These days the 100 day project is coming to an end. The 31st ofJanuary was the starting day of the 100 day project – an international digital and free project inviting people around the world to take part in 100 days of creativity. The aim was to choose a personal creative project and dedicate each day a little span of time – something between 10 and 30 minutes – to this project. It was recommended to share the results with the internet community.
At the time when I learned about the project in January I was feeling very low and very uninspired. Probably I was exhausted from a very demanding year with all it’s threats and uncertainties caused by the pandemic and by quite some exhibitions I was taking part in or did organize myself. So my studio was deserted and nothing would motivate me to go in. I was hesitating to take part in this project – would I stand a project that took 100 days? Thats a very long time, more than three months! I decided to go for it, to be generous with myself and be content with what ever would come out of it. What did I have to loose?
“Can you think of a better time for a reset, a better time to turn our collective attention away from doom scrolling and to something inherently positive, life and soul affirming?”
This was the sentence that convinced me in the end! Nevertheless: very unexpectedly the project was a huge win for me! I am back in my studio with new ideas, plans and motivation! What more could I wish for?
As I said, I was generous with myself. I chose a project that was simple, feasible and I was sure, would give me pleasure. Color is my passion. The hashtag I chose for my project is #100daysofcolourcardsandmore.
( Meanwhile I learned that they are called color swatches :-)) Under this hashtag you find a lot of my results.
Opening up for new experience and learning was so rewarding.
To make it short: I didn’t make the 100 days! I made it to day 75, my way. By day 75 the colors surrounding me did inspire me intensely. I started again with paintings. First I went for green and then for pink!!!
I did it my way
As I said, ” I did it my way” – allowing myself to leave out days but being constantly in the spirit of learning and discovering and not going for any result. That was probably one of my greatest wins. On days I didn’t have a lot of time or motivation it was easy to come back to the swing by doing just some swatches!
Starting with the colors swatches I decided to experiment with limited palettes, like ZORN and others. Reading a lot about color was another treat. The soft and harmonic swatches made with the Zorn palette fascinated me. But when I tried to use the colors for a painting I was not happy with this process. I learned (again): I am not a painter who can plan in advance, I have to go by the moment.
Mixing colors in advance will stop my energy. That brought me to more carefully examine the colors in my studio. Making an inventory of all the colors I literary have in the studio was a great discovery! It were so many and so beautiful ones! I didn’t count the tubes. The collection has been growing and growing as my way to collect the swatches became more and more elaborated – from a simple swatch out of the tube to examples how they looked tinted and shaded in different versions. I managed nearly all my colors. Grey, whites and turquoise are still waiting to be painted!
I made some little “excursions”. To get a change from the studio and my swatches I went back to sketching in the nature – wonderful experience but not nice for my back. For a while tiny artist books folded from one sheet of paper fascinated me . I loved the surprising compositions that emerged. Some were so fascinating that I tried to enlarge them on a huge canvas.
Experimenting, observing what happened and registration of what it meant to me were great lessons.
Being inspired again and back into a good energy is fantastic!
Energy came back by giving up expectations. Great lesson to learn not only for art. Inspiration was fueled by doing new things, having a change. But above all, the color swatches where my food for soul and energy – a project that I judged to be a very simple one and that inherited such a great reward for me!
Now I am looking at color swatches covering my floor and every flat surface. This is great because just seeing them lifts my spirit and inspires me. They are a great help when painting and I want to choose just the right tone for the next brushstroke. A new series is coming into life. Can’t wait to go on with my paintings. You may see them at the FestiArte in Marbella end of July/Beginning of August! I hope we will meet there!
If you want to read more about the project push here: How to boost your creativity with the 100 day project!
And more push here..A key to break a stressful time.
More Art News
About once a month I send out my ART NEWS email. You receive insights in my work, informations about exhibitions, previews of upcoming shows and special offers for my subscribers.
