At the beginning of this year I began my tiny heads project. I worked on this for over three months, before deciding to end on day 121. It was a fun learning curve and I was delighted with the responses I received.
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Many artists decide to set themselves new challenges for a new year. Projects begin and end all year round, of course. A year-long project is a particular challenge that may or may not appeal. It can be daunting and yet how would it feel to really make it happen 365?! There are projects that follow the course of a month, day to day. There are projects that add up to 100, or more days, or things.
This blog post is about choosing a daily project for 2012 - whether you stick to it for the whole year or just a month or three. I'm hoping here to share some brainstorming ideas. Also, if you have ideas to add then you are welcome to leave a comment. I'm writing this to help share ideas - and help myself decide what I want to do in 2012!
A daily project can be that little something special for you to achieve. Setting a goal, or deciding to simply 'do this each day', may give an artist that little push to explore new ideas, a new material. It can be the best thing to do - if you have been feeling stuck lately. A project can be that kick up the skirt that might just make you get to the art desk, or the sewing machine, or the kitchen table and - do it.
Giving just a small amount of time each day, a creative process can become a daily practice. It may take on a spiritual dimension, or not. It may become the main thing in your life, or not. It may bore you after a few weeks, or not.
Sharing it with the world, via a blog and/or Flickr, Facebook, can help you along the way. But sharing can also feel a little overwhelming at times, it may feel like an added complication when you are trying to achieve a little confidence with a 'new thing' or regain inspiration with something from the past. So sharing is not essential. There are projects I've made for myself that I have not shared publicly, things I've tried for a while. This is all part of learning what works for you, of course. That said, the positives of sharing a project are many: you get to showcase your work and how it develops, inspire others, and document the project for yourself. I think inspiring other people is one of the best, most fulfilling positives.
Deciding on a new project is not always easy. Some of my past projects have come around easily, I've simply found myself doing them. Others have been planned and thought-through. Some are started and abandoned (giving yourself permission to give up a project that is not working out for you is a whole other post - one day!).
So, you're thinking that maybe a new year could mean a new project for you. A daily project can be as complex or as simple as you like of course. Think about the amount of time you have for it and be realistic. Every day is every day, can you do this on a weekend too? Or how about a year-long project that does not include certain days? You set the rules and bend them as necessary.
I present here a brainstormed list of ideas for daily projects. The focus here is visual. Though I am including a few ideas for writers too. And so often artists are writers and writers are artists.
To give some kind of sense to it, I've divided into types: Journal based, textile based, photography based, mixed media and conceptual. There's a lot of cross-over, cross-pollination. And please note: these are not all my original ideas, of course, you may have tackled a few or more of these yourself already.
Journal Based Project Ideas
a collage a day - but with a particular focus eg: not using paper (using textiles, plastics, found objects). Or a collage a day using a current newspaper or magazines.
painted book - I did this for a month, November 2010 - you can see here. I painted sketchbook pages, using various paints and keeping it abstract. You might think of the pages as backgrounds or a wordless diary. I'm really seriously thinking about this as a year-long project.
Explore a word picked randomly from a dictionary - sketch, collage, paint.
Keep a journal as an alter ego. You might really want to explore a past artist's life and style. You could choose to be anyone you admire or want to know more about. Or create an alternate persona for yourself. For example, up until now you may have worked in a particular style but would like to explore something entirely different. Your Alter Ego Journal might give you an opportunity to work in a completely new or divergent way.
Drawing projects do not have to be journal based - but a journal or sketchbook is a good way of keeping it together. A few things to consider: a bird a day, an outdoor sketch, a line drawing without taking the pencil off the paper, monoprint (see my various monoprinting posts for technique ideas), self portrait, random object in your home.
Related idea: make a small blank book each day - with different binding techniques to explore.
