Liberate your creativity in just 12 minutes a day
Why is it so hard to stay creative?
You know making art brings you joy — but somehow the days slip by.
Here's the truth:
It's not about discipline.
It’s about having the right structure, support, and inspiration to make your creativity flow naturally — without pressure, guilt, or having to wake up at 5 AM.
Imagine if art felt light, joyful, and completely doable.
For 30 days, you’ll give just 12 minutes a day to your creative life.
That small container changes everything.
“The 12-minute-a-day structure broke the myth that I need big blocks of time to make art.”
— Participant in 2024 cohort
“I didn’t think 12 minutes would work for me—but it did, beautifully.”
— Participant in 2025 cohort
You’ll learn how to bring mindfulness into your creative flow — where presence replaces perfectionism and curiosity dissolves creative blocks.
You'll experience
Here’s how this 30 day challenge works
Creativity doesn’t have to be a struggle. This challenge is designed to help you build a simple, joyful practice that fits into your real life.
Daily Creative Practice – 12 minutes a day, any medium you choose
Weekly Live Sessions – art & zen in action
“The Sangha pods helped me feel part of something beautiful — even on Zoom.”
— Participant in 2025 cohort
Artmonk Practice – meditation meets creativity
Community Support – surround yourself with fellow creatives
Bonus Live Workshop – Design Your Ideal Creative Practice
Meet Your Guide: Suiko McCall
I’m the founder of the Art Monastery, an international arts organization dedicated to personal awakening through creativity and spiritual practice.
I’ve always known that I wanted to be an artist. But for years I could not get myself to paint regularly.
I have degrees in art from Yale and SF Art Institute; I’ve shown my work from San Francisco to Budapest; I’ve published my work on book covers, magazines, and more — but it was only in the last few years that I cracked the code on how to maintain a daily creative practice that’s actually FUN.
And now I want to show how you can too. In just 12 minutes a day.
Frequently Asked Questions
We will meet a total of five times: on four Saturdays, with the fifth class meeting on Day 30 of our challenge, falling on a Sunday.
Friday, February 13
Friday, February 20
Friday, February 27
Friday, March 6
Saturday, March 14
12 noon-2pm Pacific
Bonus workshop: Design Your Ideal Creative Practice
Tuesday, February 10
12 noon-2pm Pacific
Yes, recordings of all live calls will be made available.
First of all, at the Art Monastery, we believe that everyone is an artist.
Everyone.
Even you.
Especially you!
Secondly, the 30-Day Challenge is fundamentally a life-changing social sculpture about TRANSFORMATION:
— transformation of how you see yourself
— transformation of your understanding of what you are capable of
— transformation of your definition of spiritual practice and of art making
However you may currently categorize yourself, after making art every day for 30 Days you'll be an artist.
The ask of this challenge is that you practice your creativity for 12 minutes each day. You can do that first thing in the morning, on your lunch break, while drinking coffee, just before bed, or anywhere in between. If even 12 minutes feels like more than you can handle, start with 5-7 minutes and see how that goes. There are no hard and fast rules.
So even if you miss some days, you're still in the challenge and you're still winning!
No problem! I understand that we all have busy lives. You will receive the recordings of every call.
All of it!
YOU determine what your daily goal is, what the shape and scope of your practice is. Your creative expression is utterly unique to you and may shift over the course of the 30 days. In the past participants have painted, drawn, photographed, written poetry, journaled, collaged, collaborated with their toddlers, designed tarot cards, found inspiration in the I-Ching, incorporated nature walks, played the same song on guitar every day, sung with a metronome, collected rocks, and more.
On the live calls, I will lead a meditative improvisational drawing practice. Some participants take that on as their daily practice, but it is not required to do so.
There've been a wide range of awesome daily practices. Just to name a few:
— drawing concentric circles on a painted background, 8x8"
— singing the same song with a metronome
— creating piled rock sculptures in the backyard
— making a photograph every day
— pulling an oracle card and free writing a response to it
— pulling a tarot card and drawing one's own version of it
— dancing, recording it on video, posting it on Instagram
— trying out a new recipe from the same cookbook
— practicing "Intuitive Journaling"
— writing a poem in bed before going to sleep
— filling a 3x5" card with a unique blended color using chalk pastels (this was compiled into a gorgeous large work at the end)
— learning a new knot for macrame, photographing it, and posting it
— making a timelapse video of painting process, posting it
— writing haiku
Your daily creative practice is determined by you, so you determine what materials you need for that. On the live calls, we will be engaging in improvisatory mark making & writing. I encourage you to use whatever you already have. That said, I know that it can also be inspiring to acquire new supplies. :)
Here’s what I recommend:
- a sturdy sketchbook (example)
- a set of colored pencils (my favorites are Prismacolors)
- a selections of pens (lately I’ve been enjoying drawing with Pentel Art Sign Pens):
- Pocket Brush Pens or Pentel Arts Micro Brush Tip Pen
- white pens (I’m a fan of Sakura Gelly Roll white pens and Uniball Signo white gel pens)
- watercolors (For the most beautiful, lovingly & responsibly made, check out Beam Paints, such as the Spectrum 11 Gouache Set; for intense concentrated color, check out liquid water colors)
After you participate in the 30-Day Challenge, you'll be eligible to join the Monastic Muse Collective. If you would like to keep on making art within a supportive community, this is for you!
We gather the first three Mondays of each month. At the beginning of each call we say hello and name what we'll be working on. Then we do two 20 - 25 minute work sessions in silence. You're welcome to keep your camera on or off.
The Monastic Muse Collective is only open to those who have participated in previous Art Monastery programs.