Thursday 1 December 2016

What I learnt from doing the 100 days project

My 100 day project theme was 'The Botanical Series'. By signing up I committed to draw a plant a day from my garden and surrounding neighbourhood for 100 consecutive days. 


I knew it wasn't going to be easy, not only because making the time to draw daily isn't always practical and I didn't think I had access to so many plants. The later start in August. this round, meant we were heading into spring. Just when I thought what was I going to draw, the next day another plant would start flowering and there I'd have a botanical muse. I did draw some foliage-only plants, a few bought flowers and a pomegranate fruit!


So here's what I learned.

Practice does help you improve - drawing the plant form became easier and I became braver and faster at drawing

Plants are wonderfully inspiring for providing variety and subject matter

Understanding the anatomy of a plant helps to get a sense of the spatial form and how the parts are connected

Being part of a signed up project gave me permission to draw every day and my family and friends supported it 

Focusing on one thing everyday was a mindful activity that helped me forget my daily worries and stresses and wrapped me in a cloak of calm and stillness

Posting my photos to Instagram made me accountable and gave me motivation to meet my commitment

Completing all 100 days of the project gave me a great sense of achievement. Now if only I could do the same with giving up sugar!

The Instagram community was ever encouraging and supportive and for which I am grateful. As a token of thanks, I created a calendar as a giveaway that @coffeepaperyarn won in the lucky draw (please visit her feed!). 



If interested, all my pics are tagged to the hashtag #ab_100days on Instagram.

With the countdown to Christmas, its easy to think of the next creative project. What's yours?
- Claudia x

2 comments:

  1. Hi ,i live in reunion Island and i juste finish the 100 days too.
    I'm agree with you about what you /we learnt .
    I 've the same project than you in my garden or bette a vision of my garden !

    have a good day .
    ****************

    J'ai chois de travailler sur 100 plantes de mon jardin et alentours .

    Ce n'est pas un herbier mais une promenade plastique avec un" regard" différent selon les jours .

    mon protocole était :
    1/ dessiner d'après nature et le plus possible in situ

    2/ dessiner toujours sur le même carnet et donc même format :20cmx15cm.
    /Je n'ai pas suivi cette consigne sur au moins 7 dessins qui font 1.50x1m!!

    3/ dessiner avec différents médiums.L'objectif étant d'avoir une certaine liberté selon le jour , l'humeur et le fait d'être ou pas pressée...

    les dessins sont tous différents mais tout compte fait, je crois qu'on peut y trouver certains liens dans l'écriture plastique .

    J'ai beaucoup appris avec ce défi , le premier .
    je ne vais pas dire que j'ai appris à dessiner ou que j'espère que ça va te plaire . Non , ça va plus loin .

    Mener à bien un projet de ce genre est un peu un chemin avec des haltes qui s'ouvrent sur la connaissance de soi .

    Bon allez, j'envoie le lien .

    http://100daysproject.co.nz/projects/100-days-2016/marilou-mas-114

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  2. Hello! I find it so good to reflect because you realise you come a long way. You were braver than me using colour - well done for completing the project and aren't we fortunate to have gardens! From someone on one island, to someone on another ;) Claudia x

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