I've been writing blogs for Clint Watson's newsletter since last October. Today, Clint created a new site - where I'll be posting blogs, articles about "Creative Productivity". On occasion, I'll blog about interviews that I've conducted with professional artists who manage their time and careers effectively.

If you're interested in receiving this information, go to:
www.20hourstudiochallenge.com   and sign up for our Email Newsletter - click on "Join The Challenge"

Let's spur each other on to greater productivity with quality. We'll all feel better if we spend more time in the studio, and at the very least, we'll have a body of work that we can feel proud of.

Sincerely,
Lori W.S.

Painting in Progress... watercolor.

Wow, a lot of artists are excited about counting themselves in for a 20 hour work week challenge.
 While some artists are already putting in 40 or more hours per week, many are not able to because of other commitments.

My main purpose for taking on this challenge for myself is to get  myself away from doing needless online checking of email, Twitter and Facebook.  While I use all three of these venues for business purposes, my use of these sometimes gets out of hand because I'm a hugely social person at heart.  However, if I continue to let social media digest my best working hours, I'll eventually find myself feeling like a hypocrite and worse, out of a career.

Here's the latest idea: We can post accomplishments with show and tell Fridays - with our fellow artists in order to brag about how much real work we got done. While many of you paint or make artquilts or other types of creative work, I also write for art publications. I consider that kind of writing part of my work - so I may have to Talk or Tell you about my accomplishments - the writing ones, and then show you paintings.

I've also put this challenge out to folks on the American Artist Magazine's forum.  If you'd like to join them as a member, it's the perfect place to upload your images.  They even have a members' gallery. I'm an active member there and docent.

I'm not planning on carrying the banner alone for this project - just am going to live up to  my own challenge, so if this is going to work, you who are interested will have to go out and share this experience with other artists. This challenge is purely optional, no one has to participate unless they want to. You can quit any time or rejoin the battle. No rules here, just encouragement, progress, and celebration of a job well done.

If you've got a Facebook account, you might want to show and tell on Friday there, or on the American Artist Forum or else on Twitter if you have an account there. I'm www.twitter.com/Loriwords

Let's encourage each other to greater work!