Reflections on the 31 Day Creative Challenge 2026

At the beginning of each year, artist Phoebe Gander (@phoebeganderart) hosts a low pressure daily challenge through Instagram (#31daycreativechallenge2026), that encourages participants to dedicate a small amount of time each day to something creative. This can be anything at all from baking, sketching, meditation, yoga, whatever helps get your creative juices flowing. I love how accessible and flexible the challenge is, and I find it such a wonderful way to gently kick start the year. One of my favourite parts is seeing what others create and connecting with them.

This is my second year participating. Last year, my family was fortunate to take a holiday to Kangaroo Island during January, so I choose to focus on sketching for this challenge as it was easier to do while travelling. I brought my sketch book with me and spent some time in the early mornings before everyone else woke up, just me, my cuppa and my drawings. Being surrounded by so much natural beauty in such a magical place was inspiring!

For this year’s challenge, I decided to go back to exploring using some of my earliest alcohol ink techniques, creating mini abstract ink pieces using only green and brown coloured ink with a brass shimmer (because I can never resist a little shimmer). These earthy tones are so beautiful, but not ones that I naturally gravitate towards as I usually lean more into blues and pinks. I also chose to challenge myself further by working on A5 paper, since I typically work on larger scales. My goal was to see how much variety I could create across the different pieces from a very limited colour palette.

What I Discovered

Through this challenge, I rediscovered the joy of working small. At first I found myself using far more ink than necessary for such a small surface, however after a couple days in I was reminded that a couple of little drops of ink really does go a long way.

Creating light, wispy effects around the edges of the pieces was also tricky initially, again simply because I hadn’t worked at this scale in a while.

Initially I had an idea in my head that I would try creating circles with the alcohol inks. This however proved quite tricky, as inks are very free flowing. I did however, love the details and textures that came out of trying to get perfect circles. I may explore circles further in future artworks, perhaps by experimenting with the use of a masking fluid. Masking fluid is a clear liquid used to paint on an area that you want to remain untouched by the ink. When the fluid dries you simply peel it off, leaving negative space around the painted area.

On the other hand, a technique that felt much easier at this smaller size was layering. It was much easier to pick up the smaller pieces paper and manipulate them in all different positions to help the ink flow and then settle.

Working with limited colours helped to really explore in detail the different shades achievable using just these inks. Alcohol inks blend so well together, and it was fascinating to see how many shades and textures were possible.

Taking these learnings, I believe that experimenting firstly with new colour combinations on a smaller scale will help unlock new ideas for using in my bigger art pieces.

Apart from the technical side, mentally this challenge was a beautiful reminder of how important it is to carve out time for yourself, especially as this was completed during the January school holidays. The chance to explore my creativity everyday became something I genuinely looked forward to, a little pause and break for my usually overthinking brain! Most importantly, it reinforced the idea that small consistent steps can unlock much bigger ideas. I’m really inspired and excited to make a start on some bigger pieces using these colours.

Final thoughts

Carving out time for yourself is so important

A little ink can go a long way

Small consistent steps = progress over perfection

Have fun!

It’s so awesome to see them all together

A huge thank you to everyone who followed along @nataliejayneart and supported me by taking the time to like, comment on, or share my work throughout this challenge. Your encouragement truly means so much, and I’m incredibly grateful. xoxo

Looking forward to next year!

Some of my favourite pieces, it was really hard to choose