2025 Year in Review

Written By Silvia Ospina

And the lessons it taught me!

This year I turned 40 and today, on Dec 30th, I’m deciding to start my blog with this 2025 year in review.

This morning I sent the a newsletter to everyone and realised that it went to some people’s Spam — which left me feeling pretty down and frustrating. So, here I am, taking action and turning it into a blogpost I can share with people, beyond my subscribers.

I've been reflecting a lot on this year — journaling, revisiting old notebooks, scrolling through my iPhone photo gallery, and thinking about what's next.

In this letter, I wanted to share a few special moments with you. A few adventures and quiet wins that worked, specially well, when I listened closely to myself and decided to create from a place of play.

  1. Painted 3 Murals — Art can also be an economy.
    Exchanging murals reminded me that creativity holds many forms of value!
     

  2. Four Skillshare Classes — Teaching from play performs better.
    The ones I enjoyed the most were the ones that gave me the most back.
     

  3. A few filled Sketchbooks! — Start simple to fall in love again.
    Affordable tools and small habits brought me back to my sketchbooks

Painted 3 Murals

I turned 40 this year, and a few days later my partner and I flew to Mexico.
 
We arrived at a beach where we planned to stay for a month and what started as me wanting to learn how to surf ended up with me painting three murals — using three very different currencies!! 

Mural for surf lessons

The surf shop owner wanted a mural. I wanted to learn how to surf.
So we exchanged exactly that! 
Funny—not—funny. It took me a 1.5 days to paint the mural and I only managed to stand up on the surf board for 3 times over two months, lol!! 

Mural for a month of accommodation

Surfing turned out to be hard (I was mostly standing on my knees ), and I was enjoying painting too much. 

I couldn't stop staring at the big wall every time I'd enter my hostal, imagining what I could paint on it. So, I ended up exchanging a mural for a full month of accommodation! Wohoo! — and loved painting the terracotta piece you see above.

Mural for much-needed money at a yoga studio! 
While living there, I spent lots of time working on my projects at a small restaurant and community space that was just finishing a yoga studio. The owner had seen me painting in the mornings and asked if I'd like to paint a commissioned mural for the new space. It was all magical. 

Three murals.
Three currencies.
A reminder that art and creativity can also be a form of economy!! 

Published 4 Skillshare Classes!

This year I published four Skillshare classes, and none of them followed the same formula.

Procreate Watercolors: Let's Paint Roses & Create Botanical Designs!
This one came from perfectionism. I was aiming for a Staff Pick — and I got it.
But it also left me exhausted, and It taught me a lot about how my fear of failure shows up for me as perfectionism. And if I'm not careful, it'll drain my energy. 


One Object, Five Techniques: A Mixed Media Watercolour Sketchbook Class
This one came from pure play. And wanting to share my love for sketchbooks. I filmed and edited it on the go, whilst going to meet up with my Skillshare top teacher friends in London! Sharing a snippet below!! 
No excuses, no overthinking. 
And guess what!? It ended up winning a teaching challenge. Funny how things work sometimes.

Create Once, Design Forever: Autumn Illustrations in Procreate
This class came from practicality. I needed something sustainable while launching my own platform, so I chose a subject I genuinely enjoyed. Mindset: No prizes, no pressure — and it ended up performing really well and supporting me financially at the end of the year.

Create Once, Design Forever: Christmas Poinsettia
A small but meaningful win: I published a Christmas class on time.
Painting botanicals I love, making my own Christmas cards, and ending the year feeling calm instead of rushed.

Fell in love with Sketchbooks again!

Somewhere along this year, I fell back in love with my sketchbooks. The feeling of: “I don't want to stop painting and sketching” came back!

It feels like a part of my creative practice came home. Not in a dramatic way —but as an old friend you get in touch with, and you realise how much you've missed.  

Something important: I learned to notice when insecurity shows up, listen to it, take notes… and then let it go. Always trying to return to creating from a place of joy. I share that on my Substack ramble video. 

 Throughout the year I recorded these two videos. You might find fun watching them! 

Looking Ahead to 2026

As I look ahead to 2026 , I'm not setting big resolutions — but some gentle intentions. Trying to be realistic with my time and also much more organised with my offerings. Like I really want to: paint more, create more and build a more sustainable income on the way through sharing my creativity with others.  

Next year, I'd love to:

  • Run a life drawing session once a month - Psst: January's one almost ready!

  • Play with short drawing challenges - Starting on February

  • Create short, simple classes more often and share a few fun stories along the way (starting with more Mexico mural adventures)

All of these things will motivate me to create more, and bring likeminded people along! Hopefully you'll want to join a few of those. 

Nothing rigid but rather a space to show up, draw more, and keep curiosity alive.

Questions to Carry With You

If you feel like taking a quiet moment for yourself, these questions might help as the year turns:

  • What worked for you this year, even in small ways?

  • What gave you energy — and what quietly took it away?

  • What would you like a little more of next year?


No need to answer them now. Just something to carry with you.

And if you feel like sharing, I'd genuinely love to hear from you — just hit reply and tell me how your year went.

Thank you for being here, and for sharing this creative space with me.

Silvia Ospina