The end is nigh! Nigh! I’m so excited. It’s like a light went on. I’m seeing possibilities on blank paper today.
Day 86: April 16
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.
Day 87: April 17
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.
Day 88: April 18
I’m stuck on my painting so I’m using the 100 Day to work out a problem. That’s a new development.
Day 89: April 19
Exploring whatever I feel at this point. Trying not to overthink.
Day 90: April 20
Not exactly productive. Feeling stuck at the same stage on all pieces. Meanwhile I’m completely engrossed in stripping a canvas for reuse.
Where do the days go! Blink and they cascade. Playing more with feathers.
Day 80: April 10
Feathers. I found my bag of feathers to explore.
Day 81: April 11
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.
Day 82: April 12
Take the productivity when it comes. Because it goes. I cannot do anything right today! I throw in the towel.
Day 83: April 13
A very late start today. I mean my days flipped somewhere. I have an hour left in the day to do something.
I have considered the 100 day project a little more.
Use the blog to reflect on the work daily, posting content weekly.
Work at a 5 x 7 size on paper
Multi-media works
Use inspiration from travels, literature, and anywhere else I can. I am an omnivore and a scavenger.
Explore elements I work with already. See where it goes. Reflect on what those elements mean.
Day 1: January 22
Where to start? With procrastinating of course! So I opened my new book titled: A big important Art Book; Now With Women, and the first thing it did was prompt an exercise doing self portraits. So why not start there? But first I have to lay the ground work.
Made a template instead of measuring each piece of paper.
Playing with texture by laying the paint down differently on each paper.
I didn’t paint each paper yet, just enough to get started. Don’t want to lock myself in.
I started working this way on the sketchbook project. (I am in the digital sketchbook library). I really enjoyed the results of those mixed-media pieces. I have four sketchbooks in the Brooklyn Art Library, three mixed media. I enjoyed doing them and knowing they are there in Brooklyn, New York being seen. I get emails notifying me.
Day 2: January 23
I picked up again last night, excited by the self portrait. I’ve been doing polaroid emulsion lifts to document my travels and new film was delivered last night. I printed from my polaroid lab and chose one of the papers layered with acrylic. (was wondering about that texture and the Polaroid Transfer for some time).
At first I tried to pencil in words around the image.
Scrapped that idea real fast.
I decided to combine the polaroid portrait with an original love: ink doodling. The gatekeeper that launched my head and heart back into art making. I am pleased with the balance.
Strathmore 400 mixed-media paper 186 lb
Titanium white acrylic paint
Self Portrait taken with iPhone
Printed with Polaroid lab on I-type 600 film
emulsion lift process
Faber-Castell ink pen
I tend to hate images of myself, I was drawn to one that was just a partial of my face. I edited it to black and white to see how the color of the film would interpret it in print. This time it came out nearly sepia. In the drawing portion I added spiral symbols. Something I’m drawn to subconsciously and consciously.
Lifting image in water onto paper.
Image after drying and working on it.
Day 3: January 24
All the ideas I had swirling around my head fell out somewhere. I turned to doodling on the paper I prepared. Four ink doodles. Two with a white acrylic ground, two without. They’ll be the start for something, I just don’t know what yet. Doing ink line work is meditative and intuitive. I can disappear into the flow until my brain is inspired. Nothing this early morning. It’ll come.
Day 4: January 25
96 bottles of beer on the wall, 96 bottles of beer… I’ve never once gotten past about 90 in that song. I am too distractible.
I’m still feeling stuck. I painted thalo blue grounds, experimenting with the acrylic application. I have been impatient to try oil pastels over acrylic. It is not my favorite piece. Doesn’t feel like me. Maybe I’ll feel better about it in the future.
Strathmore 400 mixed-media paper 186 lb
Thalo Blue acrylic on paper
White posca pen
Oil pastel
Trying to capture the essence of the saguaro at night.
I think my second experiment of the day was more successful at combining old and new ideas with different media.
Strathmore 400 mixed-media paper 186 lb
Thalo blue acrylic ground
Faber-Castell black ink pen
White Posca pen
Oil pastel
The thought in my head while doodling: connect my old style of working with a new way.
Day 5: January 26
Today I am keeping the theme of connections going. All day I kept it in my head to get back to the camper and pick up one of the pieces I ink doodled on dry paper (I ran a small test to see if it would stand up to submerging in water). I wanted to use one of the photographs I took of the spiral petroglyphs and combine it with the spiral doodle. Letting it dry overnight now.
Today I also picked up an art print by Raina Gentry that I admired both for its differences from my work and its similarities. I am reminded that I need to give myself permission to make the art that I want to make and to quit second guessing myself.
Day 6: January 27
I bounced last nights experiment off of my husband. He did not like it, so I decided this morning to push it further and then asked him again. “I don’t get it.” I don’t know if that means it’s genius or crap, but I find the results interesting enough to keep. Maybe even continue to push further.
Strathmore 400 mixed-media paper 186 lb
Faber-Castell black ink pen
Black and white polaroid
Nikon D7200 image using iPhone to Polaroid Lab print
January 26-27 experiment with lines and polaroid emulsion lift. Idea: connection.
Day 7: January 28
One week feels like an accomplishment. Ninety-three days to go. I did a little more with line work on one of the thalo blue painted papers with a white Posca pen. I believe I intuitively did this in response to doing so much line work in black ink. Then I spread out my weeks work for a look. (After spraying the pieces using oil pastel with a fixative).
First Week. Top row: probably finished pieces, middle row: mid-thought, last row: potential.
The first finished image.
Another image I believe is finished, thinking about connection.
Black Faber-Castell ink pen on white acrylic ground.
Today’s (1-28-20) lines on thalo blue acrylic thinned with water.