Bad Art, Brave Heart : My 30 day Challenge

So, I’ve set myself a little challenge.

Thirty days.

Thirty pieces.

Not because I think I’m going to create thirty finished masterpieces, but because I want to train myself to simply show up.

For me, showing up means making space for my art every day — no excuses. It might be a quick sketch, a half-finished idea, or something I never want to see again. And that’s okay. This isn’t about perfection, it’s about practice.

I’ve often find that if I wait until I’m “ready” to create something polished (or even unpolished) I’ll never actually start. This challenge is about teaching myself to free draw with more confidence, to play, and to loosen my grip on perfection.

One of the big things I want to focus on is values — really honing how I see light and shadow, depth and form. It’s something I know will strengthen my work in the long run. So I have chosen to only create in either graphite or charcoal. I am also making myself write on the back at least 1 or 2 things that I liked and disliked, either about the practice itself or the drawing. This will help me to start understanding myself as an artist and what direction I want my art to go.

But here’s the truth: some days I don’t have the time or energy to finish a piece, and that’s part of the point. Leaving things incomplete is a reminder that the process itself has value, even without a polished end result.

And then there are the happy accidents. Like my flying owl piece — what started as a bit of frustrating quick sketch because I was short of time turned into inspiration for a second version, created with a completely different technique and material. If I hadn’t given myself permission to make “bad art,” that second piece might never have existed.

I may expand on this again, maybe into a painting.

So, this 30-day challenge isn’t about impressing anyone. It’s about turning up, moving my pencil across the page, and letting myself experiment. It’s about trusting that even when the work looks messy or childlike or “not good enough,” it’s still teaching me something.

Maybe you’ve felt this too — that pull to only share the shiny finished product. But the real magic often happens in the messy middle, when you stop worrying about perfection and just start creating.

Here’s to 30 days of showing up, making mistakes, experimenting wildly, and remembering that every mark has something to teach me.

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In other news, hot off the easel this week, my first dog portrait on canvas. I really want to excel my painting skills and so I am just beavering away teaching myself how to wield that paintbrush. Let me know your thoughts...... drop me a comment, a like or a share.