Establish Your Creative Routine
Do you sometimes feel completely blocked inside when it comes to painting? Do you lack a routine and want to finally overcome your inner resistance?
If you respond "Yes, that's me!" to at least one of these points, the concept of the Alphabet Superset Challenge could help you establish and maintain a painting routine.
The seemingly straightforward concept of this challenge is designed to provide your creativity with the much-needed space while still imposing certain limitations on you.
Today, I want to share my personal experience as a participant in this unique challenge and provide you with a comprehensive overview of what you can expect and what I found and still find extremely valuable about it.
The Alphabet Superset Challenge: A creative Journey
The Alphabet Superset Challenge is a carefully crafted creative endeavor in which participants commit to creating a new creative work every week - for 26 consecutive weeks.
Can you believe this? 26 weeks!
Each work must align with a pre-determined theme, but it begins each week with a different letter of the alphabet.
Below, you'll find also the other parameters that need to be set in advance and maintained throughout the entire challenge:
The medium,
the style,
the format and
the overarching theme for your personal challenge.
EXAMPLE:
My medium is Watercolors and Pen & Ink on paper.
My style is loose/sketchy.
The format/size of my works is approximately A4.
My theme is "Botany."
This unique structure of the challenge, inspired by Igor Stravinsky's wisdom, "The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself," adds depth to the creative process.
The challenge invites artists and creators of all kinds to embark on a creative journey from A to Z - literally.
“The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self.”
My Entries so far
At the time of writing this article, I have been actively participating in the challenge for eight weeks, which means I am currently working on a piece that begins with the letter G.
Below, you will find my previous contributions on the theme of "Botany."
"Avocado" for A
"Bean" for B
"Carrot" for C
"Dragonfruit" for D
"Eucalyptus" for E
"Fig" for F
The Power of Constraints
One of the most remarkable aspects of this challenge, as mentioned above, is the power of constraints.
By establishing specific parameters in advance - the constraints - countless small decisions that would need to be made in the creative process are eliminated, which can often stifle creativity.
These constraints - medium, style, format, and theme - have had a profound impact on my creative process and serve as a reliable source of inspiration that guides me through each weekly project.
For instance, even before the start of the challenge, I created a folder (nerd alert!) where I sorted my pre-cut sheets of paper and labeled them with the respective letter.
This means that the first step for EVERY picture I'm going to paint is already taken.
Furthermore, I've scheduled all my painting sessions and release dates on my calendar and have also thought of some example objects for each letter.
Preliminary Conclusion
You see, for me, this approach is absolutely advantageous!
In my opinion, the Alphabet Superset Challenge is an exceptional concept and has been carefully designed to provide the ideal environment for creativity to flourish.
Struthless, the host of the challenge, has given precise thought to what potential obstacles for artists might be in order to gain control over their creativity in the long term.
What decisions need to be made?
What are possible thoughts that negatively impact us in the creative process?
What keeps us from even starting?
One of the main strengths of the challenge clearly lies in the pre-decisions that need to be made.
The predetermined thematic consistency of the challenge, where objects are related to each other through a chosen theme and the letters of the alphabet, is a very smart approach.
This approach also helps us create a collection of works that are interconnected and contribute to something greater than the sum of their parts.
A special Highlight
Another task during the preparation phase for the challenge was to write a letter to my future self.
For this letter, we were to imagine having successfully completed the challenge and consider what we would like to tell ourselves at that point.
It's an exercise that encourages self-reflection and fosters appreciation for the creative journey. It greatly motivates me to see my letter hanging on my wall, reminding me that I want to persevere.
The stipulation is that the letter will only be opened on April 8th, after the completion of the entire challenge.
It will then remind me of how I started and show me the growth and resilience I've built throughout the duration of the challenge.
Weekly Care Package
To make this creative journey even more effective, participants receive a weekly newsletter that provides encouragement, inspiration, and moments of reflection.
The newsletter is essentially a digital care package that encourages participants to keep going, offers inspiration and food for thought, and provides updates on Struthless' own contributions to the challenge.
Receiving the newsletter is optional, I greatly appreciate the weekly correspondence and would recommend subscribing to it.
It inspires and motivates me while I recognize that, in some way, we're all in the same boat - with similar thoughts and similar hurdles.
At the end of it all, Struthless even planned our breaks! So in the case you need a pause to take a deep breath or life came in between - we all know! - after the letters E, I, O and U there will be a week to pause.
I said it, he thought about it ALL!
Summary
My journey in this challenge has been inspiring and fulfilling so far, and I encourage you to explore the challenge and consider participating yourself.
So, if you feel like diving into the Alphabet Superset Challenge, you can find the official overview of the challenge at:
The best part is that you can join this creative journey at any time; there's no need to wait for a specific start date.
Meanwhile you can find my current and also future "Loose Botanical Sketches" for this challenge and the progress I've made at
I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on the challenge or to learn if you've found your personal path!
Feel free to share your experiences and insights in the comments below so that we can have a meaningful discussion and learn from each other!
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