How the 100 Day Project Changed My Art Practice
For the past 100 days I have participated in the 100 Day Project and it has changed how I approach my fabric art. I now enter my studio with anticipation and sense of adventure. The 100 Day Project was started by Elle Luna who has written a book called The Crossroads of Should and Must and sponsored by the magazine The Great Discontent. The 100 Day Project is based on Instagram and the simplicity of the project is so appealing. Pick something creative you want to do and do it every day for 100 days. Post every day on instagram with the hashtag for the overall group #the100dayproject and make a hashtag for your project. The project started on April 6 and ends on July 14, 2015. However, people can really start anytime and I recommend you just start now.
My 100 day project is #100daysofimprovfabricart. I am creating a 6 inch square of improv fabric art each day. I have a stack of solid fabrics in my favorite colors. I show up every day and sew something with no pre-planning, playing with shapes and colors. At the end of the project I have 100 squares. I decided to sew the days together in consecutive order into 4 pieces each including 25 days of the 100 day project. This project has inspired me to start a series entitled, “Daily.”
As someone has thought about creativity and how to make more art on a regular basis, I am learning so much more than I thought possible from this process. Here are a few things…
#1 Every bit counts…even creating art for as little as 15 minutes a day brings all the benefits of creativity, being lost in the moment of self expression. It has become my self-care ritual for the day.
#2 Clarity helps…having an overall plan of where I am going with this project and what steps I take on a daily basis has been helpful. Less second guessing. I just focus on creating in the studio.
#3 Community matters… seeing others’ creations has been one of the most inspiring parts of this project. It is so easy to do on instagram. There are over 4,000 participants around the world doing this. Scrolling through the hashtag feed gives me courage to keep going because I want to, not because I have to. Art can be a lonely endeavor but following along on other artists’ journeys can help the feeling of isolation. Following others’ creative process feels like good storytelling. You can’t wait to see what is going to happen.
#4 Self expression appears in many forms… Our job is to find what resonates with us at this time. Some of the people I am following are creating abstract watercolors, photos of doors, paper collages, doodles, hand lettering messages in a bottle, drawing a word in Polish to help learn the language and many more. The founder of this project Elle Luna is painting something from her dreams every day. Seeing all the creative possibilities can inspire you to create your unique project that lights you up.
#5 Stay inspired by experimenting…The good news is that it has been easier than I thought to come up with ideas for a 6 inch pieced fabric art square every day. Yes, some days are harder than others. But each day seems like an experiment in variations on a theme I can use for future series and larger pieces. I decided not to pre-plan but experience improvisational creating in the moment. This is probably why I never run out of ideas. Sometimes it is color combination driven and sometimes it is all about the design, but often it is both variations together. This has invigorated my art practice like nothing else ever has. I am excited to go into the studio.
#6 Be consistent by not stopping…Doing this daily practice of one 6 inch square a day has been a lesson in commitment and persistence. Even though I have plenty of ideas about what to sew, it is so easy to say, not today. My dogged persistence has helped me overcome this resistance because I know the slippery slope of saying, “Just not today.” I have read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art and know the wild ways of resistance to the work. My grandiose ideas of making the square every day at 10 am did not work for very long. I set the alarm on my phone for a repeating daily alarm. I learned the trick that if I could not sew right then, I would reschedule a new alarm immediately. It has to be set up as an alarm or it might slip away. This flexible plan has helped keep me consistent given the realities of my life.
I truly believe it is harder to stop and restart then it is to just keep creating every day.
The lessons learned from the 100 days have inspired me to continue this daily practice. The form of my project may change and I am still working out the details but I know I want to continue. I plan to sew every day and then put 25 days together in my new “Daily” series. My focus is going to be to use this daily practice as a sort of creativity warm up and make other pieces using the themes I have explored in the “Daily” series. It took a lot of energy to keep going every day for the 100 days but now I want to build on this further and add more studio time into my daily routine to work on other pieces.
I encourage you to experience the feeling of a consistent creative practice for 100 days. You will not be the same afterwards. Bold statement, but true.
