Blog 2025/2

Planning you year

 It doesn’t really matter what time of year you do this, along with most people I tend to do it in January as this is my quietest month. This year I am late due to illness.

This exercise is likely to feel very daunting, particularly if you have never done it before, but please don’t let fear get in your way. No doubt there will be events that you want to take part in every year. For me these are two exhibitions which I organise at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking for Ginger Cactus Art group; two events with a local art group; the Surrey Annual Open Studios event and a show at the Landmark Arts Centre in London. So, I have my framework, and I can see what gaps I have.

Next, I need to think about the galleries I show with. One is on a rolling monthly contract, whereby I supply work which I change out every few months.

I run a small art group, Ginger Cactus Art, and as well as the Denbies exhibitions we also show at The Horton (an arts centre in Epsom) once a year. In addition, I have been invited to exhibit and demonstrate at an event at Nonsuch Park, Epsom over May bank holiday, and I am involved with Mole Valley Council’s Arts Alive event in October, but this year will see me being heavily involved in getting it running.

Now I have the gaps I can fill, or not, for the rest of the year. I worked with a gallery twice in 2024 in connection with a public art project on the London Underground. I need to contact another gallery I worked with last year and hope to again, to see if they have any spaces I can fit in with.

As you can see, I have something happening every month of the year with some months being busier than others. On top of all that I teach. Once I have included my teaching dates, I can see where any remaining gaps are and decide if I want to do more teaching at my studio or just focus on my own work.

So, having worked out my year and having made my diary/journal for 2025, I have written all the information shown above into said diary, as I find this helps me to remember what I have booked.

More on handmaking your own diary, later in the year. But here’s mine and I am very happy with it.