https://www.instagram.com/p/BSdo64pFCdj/?taken-by=riasharon
100 Days 2017
Are you ready?
The 100 Day Project starts tomorrow! I’ll be participating for the 3rd year in a row.
To be perfectly honest, I’m a little nervous about it.
When I first did it a couple of years ago, I had no idea what to expect.
“No expectations” is a beautiful thing.
There’s only one time like that… you know, like the first time you go to a new exercise class… or get the glaucoma test!
I’m making it sound horrible. It’s sooo not.
It’s like the first time at Disney World with all your friends!!!!
But this being my THIRD time on this ride, I have expectations for myself.
It’s a bit harder to set those aside and not think about the end rather than being in the moment.
I want it to be as fun as last time.
I want to learn something.
I want my collection to reflect my growth… blah, blah, blah.
I share all this because perhaps some of you are feeling some trepidation about committing to 100 days.
And I want you to know you’re not alone.
And yet, I’m gonna do it… because the decisions that have been most forwarding for me are the ones that I say, “What the heck? Why not?!”
So ready or not… 100 days begins tomorrow! Let’s do this thing. Let’s connect on instagram… leave a comment on this image with your #hashtag so I can follow your 100 days too. I’ll post mine in the morning.
2017: New Year, New Word
For the last six years, I’ve picked a theme word for the year, a mantra. Inevitably, the word was both a gift and lesson but regardless, the perfect one for that season of my life.
On New Year’s Eve 2012, I wrote MIRACLE on the sand. In 2013, I found a new home against all odds, on the street a dreamed about months before and was able to secure a mortgage despite my feast or famine self-employed status. In the last four years later, there hasn’t been a single property in the entire zip code that would have worked!
For 2016, my word was PLAY! It was a year that was busy with work — I published seven classes on Skillshare, launched a real collection — my Animal Guidance Collection on RedBubble, was selected as a VIDA Voices artist, and painted lots and lots of pets (!) but somehow, it seemed like play.
If you would have told me, in 2015 when I started this “making art every day” practice and the 100 Day Project that in just two years I would be here, I would have smiled and nodded sure but I wouldn’t have believed it.
It’s 2017 and I’ve picked this year’s word. This time, I invited my students to join me in the process. Here’s what one student said…
How can that not make me smile — a lovely way to start the new year! I do hope your year has started off with a smile as well.
xo,
Ria
p.s. So far, almost 300 people are enrolled in Finding Your Creative Mantra. If you are looking for some guidance for the coming year or just intrigued by the process, check it out with this FREE ENROLLMENT link good through the end of the month — there are 8 free spots left, first come, first serve.
The Empress
Animal tarot still in progress. Here’s a little preview!
Magic in the Making: A Weekend of Nurturing Your Creative Soul
I hold fast to my commitment of making art every day but that requires another commitment… to devoting space and time in my life to nurturing creativity. I can’t do the first without the other. Some days, that may be as simple as giving myself permission to daydream for half an hour or to sleep in for an extra 10 minutes. You know, being an artist often doesn’t look like being an artist! 😀
This fall, I’m giving myself permission to indulge in a full weekend of nurturing! And, I’m inviting you to join me. If you too would like to get away, to unplug, to share and time and space with like-minded souls, come join me and fellow artist, Alisha Hastings-Kimball on Sept. 30-Oct. 2 for Magic in the Making. All the details are here.
There are just a couple of spaces left.
It will be PURE MAGIC! xo
Ria
2016 #RSselfiesketch Gallery
#RSselfiesketch is the result of a 10-day live Skillshare Workshop I hosted in May 2016. Participants were invited to contribute sketches focusing on the practice of self-portraits. Selfies are not just for narcissists! 🙂 Drawing people and faces can be intimidating and selfie sketches provide us with an opportunity to practice on the most available model—ourselves! We have the freedom to experiment with different techniques and different intentions such as how to capture a particular mood or expression without the pressure of having anyone else in the room.