Textile Based Project Ideas
I like the idea of keeping daily projects quite frugal and making use of things you have already. So many of my textile ideas are about 'using up', recycling, upcycling, or making small things that add up to a lovely collection.
making a small patchwork square
make a textile bead or ornament
stitch a row of embroidery on a sampler (teaching yourself a new stitch every so often)
make a small doll
make a simple wrist bracelet or cuff
sharing the items you make can add a further dimension: eg. you might want to put all the small things together and donate quilts to a charity, or you may want to 'donate and decorate' local trees, or sell items to fund the project.
But - textile projects need not always be about making and using materials and an end 'thing'. Design for textiles could be your focus. You could keep a textile journal with fantasy fashion designs and snippets of fabrics. Design a dress a day. Or a pair of shoes. Or draw an embroidery design for later use.
Photography Based Project Ideas
This feels limitless, perhaps. Choose something and photograph it each day. Watch a tree grow and change, for example. Photograph your day at a particular time of the day.
Photograph the early morning sky, your neighbourhood, your garden. Found objects. Shop windows. Doorways.
Self portraits - this could be particularly demanding and perhaps worth really thinking through carefully before deciding upon. I say this as someone who did a self portrait project many years ago and found it eventually taking too much of my time in perfectionism and making me feel quite vulnerable. So proceed with caution. Especially if you are going to share your photos publicly.
Conceptual and Other Ideas
I like the idea of giving something each day. Whether this is giving something away that you no longer need, giving time perhaps. This could be documented in a diary/blog.
Sending things: writing postcards and letters... But of course postage costs will add up. A year of stamps will be a large financial commitment. An alternative would be to write a letter or postcard each day and then send a week's worth or even a month's worth to a friend. Or write a letter or postcard to your child for them to read when older. Or write to someone fictional or historical and explain the world to them, as it is now.
Objects in places. I know of projects that have involved leaving small treasures in different public places. The classic balloon with a tag idea, but revised to become a haiku in a bottle, for example.
Just a few ideas then..... Please let me know your ideas and I will add them in here (with credit to you). It would be good to have your ideas here too and you are welcome to link to this post, of course.
And finally, if you decide to take on a project for 2012 - please let me know. If I can, depending on response, I'll put together another post at the beginning of the new year listing projects and giving links to blogs.
29 comments:
Thank you Thank you Cathy for a most generous post. I am bubbling from reading it and would love to offer something as generous in return. I often entertain myself conceptually, barely keeping up with myself for ideas that may never culminate. You have given so much food for thought, so many seeds. I think perhaps the daily habit of connecting with the self through intuitive drawing is the one that most appeals to me like the daily warm-up of "non-thinking meditation pages" that Patti of Missouri Bend Studio does "letting the had move as it wants to". But I do love the idea of filling a book with daily anythings.
I will cook on this some more.
Thank you Thank you.
Thank you Cathy! I'll get back to you after I have a good think.
Very inspiring post, I love the idea of a painted journal and would really like to do this. I have thought about setting myself projects for the year before but they never seem to get started, apart from a photography project I did last year, I set up another blog and posted a photograph a day, I managed 77 days. I have also thought about doing a painting a day but I think I am afraid of failure! This has really given me a lot to think about, thanks for sharing all the ideas.
Thanks so much for this interesting post Cathy...me too, I love to give myself a certain time for a certain project. The idea is often very exciting, but then to keep it up....... sometimes it's a success, sometimes it leads somewhere we didn't think of, but it's never a failure, even if we have to break up. Anyhow I believe continuity is a very important part of the working process and finally progress.
I'm curious what projects will keep me busy 2012...thank you for the inspiration!
lots of great ideas, plus shared wisdom about how to hold the ideas... thank you. I've chosen words some years, and committed to journal quilting (that lasted about 5 months)... the thing that feels most 'UP' for me right now is: rhythm. Respecting my own, learning to feel the rhythm of something I'm working on, when to gear up, when to slow down... not sure how I could formalize this yet, or if I will.
cathy, thanks for this. i will be thinking about it, quite seriously.
