daily art

The End of the 100 Day Project and Days 91-100

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Wow! I can't believe I'm finally done with the 100 Day Project! Sure, it was supposed to take place in 100 consecutive days, sure it was supposed to be completed by 2015, but who cares?! Even if it took me 278 days, I made 100 pieces of art based on Brian Eno's deck of cards, Oblique Strategies. I am feeling good today.

Regarding daily art projects, it can be difficult to get work done everyday.  Whether other freelance work to do: packing orders, painting orders or being stumped by the card, I found myself not staying super consistent with the project. Perfectionism also got in the way. Still, I was determined. 

I really liked straying from my usual materials when I did (embroidery, collage, weaving), but those tended to take more time so I couldn't do that frequently. I actually thought I would push myself more with size and that kind of thing, but with the decision to sell everything for $20 each AND with my other freelance work, there is just only so much time in the day so a lot of these pieces are on the small side. 

Some things I have found with what I made:

  • Blue - I really love using blue. Maybe it's my love of the ocean, the sky...I don't know, but I do like it. 
  • The natural world - I love painting nature. Whether space, water, plants, I love it all.
  • Humor - I really like a little humor and wit in my art. I actually didn't learn this until 2012 at my solo show at Seeing Things Gallery.
  • Mystery and Experiments - when I made a sudden decision to add a crazy color or cover something or run the art under faucet water, awesome things happened.
  • Style - I think my style evolved with the 100 Day Project. 
  • My - The work from this project felt like it was 100% me: from my experience, knowledge, memories and passions. 

The Future:

  • Books - I feel like I am ready to continue working on my book proposals now that I am clear on how I would like to illustrate them
  • Big - I am looking forward to bigger illustration projects, bigger paintings and installations after working so small
  • Ideas - The way ideas formed from this project blew my mind. The mental process of getting to something requires a mixture of stepping away to do something completely different and just sitting and plugging away at it until something happens. 
  • Change - I foresee a year of unexpected and magical new things

Please stop by Seeing Things Gallery on February 6th to see the last 20 drawings and any available 100 Day art. All will be for sale for that same fun $20 each price. 

And these are the last 10...

 

Day 91 Accept Advice

I asked Bryan to tell me what to paint and he said, "Paint about how you thought Interstellar would be and then paint how you felt about it after." At first I didn't want to do it, but then I thought it would be a good challenge. I wanted to paint on Color-Aid paper, a material I have used a few times in this project. As you can see, I thought it might be 'garbage in space', but then felt it was more like 'silly confusion in space.' Yes, I used a vintage Spirograph.

 

Day 92 What would your closest friend do?

Day 92 What would your.jpg

My sister would stay at home in her slippers and save money so she can travel the world. 

 

Day 93 Is there something missing?

Day 93 Is there something.jpg

I have been frustrated with the real estate market for my friends and family. It's insane in the Bay Area right now. It feels like unless one or both heads of household work in tech or you bought years and years ago, good luck getting a house in this area. There are waiting lines and bids for homes in places you wouldn't think would be competitive. It's nuts. 

I proposed that the community above has a community garden, basketball court and park. Each home has a full basement, clawfoot tub and porch. Each home would be $1,200 a month with options to buy. 

 

Day 94 Distorting Time

This one is pretty self-explanatory:)

 

Day 95 Use 'unqualified' people

I asked my non-artist dad and brother to name a color and a country. My dad said blue and my brother said Republic of Congo. 

 

Day 96 Ask people to work against their better judgement

I have been thinking a lot lately about how we all need to push ourselves more and do things we are afraid of. You can stand on a cliff and look at the view or you can dive in.

 

Day 97 How would you have done it?

I got a terrible flu last week and although I was able to break the fever in 24 hours, I did have a lingering cough and lethargy for days after. On this Sunday, I felt like a blob on a couch all day, watching movies and documentaries.

 

Day 98 Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place

Of course this was painted on a very wet day in San Jose. A-Frames are something I paint frequently so its symbol of comfort has double meaning here. 

 

Day 99 In total darkness or in a very large room, very quietly

Another one relating to darkness, but in a different way. I painted this portrait in complete darkness on a 15 minute timer. I used one brush. I would dip it into the paint or onto the palette and test it on my fingers to feel if I picked up enough paint. I used my fingers to sort of pinpoint where the shapes were going in relation the edges. Such a fun experiment!

It's funny, throughout this project I did scratch some of the art and start over that day. I would feel like it wasn't good enough. I feel like I would have never shared a painting like this one before since it's so crude. It felt like no big deal when I did. 

 

Day 100 What wouldn't you do?

