How to be a great art buddy

Having a painting buddy is a great way to keep you on track towards your goals. The Find an art buddy Discussion Room is designed to help you to find a painting buddy, and you can read more about how to find a buddy in this article.

Being somebody’s painting buddy and helping them to stay accountable to their painting goals is actually a really easy and rewarding experience. You just need to:

1. Understand your buddy’s goal(s), and help them to make sure they’re SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive).
2. Keep in touch with them on a monthly basis (or more frequently if this suits you both). This can be through the private messaging function on the Nature Studio site.
3. Ask whether they’ve done what they planned. If they haven’t, and you feel that they are making excuses to themselves, gently challenge them on whether this is the case. Remember that they want you to hold them to account, so don’t be afraid to ask questions if and when they’ve fallen short on their promises to themselves.
4. Now repeat steps 1-3 with your buddy holding you to account for your goals.
5. Agree a date for your next catch up and share with each other what your SMART goals are until next time.
6. Be kind and supportive to each other at all times. We all get off track from time to time, this is about supporting your buddy back onto theirs.