The #100dayproject did its job

The #100dayproject did its job

Instagram hooked me again back in February, and I’ve just completed another 100 day project challenge.
Did I cheat?  Kind of.  My goal was a 5″x5″ piece every day, taking no more than 25 minutes.
I didn’t create every day, but I caught up, so I made 100 pieces in 100 days
I didn’t work more than 25 minutes, but I often took less
I used watercolor, I sketched in pencil and pen, I used collage, I used gouache, I used acrylic
These two pieces aren’t part of the work I created but they are the reason I decided to do the project.  Consistent practice helps me loosen up.  It helps me remember how I did things in pieces I like, how to avoid effects I don’t like, and how to fix things that go wrong.
So, when I decided that I wanted something to change out the two hallway picture frame images before the weekend, these two pieces came quickly.  They aren’t perfect.  They could be worked on some more, for sure.  But that’s always true.  The 100 day project reminded me that it’s just paper and paint, and I can let it go, because there will be another chance to create tomorrow.
5” x 5” x 25 Minutes continues . . .

5” x 5” x 25 Minutes continues . . .

#The100 day project continues, sometimes with Instagram evidence, sometimes not.  My challenge to my self was a 5”x5” piece I work on for no more than 25 minutes each day.
The first couple of weeks I was in California, and the images reflected that.
Now, back in Chicago, I can see the change.  I like the freedom this small format and the no-rules rules gives me, so that one is drawn and scraped with watercolor blocks, and the other is collage, but the view from my window is obvious in both pieces.
100 Days of Resolution

100 Days of Resolution

I haven’t been on Instagram for that long, and I do my best to keep my feed art and art-only, so it was inevitable that I would come across the 100 Day Project, which starts every year for the past several in mid to late March.  It’s kind of an intention project, but with few rules.  My intention this calendar year anyway was to engage in resolution – either finish things up to decide to be finished with them.

So, my 2023 100 Day Project will be to use a bunch of my leftover fabric scraps – the stuff that is 5×5 or less – couple it with a bunch of seed beads leftover from who knows what – and to make these little sachets stuffed with cedar.  Or are they pincushions?  In any case, they smell good and they serve my intention.  So that’s part one.  Part two will begin when I run out of steam doing this handwork (which will happen long before I run out of scraps or beads).

Part Two will involve going back to my stack of disassembled chipboard boxes – they were salvaged from the boxes that holiday cards came in that I send out to a business and personal list.  They are sturdy, and have magnetic closures, so of course I couldn’t throw them away.  I’ve been rebuilding and recovering them for a while now, and I think they make the perfect presentation container for some of these beaded beauties!

My 100 Day Project

My 100 Day Project

If you are an Instagram Artist, the #100 day project is familiar to you.  If not, here’s the gist of it – starting this year in mid-February, if you choose to participate you choose some kind of project you will work on every day for 100 days and post whatever you did each day.  Now, from there you have a lot of freedom – define it however you want, do something different each day, or work on one thing every day for 100 days, post every day, never post, whatever.  The idea, at least for me is to give you a chance or focus, even if the focus is on something new, and to build that muscle that says you get better and discover your style by making every day.

So, after that intro, here was my plan.  I have several tubes of gouache, for some reason (if you are any kind of maker, you understand the concept of those mystery items in your stash.  I also have a bunch of old report covers for my business, back when every job required multiple printed copies.  These have my branding on one side, but the other is blank and is a nice heavy cover stock.  And, I need to loosen up and do some painting of some kind every day.  All that combined means I chopped up those report covers into 3” x 4” pieces, and every morning I do a little painting.

There’s another layer to it as well, kind of my personal secret color palette.  I’ve talked before about Louise Hay’s book Colors and Numbers – in that book is a scheme to use your birthday or calculate a number for each year, each month, and each day.  Then, each number correlates to a color.  That’s what I use as my color scheme.  My color theme for 2022 is purple, so that is somewhere in every little painting.

On the back of each little painting, I’ve recorded the date, then the color code, then a word or phrase or two that come to me.

I’m about a third of the way through.  Some pieces are landscapes, some are just patterns.  Some are better than others.  I don’t post all of them, because I can’t imagine anyone would want to see each one, but from time to time I pick out a selection.

The important thing is that it’s working – just these 20 minutes of painting are becoming routine, I’m learning about a new medium that is beautifully portable, and that big stack of old report covers is finding new life.