100 on the wall

Day 100 of the 100 Days Project was on Saturday 14th September. It was with a bit of anticlimax that I finished my 100th Sharpie drawing. I was wanting to do something really amazing, but in the end inspiration was lacking so I drew seaweed, something I'd drawn before, so it didn't even feel very original!

With two other local ladies who did the project as well, we arranged to hold an exhibition at a local shop and gallery, The Old Post Office Store in Upper Moutere. This involved a bit of media release and interview with the local paper. Amazingly I'm managing to smile for the photographer as I was four days post-op and didn't feel like posing!

I drew on A5 card which came in pad form, and it was quite a task ripping them apart. 100 drawings did make a lovely big satisfying stack.

Here's my blurb (written in haste the night before, as usual - my least favourite task):

Sally: 100 days with a Sharpie

At the beginning of the project I started with the following brief:

“Every day for 100 days I'm going to draw with my Sharpie pen. I'll be drawing on a piece of A5 card so I can use collage, paint, whatever takes my fancy - as long as I use my black fine point Sharpie pen.”

And that’s what I did for 100 days. I soon found I didn’t need to use other materials, that a Sharpie pen was enough.

Procrastination is the evil twin of productivity. While doing the project I had no time for procrastination (well not if I wanted to sleep), so it didn’t get a chance to lurk each day. So the flipside was that productivity reigned.

What I found hardest was finding inspiration. I’d like to say it got easier over the 100 days, but I’m not sure that it did! Completing the project has given me a resource of images to use in my art practice, something I can turn to when inspiration is needed.

I also learnt to trust my instinct and not to be too self-critical. So here are my 100 drawings, which took 100 days and 7 Sharpie pens.

Enjoy.

 

We hung the exhibition on 25th September, and it will be up until 28th October.  Well 'hang' is hardly the right word, it was more of like "masking tape them up". I shuffled my drawings and taped them up in random order. The wall made it interesting, with light switches, battens and other features I couldn't get anal about the spacing, I just had to keep on sticking them up, and down.

That evening we held an exhibition opening, and I was delighted that two of my drawings sold then. I had never planned to hold an exhibition or sell them when I started the project, so it all felt a little weird. But I'm getting over it, plus the sales should cover the wine and food expenses!

My favourite from the 100 days is day 89. It's the only plein air and "self portrait" drawing I did. I drew it while waiting for the kids at a sports day in Motueka. I found the seedhead from the pohutakawa tree and was going to draw it, but saw the shadow of my hand holding it on the paper and drew that instead.

If you have a favourite let me know as I will be giving those that don't sell away at the end of the month to my faithful followers. Yes you will have to be faithful, and a follower (with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin' or  Facebook), and because comments give me such a buzz, my regular commenters will get first dibs (well only if they want one!)

Here's the link to my Facebook page which has all 100 drawings in an album.

Day 56 and counting down

I'm over the halfway point of the 100 Days Project I'm doing. It should get easier? Maybe, maybe not. Each day I have a blank page and a Sharpie pen, and the two have to meet. Deciding what to draw is usually the hardest thing. Once that decision is made and I have a spare 20 minutes, it happens. And I'm more often than not happy with the result.

Day 8

 I've never felt like quitting, but some days have definitely been a struggle. The two weeks of the school holidays meant that most of my drawings were done at night, sometimes just before going to bed. This is not ideal and made it feel like a chore.

Day 12

Sometimes I use an earlier drawing to expand on an idea/theme. Other days I draw things that I have collected or picked up. On the tough days I draw from books or images I've pinned. Sometimes I'm not quite sure where my inspiration comes from.

Day 36

I chose to draw with a Sharpie pen, as it stops me getting caught up with too much detail. And I like colouring in with lots of black.

Day 25

 

You'll notice there is a bit of a theme with my drawings. I'm inspired by nature; plants, shells, insects. Luckily these are also easy to draw! And they make good motifs which I am going to explore further in my paintings. I've already used one of my drawings as the basis for hand painting/drawing onto a china beaker.

Day 10

When the 100 days are over I'm going to have a giveaway. Yep, I'm going to give them away, to the lovely people who follow this blog and make the lovely comments that encourage me to keep on blogging. (You know who you are, thank you.)  Also to anyone else kind enough to start following me and commenting, names will be placed in the hat. I'll sort the details out closer to Day 100 (Sept 14th).

It was hard to choose just a few drawings for this post. If you'd like to have a look at the rest pop over to my Facebook page.

battery recharge

Things have been hectic around here lately. Who said it was easier once your kids started school? I find that I spend so much of my day driving kids, both during and after school hours. I'm looking forward to the school holidays next week.

