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

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?

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

Day 93 Is there something missing?

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?

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 51-60

Last week I attended the Global Meetup for the 100 Day Project. It was such a good time! I met artists that I have been following and met new ones along the way. 

I had a big realization upon hitting Day 60. I realized I need to work in a more concentrated way. It's too easy to reach for my phone or open a new tab. I also listened to a podcast on going on an "information diet" where you really limit who you follow and what you get from the internet. I kind of try to do this anyway, but I realize I need to do it more. 

Day 51 Are there sections? Consider transitions

With 51, I painted the courtyard of a place I stayed at in Grenada, Spain last year. I love how these kinds of homes feel like they consist of different compartments. I actually originally started drawing this for the Cinequest Film Festival live painting event I did earlier this year, but changed it into something else. I'm glad I got to carry it out after all and I'm thinking I will make a really large version of this, maybe 3x4 or 4x6 feet. My favorite part is the tile with the orange and pink hues. 

Day 52 Towards the insignificant

I had the idea to paint a tiny universe for 52. We are not even a pinpoint in this universe (I made that up, maybe it is true, maybe it isn't). The Milk Way galaxy is roughly 100,000 light years in diameter and it's one of billions of galaxies in the universe. How it that for making you feel insignificant?

Day 53 Don't be afraid of cliches

Do you remember these canvas binders? I had a blue denim one that looked quite like this with all the usual blue ballpoint pen clichés. This one made me a bit nostalgic. 

Day 54 Cut a vital connection

I went to Capitola Beach and saw this woman laying in the sun on her pink towel. I loved the way she looked with her red hair falling over her arm. For the photo, I added some sand from my bag to the painting. 

Day 55 Not building a wall but making a brick

I love an A-frame. My thoughts first went to brick, but I knew I didn't want to make it literal. After running through a few ideas, I thought about how you have to shape each piece of wood to build a house. I liked the idea of conveying the same idea with a different material. I love the way this project is stretching my brain. 

Day 56 Look at the order in which you do things

At first I had thought about the way I go about making these daily paintings: pull a card, think, grab a brush or a pencil and go. I thought about other ways I could mix things up with materials. Then, it hit me to look at how many days I have missed and make abstract art about it. I was thinking it would turn out to look like a maze or something that moved fluidly around the paper. It ended up looking like Tetris. I really got into the mathematical aspect of this and sort of felt like I could just make art like this. 

Each row represents each day of this 100 day project so far. The color squares represent how many days I missed until I posted for that particular day (between one and seven). The pencil rectangles represent drawing two in one day as a desperate attempt to catch up (happened 6x). There were only 28 consistent days (though none for more than 3 days). Conclusion: I'm not good at doing things daily. 

Day 57 The inconsistency principle

I had to laugh out loud when I pulled this card! After Day 56 and realizing just how non-daily this project has been, it was kind of the perfect reinforcement that I need to get consistent with this project. I am determined to finish all 100 and I wanted to do so by the end of summer. I am thinking about doing two a day until then.

This one required more math and measuring. It actually plays with the number 11 and that number on all 4 sides since I have 44 left for this project. Again the math and also the transparent layering felt like things I want to pursue in future work. 

Day 58 Just carry on

Day 59

This was a fun one to get. There are so many things that can be faked, but I thought it would be fun to fake a style. At first I thought I would do that of a really famous artist, but decided to do the art in the style of my friend Kyle Pellet. His work can be on old gridded paper, include hilarious descriptions, date stamps, state info for meetings that never happened and more. His color palette is black and white or bright vintage video game colors. I decided to paint Dennis Richmond and Elaine Corral in my own style since I didn't want to fully copy him. It's funny because when I wrote the date, I meant to make it the actual date of the sketch night, which was 8/26/15

Day 60 Don't be frightened to display your talents

I mulled this one over for some time. I think I don't like the word talent, especially when I am thinking of myself. I decided to use one of my sister's travel photos to make this drawing. I received this Blackwing pencil set as a gift recently and thought I'd put it to use on this one. These pencils actually have a really cool history. They were discontinued after being considered the best pencil ever made. They had a cult following and in recent years they have been made again. 

This drawing made me realize I need to take more time with my art sometimes. While I have developed a quick style, I do really love sitting down and working for longer chunks of time. This piece also was successful to me because I was able sit and focus without the usual internet distractions. Got to try this again.