Last week I attended the Global Meetup for the 100 Day Project. It was such a good time! I met artists that I have been following and met new ones along the way.
I had a big realization upon hitting Day 60. I realized I need to work in a more concentrated way. It's too easy to reach for my phone or open a new tab. I also listened to a podcast on going on an "information diet" where you really limit who you follow and what you get from the internet. I kind of try to do this anyway, but I realize I need to do it more.
Day 51 Are there sections? Consider transitions
With 51, I painted the courtyard of a place I stayed at in Grenada, Spain last year. I love how these kinds of homes feel like they consist of different compartments. I actually originally started drawing this for the Cinequest Film Festival live painting event I did earlier this year, but changed it into something else. I'm glad I got to carry it out after all and I'm thinking I will make a really large version of this, maybe 3x4 or 4x6 feet. My favorite part is the tile with the orange and pink hues.
Day 52 Towards the insignificant
I had the idea to paint a tiny universe for 52. We are not even a pinpoint in this universe (I made that up, maybe it is true, maybe it isn't). The Milk Way galaxy is roughly 100,000 light years in diameter and it's one of billions of galaxies in the universe. How it that for making you feel insignificant?
Day 53 Don't be afraid of cliches
Do you remember these canvas binders? I had a blue denim one that looked quite like this with all the usual blue ballpoint pen clichés. This one made me a bit nostalgic.
Day 54 Cut a vital connection
I went to Capitola Beach and saw this woman laying in the sun on her pink towel. I loved the way she looked with her red hair falling over her arm. For the photo, I added some sand from my bag to the painting.
Day 55 Not building a wall but making a brick
I love an A-frame. My thoughts first went to brick, but I knew I didn't want to make it literal. After running through a few ideas, I thought about how you have to shape each piece of wood to build a house. I liked the idea of conveying the same idea with a different material. I love the way this project is stretching my brain.
Day 56 Look at the order in which you do things
At first I had thought about the way I go about making these daily paintings: pull a card, think, grab a brush or a pencil and go. I thought about other ways I could mix things up with materials. Then, it hit me to look at how many days I have missed and make abstract art about it. I was thinking it would turn out to look like a maze or something that moved fluidly around the paper. It ended up looking like Tetris. I really got into the mathematical aspect of this and sort of felt like I could just make art like this.
Each row represents each day of this 100 day project so far. The color squares represent how many days I missed until I posted for that particular day (between one and seven). The pencil rectangles represent drawing two in one day as a desperate attempt to catch up (happened 6x). There were only 28 consistent days (though none for more than 3 days). Conclusion: I'm not good at doing things daily.
Day 57 The inconsistency principle
I had to laugh out loud when I pulled this card! After Day 56 and realizing just how non-daily this project has been, it was kind of the perfect reinforcement that I need to get consistent with this project. I am determined to finish all 100 and I wanted to do so by the end of summer. I am thinking about doing two a day until then.
This one required more math and measuring. It actually plays with the number 11 and that number on all 4 sides since I have 44 left for this project. Again the math and also the transparent layering felt like things I want to pursue in future work.
Day 58 Just carry on
Day 59
This was a fun one to get. There are so many things that can be faked, but I thought it would be fun to fake a style. At first I thought I would do that of a really famous artist, but decided to do the art in the style of my friend Kyle Pellet. His work can be on old gridded paper, include hilarious descriptions, date stamps, state info for meetings that never happened and more. His color palette is black and white or bright vintage video game colors. I decided to paint Dennis Richmond and Elaine Corral in my own style since I didn't want to fully copy him. It's funny because when I wrote the date, I meant to make it the actual date of the sketch night, which was 8/26/15
Day 60 Don't be frightened to display your talents
I mulled this one over for some time. I think I don't like the word talent, especially when I am thinking of myself. I decided to use one of my sister's travel photos to make this drawing. I received this Blackwing pencil set as a gift recently and thought I'd put it to use on this one. These pencils actually have a really cool history. They were discontinued after being considered the best pencil ever made. They had a cult following and in recent years they have been made again.
This drawing made me realize I need to take more time with my art sometimes. While I have developed a quick style, I do really love sitting down and working for longer chunks of time. This piece also was successful to me because I was able sit and focus without the usual internet distractions. Got to try this again.