Morning everyone, I'm currently developing a new course and would love your help. Over the years I've become increasingly interested in a question: Why do so many creative people struggle to make the work they genuinely want to make? Not because they lack talent. Not because they don't care. But because somewhere between intention and action, something seems to get in the way. Distraction. Overthinking. Starting and stopping. Losing momentum. Feeling disconnected from creativity. Abandoning projects that matter. I've experienced all of these myself, and I'm trying to understand them more deeply. I've put together a short 3–5 minute survey, and I'd be incredibly grateful if you could complete it. Your answers will help shape the course. But I suspect you'll get something from it too. Many of the questions are designed to help you reflect on your own creative practice, identify what's getting in the way, and perhaps gain a little more clarity about where you are right now. Survey link: Reflect on Your Creative Practice Please do it now before life distracts you and you forget. And if you'd rather not fill in the survey, I'd still love to hear from you in the comments: **What's the biggest challenge you face in your creative practice right now?**

It's been a while. Towards the end of last year I became unwell. Life got busy, and this community grew quieter than I intended. Over the last few months I've been reflecting on what Art With Courage is really about. I've realised it's not simply about learning to draw or paint. It's about attention. It's about showing up. It's about finding the courage to begin again, even after we've lost momentum. The little daisy painting below is Painting #4 of a new 1000 Paintings Project I've started. Not because I need 1000 paintings, but because I want to keep practising the habit of noticing, creating and paying attention. Many of the opportunities I've been fortunate to receive over the years, including exhibiting with the RSA, SSA and VAS, have grown from small daily acts of showing up just like this. I'd like this community to be a place where we can encourage one another, share progress, build creative habits and enjoy the journey together. Over the coming weeks I'll be sharing: 🎨 Drawing and painting exercises 👁️ Attention-building practices ✏️ Habit hacks that help overcome resistance 🌼 Lessons from the 1000 Paintings Project 🤝 Encouragement, feedback and accountability If you're here, I'd love to hear from you. Say hello and where you are in your journey just now, what are you working on or struggling with, any wins, and if you're new tell us who you are, where you're from, and one creative thing you'd like to make, learn or finish this year. And if you're feeling brave, post a blind contour drawing below. The community is free now, and open to anyone who wants in. You can also follow the 1000 Paintings Project day to day on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYo-uBjKVYV/ It's good to be back. Sarmed.

Happy New Year 🌱 If I’m honest, procrastination showed up for me last year too. Not because I lost my passion, but because my attention was being pulled everywhere else. Everyone wants it. Everything steals it. And when it came time to focus on the work that mattered to me, the muscle wasn’t always there. Did that happen to you too? What changed things wasn’t forcing discipline. It was learning how to reclaim attention in very small, simple ways. Through that, I got more done last year than I had in a long time, not by rushing, but by building one thing on top of another. That’s the approach I’m carrying into this year. I shared a short video about this here 🎥 https://www.instagram.com/p/DS78bQvDM6M/ These hacks are simple by design, but don’t be fooled, they’re powerful. They’re low pressure, don’t require hours of effort, and are designed to work with your biology, not against it. Each repetition trains the body to want to return to the work with less friction. One of the biggest things I’m grateful for last year was teaching over 100 students in person 🎨 It taught me how to support people deeply and gently as they stay with their creative work. It also gave me stamina. And stamina eats procrastination for breakfast. That experience is a big reason this community exists. One of the most powerful things we’ll be continuing with is our Make It Together sessions here ✍️ These are what I CRAVED when I started working as an artist. Accountability. Company. Focused time to do the work. Bring your work. Use this space. Turn up and move things forward alongside others. You can check the calendar for the Zoom dates. Or we can start a new poll for new dates if that suits the majority. Just comment below. If you’re here and haven’t really engaged yet, consider this your invitation 💬 Even a small presence helps others step forward too. If you feel like it, reply below: one thing you’re grateful for from last year ✨ one thing you want to give attention to in 2026 🚀

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been coming back from a viral infection, and it forced a reset I didn’t plan. As my energy returned, I was reminded of something simple. Over the last year I’ve done a lot. Making work. Sending to open calls. Teaching in person and online. Writing a book. There are to do lists, systems, and structures that help keep all of that moving. But the things that actually help me regain focus and momentum, without which none of it would be possible, have not changed. 👀 What still works What works for me isn’t going faster or trying to be more efficient. It isn’t skimming or pushing through. It’s slowing down in the right places and looking properly. = Staying with things a little longer than feels comfortable. = Choosing less when things feel overwhelming. = Writing things down to expose what really matters. = Letting quiet noticing become raw material for creative work. ✍🏽 The hand as a way back I’m sharing the image here from a blind contour drawing I made recently. It’s a simple exercise where you draw your hand without looking at the page. I use exercises like this often, both in my own practice and when I teach. They’re well known in the art world, but I use them with a different emphasis. Not as a drawing exercise, but as a way of rebuilding attention. The hand becomes a way of noticing when the mind drifts, and gently bringing it back. You don’t force focus. You stay with something long enough for it to return. 🎨 How the work evolved That approach has followed me through everything I’ve made. It’s how I moved from realism into abstraction. One realist painting reached the second stage of the John Moores Painting Prize this year, and the abstract series that followed grew out of hundreds of small, low pressure iterations that we informed by my particular approachto seeing, from my bed to when I have been travelling. That work will be shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in January. Looking back, what stands out is that none of this came from chasing motivation. It came from staying connected to the practice, especially in between projects.

I’ve been under the weather and a bit wiped out the last few days. It’s one of those moments that reminds me, again, that I have to take care of myself. I’d been pushing hard mentally, psychologically, physically. When you keep doing that, the body eventually intervenes. This arrived at what felt like the worst possible time with projects and deadlines. But it also turned out to be a necessary interruption. When you are forced to stop, you notice something important. Life continues. Things adjust. The world does not fall apart because you paused. This experience has sharpened my thinking around Creative Reset and why I am running it (in January 2026) . It is not a fluffy idea. It is about knowing how to rein things in before you go too far. So practically, how do you catch it before it tips over? Here are three simple checks that actually work. 1. Check in early, not when you’re broken. Ask yourself once a day how you’re actually doing. If something feels off, say it out loud to someone you trust. Asking for help early is far easier than recovering later. 2. Get it out of your head and onto paper. If there is no one to talk to in that moment, write. A few lines in a notebook is enough. Journalling is not about elegance, it is about unloading mental weight so it stops looping. 3. Think alongside someone while doing something physical This is why the Make It Together sessions exist in this community. You can talk, throw ideas around, get things off your chest while your hands are busy making art. It lowers guilt, lowers pressure, and puts you back into motion without forcing productivity. Also, the boring basics matter. Rest. Eat properly. Take your vitamins. All of this feeds directly into the Art With Courage work and the upcoming Creative Reset webinar. What I teach is what I have to practise, often the hard way. How are you doing right now, honestly? Drop a message below and let me know where you’re at.