The alchemy in 2026

When I started my journaling packet for this year, I was really down on myself for “not making enough.” That was the tape playing in the background of my brain. I didn’t have “enough” studio time. I didn’t “apply myself sufficiently.” But when I started taking stock of what all I did this year, including multiple travel weeks and caring for family during different health events, I miraculously, actually did a lot. My work just looked different this year. I adapted to the time and situations I had. So while this year didn’t look like previous years where I had a lot of concentrated time in the studio, I still made a lot of things even while traveling and in the midst of “real life.”

I can’t tell you how invaluable it is to keep an actual log of making throughout the year. Every time I finished something, it went into the log. And when I look at the log, I can see the reality of what I’ve been doing. In previous years, I’ve filled out this log with my journaling packet towards the end of the year.

At the start of this year though, I printed out the one page log and stuck it up on my board. That way as I finished working on each project I could jot them down and at the end of the month I could see at a glance what I’d made. Then when I started looking back over the year, I didn’t have to try and recreate what I was working on in January and February.

In November, I also started doing a monthly blog post of what I’m working on. I feel like those will also be really helpful to look over at the end of the year when I’m trying to pinpoint where I spent my time.

I’m slowing adding in these processes so I can really see what I’m doing. Trying to remember things I’ve worked on at the end of the year seems so foolish when I can just write them down somewhere.

Some favorite things from 2025

I love this part! A yearly review in photos!

Crochet in 2025

I crocheted a lot this year! Because I was on the move so much, crochet became my primary craft a lot of days. Somewhere in the middle of the year, I started leaning hard into making whimsical things. I think in response to what’s happening right now in the world, I needed to embrace some silliness to combat the horrors.

I also made my first sweater for myself! It turned out so much better than I ever could have anticipated!! You can read the full post about making it here.

Here’s my finished crochet list for this year:

Twenty-one finished crochet projects! That’s almost two a month. I’m currently working on a Christmas gift I hope is finished before the end of the year and also my second sweater, which is on hold while I work on the Christmas present. If I wonder where my time went this year, here it is!

2025 Goal Recap

I made guidelines and concrete goals to steer my year in 2025. Guidelines to remind me of things I wanted to be intentional about but find hard to quantify. Concrete goals to give me things to work on and finish. I was delighted to see Helen Wells talk about her 2025 Guidelines in her recent video. Then I was doubly delighted to see she wrote them and then promptly misplaced them! I felt so much kinship with her in that moment.

2025 guidelines

I want to be more intentional about enjoying my studio time and being present with it in the day to day. Yeah, I don’t know if I did this more or better in 2025. I wasn’t even in the studio much. But this does speak to feeling like I’m not letting myself be fully present in the moments I have in the studio. I’ve changed this guideline a bit so I have something beside just “enjoyment” to focus on. Because enjoyment seems very hard to quantify.

I’m going to make an intentional choice to be much more picky with my “yeses.” I definitely did a good job with this. I said no to a lot of things that didn’t serve me. What I find is that I do well with this one year and then relax the next year and say yes to too many things. Finding the balance is tricky on this one.

Instead of trying to build new community, I’m going to be looking for where I already have community happening and lean into it. I did this well this year! Joined an art discord. I hung out with arty friends online and in person. Sent postcards to people. I had some sort of community building activity every single month. And many months, I had several.

2025 Concrete goals

Art Retreat Week 2025. Yes! Did it and it was amazing! I wish the sustained focus I get in this week were possible all the time. I know I would get burned out eventually but putting my art as my top priority for a week is invigorating.

Reread Your art will save your life by Beth Pickens. Did it! And it was just as good the second time. It’s a great reminder that we artists are not alone.

Make 30 books. Didn’t even come close to this goal. I made books. Not sure how many. This big goal just didn’t happen. I think mostly because I was gone from the studio so much. It’s hard to make books in the car.

Work on building my collage library. I want to photograph/scan a bunch of my old artwork so I can print it and reuse it in new work. I’m about 60-70% done with this project. I’ve got all but about three journals photographed. Of the photos I took, I’ve got about 75% of those edited and printed. I hope to finish this project this next year because the work I’ve edited and printed I’ve used pretty consistently. This is an A++ use of time and energy.

What else did I accomplish in 2025?

Wrote a bunch of blog posts this year. Here are a few faves: The one about Generative AI, the one about building a do-it-yourself Master of Fine Arts program: Homegrown MFA, and the one where I’m a cheerleader: This one’s for you, Bestie.

