The 100 Day Project

 

I was innocently scrolling through my Instagram feed when I came upon a post by an artist who declared her intention to participate in The 100 Day Project. It would begin the next day, Feb. 13. Although I vaguely recollected seeing the project hashtag in previous years (this is its ninth year), it had been otherwise off my radar.

The project is wide open – participants can draw, paint, sing, dance, write haiku – anything creative (and maybe not even very creative) goes, as long as the commitment to do it for 100 consecutive days is made. In a cocky moment, I said to myself, “Ha – I’ve drawn my hand for 407 consecutive days; 100 days is for amateurs.”

Then I started thinking longer, and I reminded myself that I haven’t been doing many imaginary drawings lately. Compared to drawing from life, which I have been doing nearly daily for more than 10 years, drawing from my head is so much more difficult. And yet I’d like to develop that skill that I had as a child and apparently left behind (as so many adults do). Maybe doing it for 100 consecutive days is just the kick in the pants I need.

And so, with less than a day to mentally prep, I committed to taking part in the project: I will draw from my imagination for 100 consecutive days beginning Feb. 13.

One thing I appreciate about the project is that the coordinators recommend an activity that will take no more than five to 10 minutes a day, which is more likely to be sustainable. A doodle in a few minutes – I can certainly manage that! Overall, the project has almost no rules: “Anything is okay, it’s your project. The rules are made up.” The only objective is to motivate creativity. I like that.

I’ll check in here periodically to show my progress. I’m posting daily on Instagram with my hashtag #miatagrrldrawsfromherhead.

Technical note: My immediate inclination was to start a fresh sketchbook dedicated to this project; I like the “neatness” of keeping all the project sketches together. Then it occurred to me that this is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in my daily-carry “whatever” journal. The book is always on me; I am not using specific materials or tools – just grabbing whatever is accessible and comfortable. Just like the project itself, my casual pocket journal promotes ongoing, integrated creativity: It’s not about the product but the process. The medium is the message.

On Day 3, I remembered that it's always easier to do a project like this in
a series or with a theme. So for the next several days, I decided to show my hair-dos
through the decades, beginning with the Farrah Fawcett '70s.