Day 100 What wouldnt.JPG

And the last one! I thought about this one for a little bit. I wanted it to be amazing or the best one or whatever, but as I brainstormed it I just wanted to convey the achievement I felt. At first I thought of painting a trophy, but that wasn't quite right. I then came up with this, which I think works perfectly. 

100 Day Project: Days 71-80

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Well, it's feeling pretty good right about now. I'm 80% done with the 100 Day Project. Funny thing is, this was probably the slowest going batch yet. At this point, I am really looking forward to the art to come after it's done. In fact, I'm already working on some new work based on these sketches from this project. 

 

Day 71 Take a break

I bought a large and long photograph of campers at the YWCA Girls Camp in 1917. They have the most interesting faces and I thought it would be fun to do a large Sumi ink painting of these ladies. Their expressions range so greatly! Some are smiling, some smirking and others frowning. It makes me wonder what life would have been like for them back in the day... 

 

Day 72 Only one element of each kind

On the day I drew this one, I realized lately I have been training jiu jitsu, sleeping, eating, reading and painting lately. It's been busy but productive around here. 

 

Day 73 Discard an axiom

I went with my dad to see Michio Kaku speak a little while back. His talk focused on the topic of "the future." It was pretty mind blowing to hear his vision of the future so I painted this portrait of him.

Day 74 Use an unacceptable color

I have often avoided the color pink because of the princess and girly association it has so I knew that would be my unacceptable color. While sketching with a friend at our neighborhood coffee shop, I decided to draw/paint these geraniums. 

Day 75 Simply a matter of work

I tossed a few unexciting ideas around until I thought of painting a Greek vase with some hard working silhouettes. I was so happy with how this turned out. I think I will be doing more silhouette and vessel paintings.

 

Day 76 State the problem in words as clearly as possible

I don't quite remember how I exactly came up with this, but it was exciting to me once it hit. I wanted to convey that my head was in the clouds. This painting came out quite naturally, from the hairs around the bun to the complementary orange and blue color scheme. 

 

Day 77 What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate

Some friends and I were headed to a cabin for a friend's birthday at the end of the week. My mind was on the mountains and the possibility of seeing snow (which we did). This serene scene reminds of a tiny painting I made a few years ago. 

 

Day 78 Retrace your steps

I decided to draw my favorite shoes I have had over the years. These classic shoes have been trustily getting me from one place to the next: Salt Water Sandals, Vans, Sperry Top Siders, Bass and Clark's Desert Boots. I really loved how these turned out. 

 

Day 79 Voice nagging suspicions

As you can see at the top of this image, I decided to compete in my first jiu jitsu tournament. It makes me nervous and excited, but I am so glad I decided to do it!

Day 80 Accretion

You know, the build up of layers over time. I once visited the Oregon Caves, which were at the end of miles of windy road, cold and dark as you would expect.

Well, onto the last 20! 

100 Day Project: Days 21-30

in

As I slowly creep into being 30% done with my 100 Day Project, I feel a mixture of disappointment and excitement. I feel like I have had the best time on this project...but only when it feels somewhat successful. It's really hard to let go of the perfection and be consistent. I have lots of creative ideas in general, but when it comes to using these Oblique Strategy cards as prompts, I can get stumped or I have the desire to "outdo" myself on previous days. 

I have been quite busy with commissions and design projects, but right now I am between commissions, so I really do feel like it is time to be consistent on this. 

This week, I felt a transformation with the Day 24 and 25. First off, that meant that I was 25% of the way through! The other thing with Days 24 and 25 is that I was stretching some of my technique. It wasn't like I was doing things I hadn't done before, but the transparency and layering was happening much more. With the black hole painting, I woke up, had coffee and worked on it for several hours. That's the ideal way I want this project to go. 

I think this daily project is starting to inspire bigger works. I began this project for pure fun, so it's really interesting to me that I am starting to see some direction. I want to make a return to treehouses, houseboats and mysterious places. I am noticing this group's theme seems to be nature. 

Day 21 Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do

I painted these ice cubes in 95 degree weather, after working out and riding my bike to and from the place I worked out at. Nope, not too easy. 

Day 22 Where's the edge? Where does the frame start?

With this piece, I wanted the white of the paper to match the white of the internet so that it felt like it was really floating whether on Instagram or this blog. It ended up being a little gray since I didn't go in and Photoshop it. 

Day 23 Abandon normal instruments

Immediately when I pulled this card I knew I would head to the backyard for some natural instruments. I used aloe and red geranium to make this leaf drawing. My tool was the stick which I dipped in water and stabbed through the geranium petals (the purple color). With the aloe, I just smoothed it onto the paper and smeared with my fingertip as needed (the yellow color). I was surprised by the color outcome. 

