Throughout January I am taking part in the Pastel Society of Ireland’s #20in26 challenge.
Essentially this amounts to doing one 20 minute pastel painting per day for 26 days in January (you can also work on a painting in 20 minute chunks at a time, posting your work at the end of each stage).
My work land heavily towards detail and realism and I have been quite daunted by the challenge of capturing something in only 20 minutes.
The results so far are mixed. But the experience has been wonderful:
- 20 minutes flies past. But actually you can achieve so much more than you think
- In 20 minutes perfection is impossible (the same is true of 20 hours or 20 days or weeks, but in 20 minutes you become acutely aware of this.
- However there is a real freedom in letting go of the dream of perfection and art at paced becomes more intuitive and playful
- For most of the days so far I’ve been away from home and so working with the very limited palette of pastels I brought with me – this has been a blessing in some ways but had also constrained me. Though there is a sense of cohesiveness through all the mini paintings I’ve done so far.
- 20 minutes is achievable as a daily practice – even when you work full time on other demanding work. And so in January 2026 I’ve already been more prolific than many other years
- 20 minutes also forces you to make choices about what you want to prioritise and draw out of each piece – what’s the art hero of this work – that makes for stronger work that can than flow across into your main practice.
- As someone who struggles to let go of detail, I’ve finally discovered that one secret to painting more loosely is to paint as if the devil is chasing you 🙂
All in all though, this 20 minute painting challenge has been a brilliant way to fall back in love with the joyful art of painting, releasing my death grip on the product and enjoying the roller coaster of the process and opened up a more dynamic energetic and vibrant art practice.
Here are my pieces so far this month:
Julie Wilson Art 