Do What You Love and Do More of It.

But, can I do it 100 times?

This painting has been hanging in, of all places, my bathroom for the past couple years. I made it on cheap newsprint as I was playing with some handmade brushes/mark making tools that I had made with some friends after a scavenger hunt for materials on the beach near my home. We used feathers, empty egg pods, sea grass, sponges, split twigs, whatever we found, and bound them on dowels and sticks. Some were so beautiful in their own right that I’ve just kept them displayed in a jar on the windowsill in my studio, others, I’ve used. A great project that I will have to do again soon. But, I digress.

The painting.

The painting started as swirls of india ink, just big motions with my arm in those circular shapes that seem to be a part of my being. As the shapes emerged, so did the female figure, looking to me as if in a pose of supplication, or maybe obeisance. I washed in some of my very favorite orangey-gold (Golden’s Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, to be precise) and a bit of white gesso and had the good sense to leave it at that.

It’s just become part of the scenery in the house, not really noticed much, but then the other day, I took a good look at it for the first time in a long while and remembered why I kept it and what I like about it: The black,white, and gold is a killer combination for me. The bold line and smudgy shapes interest me, and the memory of the unpredictable nature of the handmade “brushes” forced me to relinquish some control.

“Why don’t I do those things more often?”

Well, it turns out that I do do it from time to time, just not regularly, because I found these and some others as I looked back through old journals:

Look familiar? Yeah.

All this happened the day before this year’s #100DayProject started. If you are not familiar with this, I encourage you to look into it. You can find the hashtag used on instagram and facebook. I had not planned to play along this year because it’s really hard for me to be disciplined enough to do something for 100 days; thirty days is more my limit. I bore easily. But THIS! I thought, THIS! I can explore for 100 days...if I do it on a small format and spend no more than 15-20 minutes a day.

So, here’s the beginning my 100 day project: these limited brushes/tools, a 5x5 inch watercolor sketchbook , india ink, white gesso and Quin Azo Gold. I’m ready to roll! Are you doing a 100 day project? Tell me about it here: