You may have heard of the 100 Day Project, which was started by Elle Luna and has got hundreds, probably thousands, of people committing to something for one hundred days. It just started a new round over on Instagram, and this time I decided to join in.
I’m a week late to the party because I was on the road trip when it started and didn’t have the headspace. I actually don’t even know how many days I’ve been going at the time of writing because there’s no way I would keep going if I knew exactly how many days I had still to go! I just put the start and end dates in the calendar and now I make a little something every day.
My hashtag, ie. topic, for the project is #100daysofseasideart. {It really can be anything, it doesn’t have to be art related; I notice lots of people doing fitness related projects.} That way it’s focused but has lots of scope for whatever I feel like doing that fits under that title. I did sit with it for a while to make sure I had something I would want to stick with and that wouldn’t become boring twenty seven days in.
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So far so good! I’m not doing the same thing every day, or even using the same format – some days I work in my sketchbook, others on loose paper, and I’m working on canvas too. Maybe sometimes I’ll take a photo instead. Sometimes I work on the same thing for more than a day. I don’t think there are any rules about how you do it, it’s really about committing to something for a hundred days, but even if there were, I’d still be doing it in a way that would work for me. 😉
The video in this post is from yesterday. It’s far from professional but gives a little look into my studio and how I often literally just throw a painting together without planning or choosing a palette, and mixing up my media with whatever I have to hand. I had a photo for inspiration, by a fellow Instagrammer based in Rockport in the USA who’d taken a gorgeous photo of some boats. I never know if these quick studies will work or not, much less when I’m being ‘watched’!
Here are a few of my favourites from the project so far.
Why yes, I do like boats.
I won’t be posting about this regularly, but I like to share my personal creative projects here as well as the more ‘helpful’ {hopefully!} posts. You can also see the posts as they happen over here. {It’s self updating! Tech magic!}
Are you doing a 100 day project? I’d love to hear about it! You could really start one any time, although it’s always fun {and easier to stay accountable} to do it with friends. 🙂 Feel free to share in the comments, with your hashtag if you’re doing it on Instagram.
Fabulous video. Thanks for sharing it with us. I a, loving my 100 days. Mine is #100notestoself2016
So glad you’re loving your theme! I’ve been watching your lettering get more and more amazing. 🙂
Tara, it was fascinating watching those boats and water materialize with so much depth of color, and still be abstract. I especially love that first large one with the yellow and the steps.
By the way, The ‘talk’ you gave for “Demystifying the Artist’ was so excellent. I will at some point have to forward to you a poem that I wrote some years ago about finding that lost dream again. I forwarded the body of that talk to my oldest daughter, who is just finding her soul little by little after two awful marriages. She is also a deep Pisces, and vulnerable but tough in many ways.
Glad you enjoyed it Elizabeth! I’m touched that you shared my essay, and would love to see that poem. 🙂
I have a Dream.
I’ve had it all my life
from a time before I was born.
I tried to live my dream,
but I was too young.
I was not ready.
I grew older, I grew up.
I grew in responsibility and busy-ness.
I had no time to think about my dream.
I put it away for safekeeping.
My Dream kept whispering to me.
I stopped talking about my Dream.
I stopped thinking about my Dream.
But I had a Dream.
My soul began to search for my Dream,
because it knew I was lonely.
I asked for my Dream to come to me.
I didn’t hear the answer.
I looked for my Dream in strange places,
and among strange people.
My Dream poked me, it nudged me, it threw distractions
in my path to make me look up.
Then it began to remove the distractions
One by one,
until I finally looked up,
and saw my Dream once more.
Elizabeth Winters
Such a lovely poem and such a familiar story! Thank you for sharing it Elizabeth.
Thanks, Tara.
Way to go, Tara! The work you’ve done so far looks lovely.
I’m not sold on the idea of a 100 day project yet, maybe someday… 🙂
Thanks Nela! I totally hear you – I’m still not sure why I suddenly decided I was ready! It’s going fine as long as I don’t think about the fact that I finish in August…
Thanks for the video! I’ve been loving what you’ve been posting lately – seems like the 100 day project is working well for you! I wish I had chosen something more photogenic – I don’t want to clog up my feed with notebook pictures so I don’t share very often.
Thank you so much Stephanie! I did want to pick a subject that would give me lots of room to manoeuvre, knowing how quickly I get over something! You could always pretty up your photos by doing flat lays involving other materials you’re using, or flowers etc.
Thanks for this video Tara. More of those!
It’s always so fascinating to watch other artists work. I got some new ideas about how to mix soft pastells and acrylics. I realise I have been quite conservative with my mixing techniques.
Noted Gina! 🙂 I agree, I love to watch other artists work too. Interesting point about being conservative with mixing techniques! Glad that my rather clumsy demo helped open that up a bit for you. 🙂