100 Day Project
Do one small thing consistently. Watch something big happen.
2024
Day 40
Forty days in, and I’m very bored. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just telling me something. At the rate I’m working, I’m producing a lot of what feels like the same things. In many ways, it is, but there are certain techniques that appeal to me a lot more. I think what I’m learning with the small works is that i’m going to need to slow down in this process. Work slower with more intention. I want mastery over what I’m doing. Really pay attention to how I’m creating the marks and processes that appeal to me the most.
I can also feel myself avoiding the fear that comes with experimenting bigger outside of this project. On day 16, I spoke of some things I want to pursue with this work, and I’m learning how much I need to learn in order to create what I want. I have to give myself space to do things that aren’t successful.
But it does feel good to be able to say that I’m showing up to something consistently. Forty plus days in, and I’m watching the amount of work I create grow. I’m looking forward to going back into old works, and expanding on what I’ve already done. I look forward to framing some of these pieces, and compiling them into a show of some sort.
Forty days of showing up consistently to a process is really getting me the point of being exhausted with what I’ve done, but exciting to do something new. I’m looking forward to turning this work I’m doing into something more substantial.
Day 16 - Progress Report
As an artist, I often wonder, “If no one asked me to make this, and I’m striving to approach my art in a unique way, what makes it valuable?
At its essence, I understand my own need for this artwork—I find satisfaction in expressing my perspective to the world. I enjoy exploring texture and words in ways that surprise me. 16 days into this #100dayproject, I’m getting a little restless with my current approach, yet I am excited to see where it can go! Here are some thoughts on how this consistent showing up is inspiring me to evolve my work:
1. scale expansion:
I want to see my work on a larger scale, yet certain tools limit this aspiration. Inspired by my involvement with ArtPop Street Gallery last year, I consider digitally enlarging the pieces, and employing collage techniques with the enlarged images. Thought the #100dayprojet will continue to be small works, I aim to explore new tools and techniques to manually increase the scale of this work.
2. I need more of my hand in the process.
I want more of my sketches and linework in the drawings. This is going to slow me down, but I have to be okay with not everything is going to look good initially. The only way to find what I’m looking for, and get better is to make "mistakes". My favorite work is often a happy accident, and I learn to master what was once unintentional. I believe the work is the work that flows out of you, and it's too early in this process to be producing my best work. I have to force it for a little while.
3. I'm struggling with the meaning of the work.
At this moment, it doesn't have to mean anything. I make it because I enjoy the process, and I love the way it looks and makes me feel. But I enjoy sharing my work, using it as a basis to connect with others. And so if I want others to connect to it, I do want to be able to talk about it. What goes into it. Why I do it.
Giving this thought over the last few days, I’ve realized something important to me is that there be an “access point” to things I share. I don’t want to dumb the work down, or change it. But I believe artists tend to make work for themselves and other artists. And as artists get better, and more goes into their work, the average person, the “non-artist” has less of an entry point to what they are seeing.
I always want their to be some accessibility to my work. Something that will resonate with the average person and encourage them to spend more time with what I’ve created.
4. presentation matters
I am seeing that I tend to like this work more when it’s paired with other imagery from the series. Or sometimes, a frame is what it takes to make it look like what it makes me feel like on the inside. This work has value to me, and I am learning that it is important to present your work in way that conveys that value to others.
5. CONTINUE LEARNING
Typically, when I work with text, my goal is to create something visually appealing. The message in my text is usually secondary, if it is important at all. However, with this is project, I want to make the find ways to make my work with text more impactful. Working consistently on one series drives me to explore techniques explored by past and contemporary creatives in monoprints, asemic writing, and graffiti, . In my next update, I look forward sharing progress in integrating things I’ve learned into my work.
