Ria Sharon

pondering creativity, process, and making art

Reflections on 100 Days

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Dogs

This week, we’ll officially be celebrating the 100 Day Project in St. Louis with a meetup at Meshuggah Cafe. So I wanted to post some of my reflections on the experience before I forget them all!

Before I go any further, a little background on the project…
The 100 Day Project began as a grad school project by Michael Beirut and then launched as a social media experiment in 2014 by Elle Luna. This year, Elle partnered with The Great Discontent to bring it to life on the interwebs from April 6-July 14, 2015 and I happened to be smack dab in the middle of my year of my devotion to my craft so… here we are. You can read more about the project and instructions if you are inspired to participate. The hashtag #The100DayProject is still alive and strong on Instagram (over 279,000 and counting).

I do think that I have grown as an artist because of this exercise and I can’t recommend it highly enough. My “design exercise” of choice was 100 Days of Pup Art. More than discipline, more than stamina, more than permission to experiment, more than range and flexibility and confidence… yes, I gained all of that from making 100 pups in 100 days… I think what I loved and didn’t expect was the element of surprise!

When I began, I thought I would get really practiced at one thing rather than having other things emerge that I did not anticipate. In all honestly, “pup art” was a “practical” choice. I was in the process of creating dog party printables and thought I could kill two “dogs” with one stone if I chose that as my theme for the next 100 days. ;P

I did not anticipate that in the process I would go on to more realistic dog portraits and be commissioned to do over 30 dogs over the course of the summer. I didn’t anticipate that I would explore sketching with ink and watercolor washes or get interested in character and icon development.

14-pup-art

I didn’t expect this on day 14.

77-pup-art

… or this on day 77

90-pup-art

… or this on day 90.

I don’t know if I would be here, without having gone through those 100 days first.

So I think I have to say I am most grateful for my new capacity to accept the unknown — not only accept it but embrace it. Having done this for the project, I’m more confident that I can continue to move forward in a way that allows my heart to lead.

Thank you, Elle and The Great Discontent.
This, has been everything.

p.s. If you are in St. Louis and want to join St. Louis Social Sketch in celebrating The 100 Day Project, come join us at Meshuggah this Thursday, Aug. 27 from 7-9:30p. RSVP on Facebook.

The 100 Day Project

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luna-100dayproject-pledge1

In my “spare” time, while getting lost on the interwebs, I stumbled across a familiar name from my days as a graphic designer: this piece by Michael Beirut on Design Observer about his 100 Days assignment at Yale. The point of the project is exploring the ways that people (you/me) balance inspiration and discipline. I’m not sure I can speak to this much more eloquently than Michael can so feel free to read his post.

I found Michael’s post from The 100 Days Project, an online version of Michael’s Yale assignment hosted by Elle Luna and The Great Discontent.

I also happened to touch base with my dear friend, Scott Ginsberg who mentioned his 100 Unit Theory. Scott says, “Forget 10,000 hours. Go for 100 units!” To which I said, “I am! Starting today, actually!”

Because I really need ANOTHER thing, right? But I’m like an addict in recovery. I’m in ART RECOVERY. This is my 90 meetings in 90 days.

As I right this, I realize how true this is. So much of what I learned in the 12-week Artist’s Way book/program mirrors what I’ve heard about addiction recovery… protect your sobriety and all that. Ritual, practice, surrender….

In our COCABiz session on creativity and lateral thinking, Robert asked us to brainstorm as many uses for a chair as we could in 2 minutes. Same thing just… 100 days.

So I’m doing this, along with many others, on INSTAGRAM ONLY. If you want to see how the process unfolds, follow me. If you want to join, tag me or send me a message here (or on IG) so I can add you to my stream.

Visit The Great Discontent for the rules.