I think the kids are too. Last week Miss L sat two dance exams, went to an inter school gymnastics competition (and got second place against real gymnasts!). This week she ran inter school cross country, and auditioned to be a model for the judging part of WOW (World of Wearable Arts), which she got accepted for so will  be doing on Friday. She has to sign a confidentiality agreement so can't tell us what the costumes she's modelling are. We'll have to wait until the show, which is on in Wellington in September, to see her in the programme.

The Teenager has also been busy. He went to the inter school gymnastics competition also, although didn't compete in the same competition as Miss L. His biggest achievement was to do accomplish a handstand on top of the vault without falling off! The great thing about the small school that the kids go to is that everyone gets to participate, which means kids get pushed out of their comfort zones. He's off with the rest of the seniors for an overnight tramp on Thursday to the mountains. It's due to get cold again, so they might even see snow!

And then there's been work dramas with the hubby's job. He thought he had another six months or so left on the particular project he's working on, but that rug was whipped out from beneath his feet last Monday when he was in Australia. Thankfully he's got lots of experience and ability to do various things, so by Thursday he had sorted out a new role! This one involves trips to Fiji, which is much closer to home than India.

We were hoping to all go with him on his first trip. But after failing to find self-catering accommodation on the internet, I gave up for these holidays, and we'll go later in the year.  Although with the weather here I was already visualising walking on warm sand.

Things are slightly chilly around here, although you wouldn't think it from today's walk on the beach. I hadn't been to the beach for a couple of weeks. It was so good to walk in the sunshine with the waves and birds as company. Just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

 I'm now a third of the way through the 100 Days Project. Some days I find it  quite hard to do a drawing, especially if I leave it until the evening. So today I looked for something to draw at the beach, and this piece of sponge was the thing that called to me. Here's the link if you'd like to see what else I've been drawing each day.

Well I wrote this post a few days ago, not quite sure why I didn't hit publish?!  It's now Saturday, but I can't be bothered going and changing the tenses! Now I remember I wanted to include a photo off my phone so has to download my Instagram photos.

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are, and I hope the school holidays are packed with sun and fun and not dampness and bored kids if you're in NZ. I'm definitely going to be dragging my two down to the beach regardless of the weather (yes they sometimes are reluctant to leave their couch grooves!)

100

Life is busy, with lots of things going on. I'm off to a market on 7th July, so the kitchen table has not been seen for a few weeks! I'd read about The Hottie Project on Lisa's blog, which is all about making hot water bottle covers to keep children in Christchurch snuggly and warm this winter. Having spent about seven winters myself in Christchurch, I know it can get a bit cold, and add into the mix houses that have still not been fixed since the earthquakes, I know its a bit of a miserable time for some people. So hopefully my hottie cover will cheer someone up this winter.

I wanted to make a unisex cover, so chose a lovely soft gray jumper that I'd felted.  I'd never made a hottie cover before, but it really is quite easy with Lisa's template, or using a hottie as a guide.

We use wheat bags to warm our beds, which are heated in the microwave with a glass of water (a very important detail). No electric blankets around here! I love my wheat bags - yes I need three strategically placed about my person, and in the morning, if I haven't kicked them out, they are still warm. Here are some I made last year from a flanalette pillowcase.

When I'd finished the hottie cover there was enough left overs to make a pencil case. I've been making them like this for a year now, but felt like a change, so the rest I've made have different faces. It's more work, so I might have to put the price up slightly, it's so hard to calculate how long each one takes, I'm sure I have a very low hourly rate! 

I had to find time to finish off a small painting (A4 size) which is a donation to the Suter Art Gallery's redevelopment fundraiser. I did the background at art group, but it took me a few days to work out where to from there.  In the end I masked off the shapes and used white oilstick on the background. I've titled it "Glimpses", and have now got some other ideas for larger paintings.

There are quite a few other things going on in "life" which I'll not bore you with. Before I knew how busy this month was going to be I signed up for the 100 Days Project, where I'm doing a quick Sharpie drawing every day.  Seven days done, 93 to go! Some days I've found it easy, and others are harder, it's definitely a challenge!  Here is Day 1's drawing. If you want to check out the others take a peek here.

While on the theme of 100 - this is my 100th blog post. I've actually been putting off writing it, as thought I should make more of a song and dance about such a milestone and hold a giveaway (like proper bloggers do!). But I haven't quite got myself that organised - yet! I would like to thank my faithful followers and especially those of you who write comments. Comments are great - I appreciate them so much, if I was a better blogger I'd reply individually to you all, but I'm not, so sorry about that.

I'll leave you with a sunrise, we've been having some crackers lately, and heading towards the shortest day of the year I don't even have to get up early to appreciate them. Excuse the power lines but I was in my pjs and slippers and wasn't venturing off the deck to get the perfect shot!