I also find that capturing how we see ourselves and how we show up for ourselves is a powerful exercise in self-awareness, one that requires a certain vulnerability and courage. I am deeply honored to have shared this experience with all the participants. Thank you for sharing your work with the world!
and yes, I did it too. 😀
10 Days of Selfie Sketches
Are you a little, teeny-tiny bit scared of drawing people? Me too!!!
As you know, I make it a habit not to get too comfortable so no surprise, I’m hosting a free workshop on Skillshare!
Nothing like 10 days of Selfies to get you all loosened up about portraits, self-portraits no less.
C’mon! I’ll send you daily prompts starting on Tuesday, May 3 to make it fun. We’ll all post our selfies on Insta. And at the end of the whole thing, I’ll post the whole collection here so we can all give ourselves virtual cheers and hugs!
Deets:
May 3-12
1 prompt a day
30 minutes a day
10 selfies total
p.s. It’s a free workshop but you might need Skillshare Premium. In which case, you can get a new Skillshare Premium membership for 99 cents for 3 months with this link, more than enough to do the workshop and check out all sorts of fun Skillshare classes.
The 100 Day Project 2016
You have a style. Promise.
I’ve written about this before and I’m sure I will again (every time I need the reminder myself)…
Style, for any artist I’ve ever met, is a THING. We obsess about finding our unique voice, what makes us different, because for some reason that is the validation we need to keep making art. I could go down several tangents here but I’m going to attempt to stay focused…
Let’s try this one, if just for the next five minutes: you already have a style. Period. No more discussion. Do you like it? Is it good enough? Do other people like it? Is there a market for it? It might very well be that these issues are still be TBD.
You already have a unique style because you are the only one who is you. I believe it was illustrator, Melissa Sweet who said that style is your unique take on the world. This unique take is formed by both nature and nurture — your family of origin, your experiences, the places you’ve been and the places you haven’t been, the relationships you’ve had, your physical quirks, your taste in music and movies, the people you hang with, and on and on…. all the things that make up “you.” Can you see how the chances of someone else having the exact same worldview is rather slim?
Let’s take my recent experience as an example. I just completed Month 1 of Lilla Roger’s Bootcamp. The assignment was to design a 1920’s-inspired coloring book cover. My submission was a coloring book featuring women from various eras and what their daily lives were like during that period. I made some sketches…
My final art was the result of a week of sketching and musing on the assignment.
• I thought of my grandmother, who was a girl in the 20’s.
• If you look at my sketches and my portfolio you can see that there’s a way that a draw people and faces that’s just… the way I draw them.
• I have a habit of imposing narratives on my work so of course I had to create a larger story for the assignment.
• I wanted to learn something about the time period and research about women’s experiences.
As I prepared to submit my piece, there’s a part of me that couldn’t imagine a different solution. And yet, of course, there were as many solutions as people in the class (over 300!). As I looked in the gallery, I thought to myself, “I would never have thought to do that!” Of course not! Because I’m not them and they’re not me.
My illustration reflects my habits and my take on the world—my style.
Thought for today: hang in there, grasshopper! Just do what you do!
Happy Groundhog’s Day
Another recent obsession (aside from cake) is this thing called style.
Gah! I know, I know, every creative person struggles to claim their voice, their unique point of view, the way they see the world as it is expressed in their art. The irony is that you can’t work your style. The more you work it, the more it isn’t true. So what’s an artist to do? Well, you could just make art…
I quote Bales and Orland in my class, “Style is the natural consequence of habit.” The plus side of this truism is that you don’t have to work so hard. Your style will just happen. #pinkyswear
The down side of it is that it will probably take way longer than you want and there’s no shortcut! If you make art a lot (like every day), you start to see patterns. This groundhog is how I draw, habitually. I discovered this after looking back at my 100 days of pup art and finding my college portfolio after 20 years! It turns out, I have a style. 😀
So patience, grasshopper. It might feel like you’re stuck in Groundhog’s Day but just keep doing what you’re doing!
*Here’s the finished version of “It was rigged.”