Earlier this year I made a promise to myself that I’d commit to my art on a daily basis. So I gathered all my art tools & supplies and embarked on a colourful journey of my first #the100dayproject.
#the100dayproject was initiated by Michael Beirut in 2007 and then brought to Instagram by these amazing ladies in 2014. The initial idea of the project was to do a design operation that one is capable of repeating every day and document them daily for 100 days. However, over time more people are using #the100dayproject for personal purposes such as developing a new skill, accomplishing a book, making music, etc. The best part of the project is, it has no rules. It only need your willingness to commit and desire to create for 100 days.
For my project, I set the intention to make colourful doodles on large-sized papers and post the work-in-progress on my Instagram account daily. Why? Because I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone, the ‘black ink-only’ zone. By the end of the 100 days, I made 10 art pieces in total of which four of them were acrylic paintings on canvases! I completed the project feeling inspired more than how I felt on Day 1.
Honestly, it wasn’t an easy feat. The project commenced on the same day Singapore implemented #circuitbreaker. Therefore, there were other things happening at the home front that required my undivided attention too. But that said, I learned and grew a lot within the 100 days.
Allow me to share with you some of my reflections from #the100dayproject here:
Resistance and self-doubt usually appear when you’re making progress. Therefore, take them as a good sign. Acknowledge their presence, look around and see what invited them. But never let them linger. Say, “thank you for visiting” and then turn back to your canvas and continue creating. Keep going.
Always make time to create even if it’s only for 20 minutes in a day. Most importantly, appreciate the time that you have and remember to plant a hope that you're going to have creative time again tomorrow. Keep going.
Whenever you're feeling overwhelmed, heavy-hearted or restless in front of the canvas, that’s when you need to stop creating and start listening to your heart more. It wants to tell you something. Take a break and reflect so you could come back feeling even more inspired and energised by tomorrow. Keep going.
Learn to sit in silence because that’s where you could hear your intuition clearly. Keep going.
Trust the process. Don’t get attached to the end result. The same goes to criticism (both external & internal), compliments, opinions and feedback - they’re all part of the creative process and it’s nothing personal. Keep going.
Never mind having limited acrylic paint colours when you're painting. Instead, be adventurous and try to find the beauty through this limitation by mixing them up and discovering new colours. Keep going.
On creative blocks - don’t let it turn into procrastination. Make something that you’re familiar with, like drawing repetitive lines or dots & circles over and over again, for days or weeks or months. Just don’t give up. Inspiration comes in the midst of doing/making/creating. Keep going.
Get Rumi (my son) and husband involve in the creative process. Let them be your cheerleaders. Doodle and paint with them whenever you can, play guess-the-colour-and-shape on your paintings with them too. Just have fun! The Muse loves visiting artist who are having fun while creating, and especially attracted to those who are in love. Keep going.
Have an open heart. Welcome mistakes. Keep going.
Don’t wait for the right time to learn something new. Just keep on showing up until every day feels like the right time. Keep going.
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Hopefully by sharing these reflections would inspire you to create more too.
And finally, if you're into colourful doodles & acrylic paintings, don't forget to follow me!