100 Days

"Creativity is a skill.  The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being."  The 100 day project

I love the idea of a creative daily practice.  I know I already do that in my observing, photographing, and blogging....but I don't necessarily make art every day....and I love the way I feel when I do. There are so many structured programs online that help you develop a daily practice and two of them that temp me are Daisy Yellow's 60 day ICAD (index card a day) challenge, and the 100 Day project. I follow along with them....but I've never started one.

Borrowing ideas from both of them...on June 1st I started my own 100 day ICAD (index card a day) project. I'm sure my 100 days won't be consecutive...but I'm going to try....and I won't stop until I get to 100. Why index cards?  According to Daisy Yellow they are less precious than fancy art paper so there's less pressure. Why 100 days?  It's about commitment and daily practice. "Do something quick, creative, and do it without fear.  Don't think too much, or better yet, don't think at all.  See where it leads." 

The 100 day project encourages you to have a theme as a guide and the ICAD challenge uses daily prompts. But both encourage you to just do your own thing if that feels better....there are no rules. My plan is to use the colorful stuff I have laying around in bins, baskets and boxes and commit to putting together 100 little assemblages or collages on a tabbed index cards.  I'll use snippets and scraps...I'll cut up experiments gone array, and reinvent unfinished projects. I might also draw, doodle, or paint....or maybe even write but I hope to always include something from my stash.

The 100 day project says it's like "a creative excavation....unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity."

A few of these cards include some of my recent taped watercolor experiments.  The rainbow one I ruined with some doodling...but I cut up in strips and rearranged it and it's not so bad.  Another one uses inchies I created years ago from cutting up collages. When these things are glued, stapled, or sewed to a card...they are honored...and they have a home.

Today was a total outside chore day....I had help and took full advantage of that....so not much time or energy for inside stuff. But I found a little stone collage I did a long while back using images from catalogs.  Perfect for day #8.