”, called Art Challenge. All Art Challenge posts will be filed there as well.
I’ll share new blog posts with my progress across my social media accounts, and I may post individual works to Instagram as I create them. After I post the first photos, I’ll also create a Facebook album on my Facebook page that I’ll update. When it’s been created, I’ll add the link for that.
You can see my January paintings, February paintings, March paintings, April paintings or May paintings.
And finally, by signing up to receive the printable, you’ll be in the loop to receive newsletters about progress and new posts.
To share your own work, post it to social media with the following hashtag: #52in22ArtChallenge
You can also tag me @mixmeasuremake so I can see your creativity!
Get Your Free Copy of the Art Challenge Prompt Sheet
Fill out the form below to get your free Art Challenge printable and stay in the loop with regular updates about the art challenge.
I want to hear from you. Are you interested in joining my 2022 art challenge? Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments below.
All the best,
Danielle
Pam says
I hope this will challenge me to complete my on going Art Journals.
Thank you.
Danielle says
You’re welcome Pam! Art journals sound like a lovely low-stress way to create art. I hope the challenge does help 🙂
Ada says
This is a great idea! Art lets you relax and be creative. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Danielle says
You’re welcome Ada! And yes, art can be very relaxing 🙂
Ashley says
I love this! I have so many goals and focuses for 2022, this would be a nice reward for me for when I finish my week’s less fun goals. Thanks for making this available!
Danielle says
Thanks Ashley. That’s what I was hoping for myself as well – after crossing a lot of other tasks off, rewarding myself with time to create. And you’re welcome – I hope you also take some time to make art in between achieving all your other goals.