Detailing special projects
Pacing myself. I thought when I started this I wouldn’t care how many pieces I made, then I figured fifty would be a fine number. As it became clear that I was averaging one a day, even if that’s not exactly when I finished them, I decided to shoot for 100 pieces.
I thought I’d bring this project to a close the same way I opened it: with a self portrait. 100 pieces. 100 Days. A road trip across the country home. A pandemic. Strange times. Bittersweet.
Lines.
Where did this day go? It’s amazing how long and short the days are.
Literally put one line down today. I’m so frustrated. Nothing feels right. No idea I’m working on is coming together right. Binging tv instead.
Bringing some ideas full circle.
Finished up a piece from yesterday with lines. So close.
Nada to say.
…
The end is nigh! Nigh! I’m so excited. It’s like a light went on. I’m seeing possibilities on blank paper today.
Why didn’t I find paint circles sooner in this process? Decided to use extra paint left over in a circle and it went down a new rabbit hole.
lines. If I learned nothing else, I learned to sooth myself by making lines and letting my headspace fall away. That lesson I do not want to lose. When I’m stuck. I can just make lines until I unstick. And the exercise rarely fails. It’s soothing and loosens my creativity.
I’m stuck on my painting so I’m using the 100 Day to work out a problem. That’s a new development.
Exploring whatever I feel at this point. Trying not to overthink.
Not exactly productive. Feeling stuck at the same stage on all pieces. Meanwhile I’m completely engrossed in stripping a canvas for reuse.
Oh… wow! Wow! Wow! I cannot believe we are here.
I promise I worked on it.
Where do the days go! Blink and they cascade. Playing more with feathers.
Feathers. I found my bag of feathers to explore.
I should probably do something about posting last week.
Ok… I did it! I really procrastinated on that one. Other than that hurdle… still playing with feathers.
… and was inspired and industrious today. That’s the lesson isn’t it. To just keep showing up day after day. Through all the mood variations and life obstacles.
Take the productivity when it comes. Because it goes. I cannot do anything right today! I throw in the towel.
A very late start today. I mean my days flipped somewhere. I have an hour left in the day to do something.
Another successful Day in Isolation.
I don’t have to love everything that I create.
I’m struggling to maintain interest amid everything.
Productive. But, I’m not sure this is the direction I want to go? I continue to play with plant textures. But maybe I’d rather get back to skulls and ravens???
Feeling trapped by this direction. Definitely. Will have to break free of it soon.
Just when I felt over it all. Inspiration. I found a feather floating around my house. A new experiment.
Interesting results today. I am placated.
However. I don’t know that I’ll commit to a hundred days of anything again. 27% of the year. That’s a lot of days. A lot. Look what can happen to the world in 100 days. I’m a commitmentphobe (is that a word?) and I fell for that optimistic feeling seventy some days ago that said: you have time to commit, it’ll be fun. Maybe it’s that I feel I’ve learned what I set out to learn, with twenty-five days to go… what investment am I making with my time now?
I lost a day again??? I guess I didn’t have an important breakthrough.
I brought in fallen oak leaves. They are a nightmare to work with. But something new.
Working up to it today.
Started three new pieces last night playing with plant textures. Added paint today. Flattening the collected plant material in my sketchbook helped. Still awful to work with.
I can work freely now that I am home. First I had to make a trip through the snow to the camper each time I needed something. But mostly I don’t feel like it. I start and stop. All day. Starts and stops. And staring. I’m exhausted from the drive across the country. I’m emotionally exhausted from the this world turned upside-down. I’ve begun a new blog writing ritual to get me through without the travel writing.
Art work is the last thing I feel like doing. I feel like I’m resting on the work that came before and I think that’s ok right now. I’m just showing up for now.
Tossed some paint on a piece I wasn’t going to. Glad I did. Started a second canvas based on the works I’ve done in the 100 Day Project.
I lost a day somewhere. I don’t know how. I thought this was (today) March 30.
Creative block this morning. Not even doing lines helped. Maybe later. The canvasses go better.
These texture studies are infuriating.
No sooner had I put pen to paper than we were informed the California State Park we were staying at for the night was closing because of the corona virus outbreak. Off we go. Maybe later I’ll be able to get last week’s post together.
If nothing else then just make lines and the rest will follow later. Even if I barely make one piece this week of lines, little by little every day. How life can crash in. We are traveling long days, much longer than we ever did before. We may slow down here, but home is the goal.
I was able to put a little paint where it was needed on various pieces last night. Then worked on lines on a piece this morning. We were still in California when the new state-wide shelter-in-place order went through. Moving east. Still working on art through this.
