100 DAYS OF RAINBOWS

My rainbow project is complete!

This was such a fitting project for me.

I am an idea person.  This project allowed me to dream up 100 different ideas about rainbows and I find that invigorating and life giving.

Despite all the ideas, follow through is not always my strong suit - particularly on large scale projects.  But this project was made up of 100 "little" ideas.  Almost all of the projects were completed in less than an hour and that's the kind of follow through I can do well.

I very much like to work on things in small increments and this project was perfect for that.  I find repetitive work relaxing and I feel great pleasure in seeing my ideas come into reality.  To a large extent, art is my outlet for quiet.  While my hands are busy, I can slow down and think. 

I love that the built in 100 days means that I make time for art and beauty on a regular basis.

Even my Instagram feed gave me great joy during the project - I love the mix of art and life.  That's the epitome of good, if you ask me.

And, I loved that this project helped me connect with so many people.  I can't even tell you how many people sent me photos of rainbows or told me about how many rainbows they noticed in their daily life, as they were brought to the forefront of their attention through my project.

Perhaps the most fun bit of all was throwing a "Rainbow Party" in the last week of the project.  Several friends came and joined me for time together, crafting, a group art project, rainbow cake and wine.  I felt so loved as my friends embraced my offbeat idea and came to join in the fun.

By the end of the project, I was ready for a break - from ideas and from turning them into real life photograph-able things.  But I've already been thinking up ideas for next year and I'd say that's the sign of a successful project.

...and I've already posted photos 101 and 102 of 100.  I'm pretty sure this won't be the last of my rainbows.  

100 DAYS OF RAINBOW FUN

Here we are in April and that means the start of a new 100 day project.  Whee! 

One week in and I'm already having so much fun with this one.  I love that I have a subject, but not a medium.  I love that the subject is so focused on "happy" and color and God's promises to his people.  I love how much less-stressed I feel about the project this year as compared to last year. 

In short, it's going well and I'm enjoying myself. 

There are 92 days to go and my list of ideas is far, far shorter than 92.  But, one by one, my list continues to grow and I have confidence that I will be able to share something each day of the challenge. 

Instagram is the place to see all that's happening.  My unique hashtag for the project is #100daysofrainbowfun and you can find all of the projects under #the100dayproject. 

7 GREAT 100 DAY PROJECTS

One of the cool things that comes with projects shared on Social Media is the sharing/social part of it. Through the hashtag, I have found many projects to follow and had many others reach out to me.  It's fun to have new people/projects show up in my feed.

Here are seven 100 day projects I've been following and loving.  (Read all #the100dayproject related posts here.)

@elisejoy
#100plantsonfabric
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@mariaroseadams
#100daysofminnesotafood
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@bckueser
#100daysofsumi (looks like some other people are also using this hashtag)

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@stephfizercoleman
(she doesn't seem to have a specific hashtag, but is instead using a few different ones - that are also being used by other people)
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@anastasiailcov
#100daysoflearningdutch
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@bessiemaaayyy
#100daysofantoinetteandbess
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@jessicajoy.art.craft
#100daysoffreemotionquilting
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I've learned that I really appreciate people with a pretty consistent and distinct style.  I like to be able to look at a photo in my Instagram feed and immediately know who created it.

49 days to go!

AROUND HERE

Lots of things to say / updates to share today, but...

I have a computer issue that is quickly threatening to (greatly) shorten the length of this post.  There is something up with the left side of my keyboard, so the "caps lock, a, q, z and number one" keys do not work most of the time.  But then, randomly they do.  My computer is a combination laptop and tablet, so I can use the tablet screen keyboard to fill in as needed, but that is a pain in the butt.

I quit wearing my FitBit.  My wrist feels weird without it, but I imagine I will get used to the change soon.  After more than two years of continuous wearing, I found that it was no longer motivating me to move.  This is a pretty drastic shift, as it had been hugely motivating to me for a long time.  In recent weeks and maybe even the last couple months, I would ignore the hourly "buzz," rarely check my progress throughout the day and even occasionally go a few days without syncing with the app on my phone.  So, it's stored away for now.  I'm guessing / hoping that I will be reinvigorated to walk and track my steps sometime in the next few months.  For now, it feels kind of nice to just not think about it and not to feel guilty about not getting steps.

The 100 Day Project (see more in this post) is going strong.  I love my creative time.  I love that I find myself thinking of design ideas or seeking them out throughout my days.  I have noticed, however, that I have to really put some limits on how much I let my mind dwell on the "big idea" of the project.  I pretty easily get sucked into the numbers game - counting how many days are left and wondering how in the world I will come up with that many more designs that fit with my project and that I like.  Going down that track makes my brain kind of freeze up and I start to think it will be impossible.  I'm striving to stick with the one day at a time mindset.

Maggie had her first birthday, last week.  We had a party with our families the weekend before and then had pizza and another cake the night of her birthday.  She really started walking in the last week and I feel like she is suddenly growing up so much - handing me books to read, babbling more, and such.  It is just crazy amazing how much they change in only a year.

