How to Reach your Art Goals with Mini Goals

'Things of the Spirit'          9x12         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $250

 Have you seen it yet? I have an article in the August issue of Pastel Journal! I was so excited to get my copy and I quickly thumbed through it to find my article. I had to see it to believe it! You see it has been one of my mini goals. And I am thrilled to say that it has been achieved.

Mini goals have been behind my growth as an artist. Mini goals have kept me going when I was frustrated and overwhelmed. Mini goals gave me hope and made me see that I was actually making progress.....even when it seemed as though I wasn't.

What is a mini goal? It is just a simple goal that I would set for myself to gauge my progress with the pastel painting learning curve. I started painting almost 13 years ago and it wasn't always easy. But I found if I set a small goal it would spur me on to work harder.

I remember my first goal very clearly. I had been only painting for a few months and I went to the pastel exhibition of the Southeastern Pastel Society. I was blown away by the paintings in the show! I remember standing there and wishing I could paint like that. Right then and there I decided that I would enter the show the following year. I had my work cut out for me! But I worked hard. I went to classes and workshops and I painted every day. Not only did I enter the show, I had a painting accepted! My mini goal program was born!

Every year after that I set another small goal. Some were easier to achieve and some were just long term goals. Many were goals I never really dreamed would I would accomplish like getting signature status in PSA and teaching at the IAPS convention. But I persevered and kept on plugging away and kept reaching the goals I set.

My Pastel Journal article is about using Art Graf pigment blocks

One of my most recent goals was to write an article for the Pastel Journal. Over the years I had been a part of various articles. I even had my coneflower painting on the cover a few years ago! Now that was a thrill! But one of my mini goals was to actually write an article.  When I was asked to share more about using Art Graf I accepted with much pleasure!  Now I am moving on to my next mini goal.

Do You set goals?  Having a goal in mind helped me stay focused on improving. My goals were simple and achievable at first. Meeting a goal was exciting and it encouraged me to keep going. I never set a time limit though and this is key!   Often we are very hard on ourselves. We have such high expectations. We often want overnight results and we are frustrated when improvement doesn't happen fast enough. Having small but achievable goals as well as bigger long term goals will give us hope!

I challenge you to set a small but achievable goal. But don't forget that while the goals are out there to encourage us we must never forget to enjoy the process of learning! When we are enjoying every stage of the journey the time will fly by and the goals will be met!

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