Your post was very timely for me Cathy as I have been trying to find that project for next year myself...I've been thinking on it for the last couple of weeks. I had more or less settled on coming up with a favorite quote each day and illustrating that. That's as close as I've gotten to my idea for next year. Your post, however, makes me want to do everything! So many fun projects...but this, in fact, is my major challenge in life...just finding the ONE thing to devote my energy to. I am going to allow these new ideas to peculate for awhile. I'll look forward to hearing what you decide to do and I'll keep you current on my own progress.
What a great list of ideas to pursue. But how do I choose just one? That is definitely my problem. I tried the photo a day last year, and posting to my blog, but that lasted only about half the year. I realized that all of my photos were primarily alike. So I stopped as I was bored with it. Sigh. I have tried doing just some bits of art every day, but I get sidetracked and miss days. But I am going to study your list and pick something that I can do easily in my busy schedule. And I will think of some other ideas to post to your list. I'll be back!
Thank you for a very inspiring post! I guess with the New Year right on our door step it is nice to set new goals as they make us do things.
I think I'll just add that if it is hard to stick to a 365 day project maybe it would be worth to do something just for a month? Or maybe decide on 12 different porjects - then it would be something new each month. For more encouragement you could do things with your blog friends - you could find someone sharing similar ideas and decide on a project together, then share the results on your blogs. For e.g. last year me and my friend took 30 photos - we made a list of 30 words and then every day took a photo that would illustrate that day's word.
Fabulous list of ideas, so inspiring, thank you :-)
last year i kept thinking about about a drawing a day... but didn't do it (even while by being inspired by your little heads!) - maybe 2012 is the time... thanks for all your creative ideas :) x
Oh Cathy, what an amazing and stimulating post ! Thank you so much for this, and for helping/inspiring/motivating so many of us, with so much food for thought ! I wish I had ideas of project to share, but I don't. I have commitments I had made in 2011 & that I will carry through 2012, like not buying any fabric & using materials from my stash. I want to dye more & use all these dyed materials instead of keeping them unused. I want to "work" on that zine of mine, but it hasn't taken any shape yet. In a word, I want to keep doing what I was doing, but more seriously, more deeply, and try to go even further, and why not explore new areas, or mix them.
Sorry for the self-centered post, my friend, but your words have watered some seeds of mine, that desperatedly needed to be watered.
Thanks again, and I'll make sure to come back to this post many times.
Much love xoxo
I love the idea of writing to my children for later. I tried this when they were much younger and it lasted for about a week. Probably because I left it until bedtime, too exhausted. I wish I'd kept it up because my children LOVE hearing about themselves when they were babies and toddlers. I'll think of it as a gift to them and try and keep it up.
I also would like to return to painting regularly which I love but tend to set aside because of time, space and all the other usual excuses.
Thanks for these wonderful ideas and thanks Sonia for pointing me to this post :)
i have to thank you so deeply for this post, your words came right out of my brain/heart/thinking, where ever.
the feeling of being totally stocked, than starting
hyperactive 10 000 things at the same time, finishing almost nothing. giving myself the permission to be an artist again and again, struggling etc. thank you for making me think more seriously about me and what i want to do! you are very inspiring! julia
Thank you so much for this post! Although I know I'm not able to commit to a daily project, I do like the idea of a project with a regular 'thing', and will keep mulling over this idea further for the next few days, as the year draws to a close. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me! Recently, there has been some exciting (to me) developments in my art/art making, and when I felt the urge to explore them in 3D form, your little heads inspired me to try air dry clay. Thank you so much! ~ Sara
Interesting ideas. Over the last two years I have found it helpful to submit to exhibitions with a theme, because the theme stays in the background and ideas mull around until something often unexpected materializes. For 'cropped' I took lots of photos of the surrounding fields at different stages, but eventually it came out as a 'crop' of a life drawing. I doubt I could be as disciplined as you.
I have just been thinking about a new project. Thank you for all the inspiration. My last one 'hundred miniatures' I didn't share , some little ones I posted but generally I did it to satisfy a personal need, and most of the miniatures were torn and discarded. Overall, it's a great discipline and a fantastic learning process. I am looking forward to the next one.