My mom and step-dad moved from Washington to Illinois a couple weeks ago.  They already tried the drive out once and got here in a little less than eight hours.  Eight hours (or probably more once we add in stops) seems doable and we have our first visit scheduled for June.  Our kids have only been to "Nana's house" a few times - and those times were all when she lived in Phoenix (a cheap and direct flight).  I have felt guilty, these past couple years that we never made it to Spokane, so I am excited for this change.

I took Sam to Kindergarten Roundup, last week.  He REALLY did not want to go.  I had to carry him most of the way into the school.  He cried and had to be led away by the teachers, when it was time for the kids to go check out their future classrooms and do an activity.  And then he came back smiling and happy and excited.  We also went back to the school in the afternoon to get a tour with some of his preschool classmates and he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  This little story just sums up Sam so well.  Novelty is SO HARD for him.  But, once he's done something once, all is well.

Brian and I did the Lincoln Half Marathon with my sister and her fiance, last weekend.  It was a ton of fun.  As we were doing our longest training walk (11 miles, two weeks pre-race), I told Brian that I didn't really want to do another half marathon in the future.  And then race day came and it was pretty great and I changed my mind.  Funny, how that works.

Brian will be done with school at the end of this week.  Woohoo!  That means it is almost summer time!

100 DAY PROJECT UPDATE

I am participating in #the100dayproject by completing paper collages and sharing on Instagram using the hashtag #100daysofpaperandpaste.  My first post on this topic can be found here.  

A quarter of the way into this project and I think starting it may very well be the best decision I've made in a while.  

I'm in love.  I love the process.  I love the color and paper play.  I'm ready to embrace the title "artist" again.  In making and taking time to create art again, I feel more like myself.  

This all sounds grand - and it is! - but it isn't coming super easily, either.  Some days, yes.  But many days, there is a real struggle before there is art.  The struggle comes, in part, through the constraints of the project - both real and self imposed. 

I feel constrained by the colors I can find in the resources at my disposal.  In all of the magazines I've perused for color, pink, orange and yellow are hard to come by.  And they are my faves.  I can find little bits, but no full-page swaths of color like are readily available for black, grey and blue.  

I feel constrained by the paper itself.  I have this desire to be expressive with my strokes of color and this feels somewhat impossible with cut out paper.  Perhaps I just haven't thought through this or played around with this enough.  

I feel constrained by the color palette, style and overall "collection" that I've began.  I realize this is silly.  It's my project.  I can take it any direction I please.  Still, I feel pulled to make each piece fit in with the others.  

Related to that, I would love to go through this first set of pieces hanging on my bedroom wall and pull out about 8 of them.  Doing so would make me much happier with the overall look of the collection.  For now, I'm resisting this temptation.  

But all of this struggle gets back to the point of the project, right?  Doing something for 100 days means that there will be days that I produce things I don't like and days that end with true gems.  Doing something for 100 days means learning new things, slowly but surely.  

I am tempted to turn this into a four phase project - each phase consisting of 25 days and creating its own collection.  Doing so would help me to feel like there was room to take things in a new direction - new colors, new shapes, new themes -  while sticking to the same medium.  

Conversely, I am tempted to force myself to push through.  I wonder if doing so would lead to "better" pieces as time passed.  

For now, I'm undecided.  And I have a couple days left to ponder.  So, stay tuned for an update - or just follow along on Instagram to see if number 26 is drastically different from her predecessors.  

100 Days of Paper and Paste

The 100 Day Project by Elle Luna starts again on April 4th.

The official hashtag for the project is #the100dayproject.  Participants are challenged to do something (usually something creative, but really anything goes) for 100 consecutive days and to share on Instagram with both that hashtag and one of their own creation - specific to the project they are completing.  

I attempted this a couple years ago with #100daysofgodtime, but only made it to Day 17.  Errrrr.  That's not very far.

A guest at my house recently complimented the artwork on my walls.  I thanked her and then made my standard reply - "I used to spend a lot of my time doing art before the little people arrived."  This conversation ran through my head again and again in the days that followed.  Something about my answer was just sort of stuck on repeat in my brain.

Eventually, I was able to connect a few meaningful dots.  I thought about the effort I've put into reading this year - both the fact that I've completed 13 books despite feeling like I had "no time to read" and also the way I've felt so much more like "me" in the few months since I've once again been reading religiously.  It took me longer than it probably should have, but I finally figured out that art was another area that I could reclaim.

I can make art one of "my things" again.  I can bring back that part of myself.  I can enjoy it.  I can NURTURE this part of my nature.  There may not be much time, but there is time.  Even if I can only work on it in five minute bursts, I can still work on it.

As you likely have guessed, my hashtag is #100daysofpaperandpaste.  I'm ready to give it a real go.

My plan for the project is this:

• create 1 "paper and paste" collage each day for 100 days
• share on Instagram
• tape to our bedroom wall

And that's it, for now.  I imagine a theme or two might develop over the course of the 100 days - either color or subject matter or both.  And I will likely spend some time thinking about those things in the time between now and the project start date.  But, I'm really just looking forward to doing art again - and to keeping the plan simple.