Tired. If you wonder where the progress photos went, I killed the camera on my phone. One too many drops. Photos will have to wait until the end of the week batch. It’s too much of a hassle to do it daily. Finished a textured piece last night. Working on others this morning. Started collecting more plant stuff on the road and, after learning my lesson, they are flattening in my sketchbook. Some of these earlier pieces are being held down by linen strips because they are so unruly.
I did something this morning. But that was ages ago and a state of the union away. I showed up. Goodnight.
Coffee. Pen. Paper. Morning light. Road.
I’m here, minimally. But every little bit adds to the whole. Will attempt to carve out time to document works today. We. Will. See.
A little color study. Not the sexiest work, but the best way to systematically understand the colors. And of course I had way too much paint left over… so more of those spare paint types of pieces will probably be in the works.
I also worked yesterday on some texture studies. Which I continued this morning. What a frustrating challenge to get things to stay in place. Today I white washed the pieces to make the textures pop out. To be continued.
Lines. Lines. More lines. Struggling to find some new insightful thoughts to regurgitate here.
Is this mid-project exhaustion? 53 is so many days.
I about ruined a piece this morning. Added spare paint to it to cover areas I didn’t like. Then it got out of control. So I washed it all off. I like the way the lines look worn now from being under water.
Covid-19…
In the spirit of exploring textures and with the inability to find supplies on the road, I worked plies of toilet paper onto a piece last night with paint and added lines to it today. Can’t find hand sanitizer either. It’s going to be a long road home. I don’t know what further measures will be taken to slow the spread of this virus and I hope we don’t get caught up in it on the road.
That didn’t go as planned. Again. Tuesday’s never seem to be a good day for one reason or another to lay the art out for documentation.
When I started I figured I’d make maybe 50 pieces. I’m on track for one a day even though I don’t finish one each day. I work here, there and then all of a sudden a bunch teach the finish line together. Today I worked with a textured crow again, and again used the leftover paint to experiment with. Definitely not how I want to create work, but still a fun thing to explore.
I have to acknowledge this. It was supposed to be a color study. But oh no no no…
No!
Things went wrong quickly here. The colors didn’t work the way I imagined. Then it just kept getting worse. I’m still thinking of ways to salvage it. But I feel nauseous looking at it from the color combinations.
It isn’t that I don’t have time or ideas today. It’s that I just don’t want to. Not even a little bit.
I’ll start some pieces just with color. And leave it at that. No pressure today.
…
And then I never stopped.
Traveling today. Had to fight for my work time this morning.
No Internet Service.
Did minimal today and yesterday. Was busy with human interactions. But I did start a big canvas…
I’m going to work on that separate from the 100 Day Project, even though it has sprung from it. I make the rules here.
Plugging along.
This week became about exploring color. I was working it out on the paper and letting the colors surprise me. I think in the near future I’d like to explore color more.
Yesterday being entirely too windy for photos, this morning’s work time was spent catching up on documenting last weeks progress and posting the blog. Now we travel. I hope to touch paper later…
It’s a slow start to this week. I started the bones of a new piece, but I cannot do much else. The camper isn’t stable enough to do lines and I don’t want to pull out the paints. I am thinking it’s about time to break out a canvas though. I feel I am ready to begin a body of work based on where I am at currently. My one thought is… “can I get myself to continue making small studies past the 100 Day Project?” Working out different ideas at the 5×7 level has given me many new ideas. I’m not one to work in a sketchbook, I like to put my energy into works not sketches. This is something of a compromise. I’m forced to explore “mistakes” (which I love) and follow them into new creative paths, but I’m not invested into a large piece.
Today I feel very confident in myself. I feel I’ve found a way to open it up to include exploration so I don’t feel like I have to sacrifice a medium or idea I love, nor do I have to keep working with one forever and always. I’m not looking at other art with doubt for my own choices.
I feel like I’m here. I can draw, paint, explore texture, symbolism… all in the same piece. Yes! Yes! Yes! One million times yes!
A lot and yet a little happening this morning. Been sitting here working for some time. Peace in my heart.
Just a little bit today.
Came very close to nothing happening today. Then I caught a second wind and prepped some pieces with white paint tonight. When you are not feeling it… you can always do groundwork. It’s also very clear if I don’t work in the morning, I’m going to struggle to do something.
Very productive this morning. Working on a lot of pieces, but not finishing anything.
Ok… maybe I am finishing things. I don’t love everything I’ve made, but I’m glad I explored them.
Still going.
Took up a lot of the day.
I showed them in person for the first time to real live humans other than my husband this week. It was good practice being able to explain the process. WHAT? I used complete sentences about my work with people I didn’t know well and I think I even made sense. This process is working for me. Make art, daily. Preferably in the morning. Reflect on it using the blog. Who cares if anyone ever reads it, there’s an accountability that makes it happen, it works for me.
That’s a wrap on week six. Explored color combinations and layering color combinations on textures this morning.
