Reflecting on Your Year
As the year draws to a close, I try to take time to look back on the prior year before stepping into the next one. I'm very good at rushing forward without stopping (!) but there’s real value in honoring our work, our growth, and the changes we’ve experienced—whether big or small.
If you’d like to join me in my end-of-year ritual, I invite you to take some time to revisit your year as an artist with these prompts:
What happened in your work over the past year?
Take out your actual work, scroll through photos, or flip through your sketchbooks. Notice what you love—not what you think you should love, but what truly makes you feel joy, curiosity, or pride. I like to stick photos of these pieces into my studio journal (just a fancy name for my sketchbook!) and make a few notes, because it's very easy to rush past our discoveries, and not even notice what happened. These notes then form the basis of my next series of work.
Think about the things that influenced you this year.
What people, places, books, music, or experiences found their way into your work? What surprised you? Creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it’s worth celebrating the influences that helped you see or create differently. It's also sometimes helpful to see where you have allowed things to get a bit stale - maybe you need to bring something new and different into your world to shake things up a bit.
What did you do well?
Maybe it’s a particular piece or a project. Maybe it’s a small step outside your comfort zone, a habit you built, or the fact that you kept going through a challenging time. Acknowledge those moments—they matter and you deserve to feel good about them.
Consider where you’d like to make a change.
This isn’t about judging your work harshly or “fixing” anything. Instead, it’s about noticing what feels ready to shift or evolve. What would you like to do differently next year? What excites you or feels just out of reach? It's very important to be kind to yourself with this one because it's easy to slip into berating yourself, but that's not the point. You are simply looking for a stepping stone into your next body of work.
Set an intention for the new year.
I can't claim this is an original idea and I don't even know who I heard it from first, but I like to choose a word that feels like a guide for my creative path in the coming year. If you don't already do this, give it a whirl. Maybe it’s explore, simplify, boldness, joy, patience—whatever resonates. Don’t overthink it; let the word choose you. This word can become the standard by which you track how you're doing - if your word is bold, but halfway through the year you find yourself working small, you have time to correct your course.
Now start to imagine how that word might translate into action.
If your word is explore, maybe you’ll try new techniques or subjects. If it’s simplify, perhaps you’ll pare down your materials or focus on what feels essential. Your word doesn’t need a detailed plan yet—just let it begin to take shape in your mind.
This practice isn’t about resolutions or rigid goals. It’s about honoring your creative life, giving yourself credit for the work you’ve done, and approaching the new year with intention and curiosity.