2 weeks out of 100 days

Drawing challenges

If you have been following me for a while, you will know that I love a good drawing challenge. In the past years I have done “30 days of birds in different styles”, gone through various prompt lists and finished a project “100 days of coffee with milk”. In my last email I shared my ambition to participate in #The100DayProject again this year. As I am writing this, I am well into the third week of the challenge and already have some insights to share. 

The perfect sketch book

Shortly before the start on February 18th I began to hunt around the house for the perfect sketchbook. I was even considering binding one myself. One was too small, the next was too heavy but tucked into the back of my art supply closet (yes, I have a whole closet full of goodies), I found the perfect one for this project. The brand is Flexbook and it is approx. A5 size and has a soft cover so it is small and light enough to carry around with me. I guess it will look pretty worn by the end of the 100 days but that is perfectly fine.

What should I draw?

Then I started fretting about the fact that I didn’t have a theme. What should I draw every day? Did I need to define a subject? Looking back, it would have made things easier. Almost every time I sit down to create, I have to first think of what to do. Having a ready prompt list helped me in the past to because I would think about it during the day and when I sat down in the evenings, I would already have a picture in my head. Then again, without a list to draw from, I can do whatever comes up at that moment and see where it leads.

To share or not to share

The first few days I posted my work every day on Instagram. Then while I was uploading post 8, I realized that I had forgotten to share the art I did on day 7. Looking back, I can say that I didn’t want to post it, because it didn’t come out as I wished. That was when the shift happened. I went back to my WHY and realized that I was holding myself back because I wanted only to create work that I was happy to share.

Free to explore again
I had lost sight of my original goal. Posting my work was keeping me from doing what I wanted to do. In preparation for this challenge , I decided to explore my style by trying out new mediums, new techniques and new subjects, but I ended up doing what I was comfortable with to make something “pretty”. I immediately stopped posting and felt the weight lift. I was free again to have fun and not think of the outcome. So, if you were wondering if I already gave up, I have not – I am just not sharing my art at the moment.

Of course, I still have a long way to go and I can’t wait to fill my 100-page sketchbook with inspiring and fun drawings. I am having fun and that is all that counts.