I finished my 100 Day project about a week ago. If you have been kind enough to follow me through the journey I hope you will indulge me this little wrap-up.
“The100dayproject” was a prompt I did along with thousands of other artists all committing to doing something creative for 100 days. I chose to do 100 days of words or phrases in my art journal. I enjoy working in my art journal and I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts or reading books that I take notes from. I thought this would be the perfect combination- a place to collect the words I want to remember and commit to doing something creative for 100 days.
Here are a few things I learned over the process.
100 days is a really long time that flies by in a minute. Around day 70 I thought I would never be free from this task. I could not wait to be done. It seemed like I had been doing it forever and had run out of any good ideas. Now that its over, I look back and think it all went by in a flash! I have no idea how this many months passed so quickly. I don’t care what you say, time is literally speeding up.
Your creative energy is a currency too. The saying “Time is money” also goes for your creative time and energy. This project actually took me 111 days to complete. For 100 of those 111 days the art journal was the only art I made. You are probably wondering, what’s the big deal? The big deal is those were 100 days that I could have been working on other projects that I have wanted to do for a long time but I didn't. There are 365 days in a year and every morning presents each of us with a new opportunity to choose how we will spend our own precious 24 hours.
Accountability is key! I don’t know about you but I need to be held accountable. Declaring my intentions for this project on the blog and via Instagram helped me stay focused and follow through. I realize that I need to set up ways to hold myself accountable for projects I have in the works. So, I am voicing that intention now. -Hello Universe! I am looking for an art group or accountability group or someone to help me stay on track!
The let down always comes. The big crash, I have experienced it before. After different life events, having an art show or doing theater -when the run finally ends there is a a BIG let down. I underestimated the slump I would feel at the end of this journey. Even though I was ready to move on to the next thing, I found myself feeling out of sorts, uninspired and unmotivated for the past week. I think the commitment to the project gave me direction and now that its over its taking a little time to right the ship. - What is life but a series of of ups and downs and soon will come the next thing.
I’ve attached a few of my favorite pages below. If you are interested in seeing all the entries you can find them at this link @beth_ dougherty _art. I also made a few of the popular pages into art prints and cards that you can find on ETSY at BethDoughertyArt or on RedBubble at Beth Dougherty.
Thank you so much for caring to read this! I appreciate the support and all the feedback I have gotten from you.
Talk to you soon,
XO Beth