Day 24 Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them

Ah, it's ones like this that make me feel like I need to do a 180. Thoughts like, "Should I not use watercolor? Should I make something big? Should I use different colors? Should it not even be a drawing or painting?" pop up and make me really think. In the end, I thought that I often paint the moon and use a lot of blues, so this one is all warms and black with a sun. One of my favorite parts is that you can see the sun rays through the mountain, since they were painted first. 

Day 25 Use an old idea

I looked at my shelf of art papers and remembered I had this gridded green paper that we always had around the house when I was a kid. My dad worked at NASA, so engineering books, engineering paper and those green plastic drafting rulers. I think I was inspired by the previous day's sky theme with the sun. 

Day 26 Who should be doing this job? How would they do it?

I had a vision of this scene right when my eyes closed for sleep. I thought I would paint it and thought that Foster Huntington would be the right person for this job. A few years ago, I painted treehouses and I always meant to keep going with that series. I think it's time to get back to it as I am planning on working on some larger paintings this summer. 

One interesting thing is the next day I was watching Particle Fever, a documentary on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, and remembered it has the same hexagonal shape. Everything is connected!

Day 27 Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor

I had a few different ideas for this one, but nothing stuck until I decided to take our house, which feels safe, and put in near Anchor Island (in Maori Puke Nui), New Zealand. It looked fairly bland at first and needed more layers in the sky and contrast in the water. It still looks a little saccharine for me, but sometimes you need to just call it done. This is probably why I am drawn to painting the night sky. It's dark and more emotional than a day sky, at least the way I paint them. I've made houseboat paintings, before, but this one gives me the idea to create a larger one. 

Day 28 Water

This scene above is from the backpacking trip I did over the weekend. It was refreshing to see these ponds in the landscape, even if they were few and far between. The looked like oases in the middle of the dry grass. 

Day 29 Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture)

This one came with the following note:

This Bay Area basement apartment is 150 sq. ft., haunted and smells like rotten oranges. Only $4,999 a month. Serious inquiries only. 

This is a response, of course, to the insane housing prices in the area right now. I know a lot of people who have to live back home with their parents or have roommates because they can't afford an apartment or house here. Have a pet? Forget it. It's even harder unless you make $100,000+++++ a year. 

Day 30 Which elements can be grouped?

Of course #30 is inspired by the backpacking trip I did over the weekend. I drew up my supplies and with the exception of toilet paper, clothes and food, I got just about everything I brought with me. 

Only 70 more to go!

31 Days to Spain - Week Three Wrap Up

in

I'm still feeling behind on this daily project. I keep meaning to catch up, but I'm still working on it. I think the hard part is when you feel like you did a great sketch, you don't want to follow it up with a weak one. I am trying to let that go though. This project has been fantastic for preparing for the residency. I think when I started, I thought I would have time to paint all day this month. I have had many things to do in this time though. I'm basically doing spring cleaning in the fall, working on my online shops and website, reorganizing my shipping and packaging area and the list goes on. I'm really looking forward to arriving in Cadiz and spending more time on one project.

October 15th - Portrait with flowers and water sketches

I was contacted to create a portrait that must include water and flowers to benefit clean water technology for families and individuals. Here are a few sketches for a piece to contribute to this project.

October 16th - El Pato bilingual cans

This one was a big hit! A kitchen staple for many. I do love that El Pato cans are bilingual! Each side looks as you see it here. I've been through many cans of it in my life. 

October 17th - Traveler's Tree

Traveler's Tree aka Traveler's Palm aka Ravanela madagascariensis. Named because up to a quart of water accumulates in the leaf base, which is shaped like a cup, and may be used for emergency drinking water. Native to Madagascar. 

October 18th - Bill Nye

We scored free tickets to see Bill Nye at De Anza College. It was so great! I love hearing interesting people talk about their lives and share their knowledge. I sketched his face a few times and noted a few interesting things about him here. 

October 19th - Donuts

The owner of Makeshift Society, Rena Tom, requested for artists and illustrators to make donuts for her Creative Mornings talk. I am sad I will be missing her talk live in San Francisco, but CM are really good about filming these. Rena wants to have the donuts flashing behind her during her talk. It worked out perfectly to paint it during my open studio sale, especially since there's a donut shop almost across the street from my studio. 

October 20th - Clipboard of Insanity

Yes, that's the official name of my clipboard. It features handwritten to do notes, print outs of spreadsheets and checklists, shows to apply to and more. I keep trying to minimize it, then it grows, then I minimize it. I am more of a hands-on visual person, so this clipboard has worked quite nicely in addition to using the computer for organization and productivity.

October 21st - Persimmon

Ah, my favorite fall fruit, specifically Fuyu persimmons. Nature's candy. The perfect shade of orange. It was hard to not eat it while painting it. I may even have taken a bite.