20for20 Artist Stories: Debbie Vought

For years, Debi Vought struggled to build a consistent art practice, often creating for a few days and then going weeks or months without making art. She joined the 20for20 Art Challenge hoping to change that. Over 20 days of small collages, she discovered that showing up didn’t require hours of free time, or even a finished piece at the end.

What were your goals heading into the Challenge? 

My main goals were (1) to show up each day, and (2) to complete the challenge -  all 20 days. I wanted to keep it simple and create a collage in a small  sketchbook (5-1/2 x 5-1/2 in) each day, using materials I already owned. 

Why those goals? How is this different from how you’d worked previously?

I want to establish a consistent art practice. This is something I’ve tried to do  over many years, with little to no success. 

Since retiring several years ago, I’ve  worked for several days in a row (although not 20!), followed by days, weeks, or  even months without spending any time on my art. I wasn’t growing as an artist. I felt stagnant and unfulfilled. 

I saw this challenge as an opportunity to try again, keep it simple, and, hopefully, jumpstart that consistency in my practice. In  addition, I had tried creating collages only a couple of times and wanted to  explore this process further. 

How long did you work each day? (20 minutes max or 20 minutes min or some combo) What did that way of working give you? 

I chose a combo — I worked for at least 20 minutes each day, giving myself  permission to continue if I so desired and had the time. For a few days, 20  minutes was the limit due to other commitments. But most days I was so  engaged I continued past the first 20 minutes, sometimes working for 45  minutes to an hour, even two hours on a couple of occasions.  

How long did it take you to adjust to that way of working? What were the challenges and what were the benefits? 

Not long. I really think that’s due to my decision to be flexible - a minimum  amount of time for those days when I felt overwhelmed or “just wasn’t feeling it”,  and permission to extend that time for those days when I was enjoying it.  

Approaching the time interval in this way was extremely helpful for me. It was 

challenging on the days when I had low energy or a multitude of commitments  and doing art for 20 minutes didn’t seem feasible. I only missed one day,  though, and then made two collages the next day when I had more time. 

When working, there’s a risk in expanding out the time until you’ve “finished a painting” or got something you like enough to share with the world. Were there any parameters you set for yourself so that you wouldn’t spend all day on a piece? 

I usually began my session at a time when I had something else happening in an  hour or two - like before dinner or before I had to leave for an appointment. That  way, if I took only 20 or 30 minutes it was fine; if I took longer, that was ok too.  However, I had something coming up that would require me to stop at a certain  point. 

How did you adjust on the days you had low bandwidth? How important was that in helping you hold the habit? Why? 

On those days, I tried telling myself two things: (1) I only had to do 20 minutes,  and (2) I didn’t have to finish anything; just starting something counted because I  was showing up. Knowing this made it easier to get started, and I found that  once I began, my low bandwidth usually increased. If not, I referred back to  numbers 1 and 2 above. 

What benefits did you find working daily?

Working daily improved my confidence, aroused my curiosity, and lowered my  anxiety in general.

My confidence grew with each day I was successful in  spending time on my art, no matter how long. I could show up consistently! I was more focused on my art - on the “what ifs”, on design and composition, on  color palettes, on where I could go from here, etc. It was like that part of my brain woke up after having been asleep for a while. I became excited about my art practice again and there was a sense of fulfillment while I was creating. Even my dear hubby noticed!  

Any days jump out as having aha moments?

There wasn’t a specific day or moment that I recall. However, over the 20 days I  did learn several things about my process. I love having white space in my work.  I enjoy line work in various thicknesses. I really like circles. And perhaps the  most important thing I learned is that the act of creating feeds my soul much,  much more deeply than I realized.

What was the most helpful mindset for you to try and keep during the 20for20? Was there anything that was useful to remind yourself as you showed up each day? What was that and why? 

It was most helpful to keep reminding myself to “keep moving forward”. This  applied even when I felt I was taking baby steps or even just crawling. It also  helped to have this mindset even though I had been away from my art practice  for a long while. I could still move forward after “being paused”. An added  benefit is that I feel I can use this mantra in most areas of life going forward.  

So often the focus is on finished and beautiful work. Did you feel any difference in shifting the focus to the showing up? (The habit.) How did that change your relationship to your practice? 

To be honest, it was a bit difficult at first to shift my focus from finished work to  just showing up - especially those first few days. However, after one very busy  day where I didn’t have a lot of time to spend (barely 20 minutes), my mindset  seemed to shift and focusing on showing up became easier. It seemed to take  

the pressure off, at least for this challenge, and I found myself looking forward to  being able to just show up and count it as a win. 

What has been the biggest change to you as an artist (or your practice) because of participating in the Challenge? 

There have been two big changes for me: (1) the mindset shift from focusing on  the outcome - finished and beautiful work - to counting showing up as a win for  the day; and (2) realizing I don’t need to wait until I have one to two (or more)  hours available to spend on my art practice. 

What advice would you give to someone who is doing the Challenge for the first time? 

Choose an activity you enjoy or that you think you would enjoy. One that’s  simple and can easily be done in 20 minutes. (I think the prep day where we  practice what we’ve chosen to do for the challenge is extremely helpful in this  regard!) Also, be kind to yourself, be flexible, don’t let your inner critic win, and  have fun!