Have a lovely Christmas:)
Yes, it is the time of year when we think ahead and plan ... a fresh start ... time to reflect on things we want to pursue further and, most importantly, giving ourselves time to develop while we play
I do have a tendency to over challenge myself so I'm working on only three things this year (as I have exhibition work to prepare) but my challenges are both weekly and on a Tuesday
1. Tag Tuesday - to produce at least one art tag on a Tuesday for my sketchbooks - following the year with a seasonal theme
2. I signed up for TAST 2012 on Sharon's Pin Tangle blog ... to produce small samples of new stitches ... a stitch a week. I'm planning to create a calico book at the end of the year using vintage images, my own photos combined with the weekly stitch
3. A general challenge to myself to work a page a day in my sketchbook as well as keeping up with my glue books (glueing in all the stuff I collect from exhibitions and galleries etc.)
That will be enough as, when "life" crops up I can easily go into a tailspin when there is too much going on!
Such a thoughtful and inspiring post. I had already been thinking about my challenges for the past week so your post is so timely. Thank you Cathy x
I did YLPs for 5 years, beginning in 2004. They are a grind, albeit an extremely rewarding grind. There's something about the discipline aspect of it that makes you grow, grow, grow. Let's face it, it's easy to make art when you feel like it, when the ideas are flowing, but when you have no good ideas and feel totally unmotivated to make anything at all - but you make yourself do it anyway - that's the real prize.
Cathy you write in such a generous way that it makes me want to seriously consider making my own rules for a goal in 2012. For me right now it is seeing all of my UFO's finished. Our quilting guild is setting up this challenge and it was already on my radar screen.
One year I decided that I was going to make a hexagon quilt over 6 years. I did 7 hexagons across and 52 down. The idea was that I was going to sew a hexagon a day. It was a scrape hexagon quilt. You can see it here.http://snailcloth.blogspot.com/2011/11/nine-year-quilt.html It has taken me longer to finish this quilt than 6 years but I got the top done in 6 years.
I did the Bead Journal Project one year and that was fun. I am not good at doing something every day. But if I pick a project that I am comfortable enough with I can set goals for the month or even the year. Last year it was creating a doll character and then writing a story about an adventure that her Guild Mistress sends her on. http://travellingartistsguild.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/1845/
Writing was not really my strength but because I did this with a group I did stick to it and I surprised myself.
I have heard of coming up with a word and using that as a focus for the year. My word last year was Playfulness. I am thinking about the word Mystery for this year.
I will give your challenge some though and get back to you.
I'm in for a collage a day using paper, fabric, etc. Been thinking of doing this anyway and you gave the needed nudge.
Thanks!
I have been thinking about a project for 2012 for some time, and your blog post gave me some new ideas... Thank you!
Thank you for this post! I think I'll set a new goal every month, since my fascinations shift trough the year. I might make one fabric image a day? Or a sketch a day or one poem a day. That would be interesting.
And I'm keen to find out what your goal will be!
As the year speeds to its close, I've been thinking hard about my project for 2012...like you, I like to do lots of different things. I've decided that my challenge to myself will be to find one thing per day and really look at it and then either draw it, paint it or in some other way honor it in artistic form. I'm hoping to inspire myself not only to more drawing but also to more walking! A two in one challenge...and more looking/studying too. I'll send you a link to my first post. I don't know how to link to other people's posts, but I'll try to figure that out.
I really love this post - I have been contemplating similar things- although making a 12 month commitment does seem a bit daunting- tried last year and dropped the ball! LOL! There are so many things I want to try I think I may make several monthly goals!Thanks for the inspiration!
And so I'm back Cathy, and with acknowledgement to you on my blog, I have made my commitment to a daily project. Thank you once again for being the catalyst I needed.
I am back as well. I have decided to make a monthly project.
You can read about it here.
http://snailcloth.blogspot.com/2011/12/daily-project-for-2012.html
Thank you Cathy for such an encouraging and inspiring post. I really like the way you have given ideas of the many ways we can create a project. I have decided on a weekly project and have included a link to this page on my latest blog post in the hope that others may get to read this interesting information too...
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