 Finished another deconstructed landscape: Deconstructed Seascape.

Made huge progress on my Into the Unknown book project.

I finished setting up my end of the year journaling packet in Affinity. I’ve worked on this project off and on for two years. I finally have it in a form where I can update it and print it out year to year!

What I learned this year

One of the things I wrote while working in my end of the year journaling packet was:

Give yourself a break, Misty, for still doing a lot of creating during all that’s happened this year.

And I realized after I wrote that down just how harshly I’d been judging myself for not meeting my own unreasonable expectations. This insidious bit of grind culture, this productivity-at-all-costs mindset is trash. I need to focus on making joyfully and embrace the slower pace of what my creativity is instead of berating myself for not meeting goals that I didn’t even set.

I like finishing things. That in and of itself isn’t bad. But finishing to check a box instead of letting things marinate at their own pace is something I need to watch for and be willing to call out in my own practice.

Once again I proved to myself that big projects and big progress are made up of so many tiny little steps. I don’t know why I’m still amazed by this but every year I’m struck again by just how true this is in my work.

Looking toward 2026

During my end of the year journaling, I did some thinking about what I want next year to look like. One of the journaling prompts from We Need Your Art is to think about what our own definition of success is. Amy also says that “it is generous to be successful” and if that doesn’t stand you right on your head, I don’t know what will. I’ve been thinking about that quote every day since I read it. Putting our work into the world is generous because it’s full of us. Sharing that in any capacity is generous. I don’t think I’ll ever look at success the same way again. For me this year my definition is: making what I want on my own terms at my own pace.

Beyond that, I’ve set some guidelines and goals:

Guidelines for 2026

Focus on play and experimentation/process over outcomes. I’ve felt like I’ve had this drive to produce things these past few years and that’s resulted in my actually making less. It’s that story from Art and Fear about the pottery class where the instructor graded on quantity vs. quality. My friend Mel tells it really well in a recent video they put out. It starts at about 11:30.

Continue to invest in the creative communities I’m already a part of. Keep up with friends, art friends, and build community ties. Be intentional since I’ve given up the crutch of social media.

Concrete Goals for 2026

Art Retreat Week 2026. This is honestly one of the highlights of my year so I’ll definitely be doing it again this summer.

To read: Feel Something, Make Something by Caitlin Metz, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp, Let’s Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers; Build Community and Make Change! by Shannon Downey.
I want to reread Feel Something because I liked We Need Your Art so much and wanted to go back and look through the parts about embodiment. I had started Creative Habit and Let’s Move the Needle last year and want to finish them.

Finish building my collage library. I’m 60-70% finished with this project from 2025 so I want to finish it up this year.

Work through at least two classes I’ve bought previously. Do this when I’m tempted to buy new classes. Use what I’ve already paid for.

Expand my studio notebook writing practice. I’ve been doing it but writing only bare bones things down. I need to expand it out a bit to cover some thoughts and feelings instead of just treating it as a “got it done” list.

Send out 12 newsletters this year. One a month. Be consistent.

My word for 2026: Alchemy

My word for 2025 was Gentle. And while I loved it going into the year, it frankly fizzled as time passed. It wasn’t bad. And when I remember it was my word, I got a warm fuzzy from it but it didn’t inform my year like some words do. So I’m changing directions for 2026 and I have a word that has a little more energy around it: alchemy. The past couple of months it’s been EVERYWHERE so it definitely feels like the universe is trying to tell me something.

I also had a great conversation with some friends over Marco Polo and we were kicking around what kind of witch we are and I jokingly said I was an Art Witch so of course that is what snagged our attentions. So with that in mind I have a few questions to ponder over this year as I chase Alchemy and what what it means to be an Art Witch:

Alchemy for An Art Witch

What would my practice look like if I treated art as spellcraft? 
What does art as incantation mean? 
How can play and iteration be a part of practicing spells? 
What alchemical processes are happening when I work? 
What am I transmuting? And what am I transmuting it into?

As always, I have so much zest for the coming new year! New possibilities, new beginnings. Starting Fresh. I hope you’ve had some magical holidays and beautiful downtime. I can’t wait to see what we all make in the new year!!

Have you set up your goals for 2026 yet? I’d love to hear about it! Email me or start a conversation by leaving a comment on this post! If you’d like to keep up with what I’m working on, I’d love to have you as a newsletter subscriber. I include blog posts from here, cool things I find online, and pictures of my dogs. Sign up here.