You Don’t Need More Time to Improve at Painting

When Patti Vincent (Ep.75) was first learning to paint, she had limited time. In fact, she found herself in school drop-off lines and sitting at her son’s swimming lessons more often than she found herself in the studio.

But instead of seeing that as a deterrent, she got strategic about her schedule. She began organizing her art life.

Let’s look at three ways you can make the most of the time you do have to paint.

First, organize your time around something specific and ongoing.

For Vincent, this was her weekly art classes. She had class in the morning while her son was at school and made sure to do her homework between sessions. She supplemented those lessons with additional painting and drawing outside of class.

When you have a busy schedule, it can help to have an external expectation that keeps you in a consistent rhythm.

It also removes the pressure of constantly deciding what to work on next.

Figuring out WHAT you’re working on takes time and mental energy. When you’re in a class or membership, you’re offloading that work. Your teacher is deciding the curriculum so you can focus your energy on the learning itself.

But also, external structure also makes it easier to restart after interruptions.

If you miss a class, you return to the next one. Structured challenges can work the same way. They give you a clear place to restart instead of having to rebuild momentum from scratch on your own. 

Second, take advantage of small pockets of time.

Once Vincent’s son became a middle schooler, he had after-school activities and friend hangouts that didn’t include her. If he didn’t need her, she used that time to get her art homework done.

These may not be huge blocks of time. But the key is to notice them and decide ahead of time how you’ll use them.

That pre-planning matters, especially if you truly only have small pockets of time available. It’s easy to walk into your studio and spend your entire session trying to decide what to do.

The solution is simple: make the decision before you walk in.

Know which class homework you’ll work on. Or, if you’re not in a class, decide on a small project you can return to each day during that time.

Drawing for 10 minutes is better than skipping the session entirely. Small sessions repeated consistently create real momentum over time.

You might feel your inner critic start to protest. “That’s not enough time.”

But a creative practice isn’t built from one perfect session. It’s built from returning again and again. That’s exactly what many artists experience during the 20for20 Art Challenge.

It’s also worth noticing where new pockets of time may have appeared in your life.

Especially during seasons of transition, you may still be operating under old assumptions. Maybe your kids really did need you constantly before. But now they don’t as much. Could some of that time become creative time?

Third, get clear on when art time is and isn’t.

Vincent understood that weekends weren’t primarily for art, and that was OK. Weekends were for family, social activities, and household responsibilities.

Life is busy. If you feel behind in every area of your life, it becomes much harder to focus during studio time.

By creating clearer boundaries around when art belongs and when it doesn’t, you give yourself space to fully attend to both. You also make it more likely that your art practice remains sustainable long term.

Put It to Practice:

You don’t have to be a full-time artist to improve at painting and drawing.

You do need focus and a consistent way of showing up.

What helps make you a consistent painter?

That answer will look different for everyone. The goal is to find something that works with your life as it exists right now.

Maybe it’s taking part in a 20-day challenge. Maybe it’s signing up for a class and committing to the homework. Maybe it’s setting a Monday-through-Friday studio schedule and giving yourself weekends off without guilt.

This is what Vincent discovered: you don’t need endless hours each day for your art to improve. But you do need ways to stay connected to your practice consistently.

Consistency builds skills. Consistency keeps you encouraged. Consistency is how busy artists continue getting better.