Three Miles A Day

I just had to share this great e-mail I got from AC in Washington, DC about a project he did this year. While it doesn't fit the creative formats of the projects I've been sharing here, it's clear that the experience was rewarding. I especially appreciate the fact that he told everyone he knew so he would have no excuses not to do it...

I am just finishing up an every day/yearlong project of my own and a friend told me about your skulls. 

Although my project isnt creative, it did go every day for a year and did face some challenges.  I decided to run at least 3 miles everyday for one year, no excuses, and I told everybody I knew just so I wouldn't back out.

some of the funny runs:

This past Dec 4th: my wife's water broke in the morning... I sprinted out the door and drove her to the hospital after I ran 5 miles.

Several Friday nights:  lured into happy hours, I was relegated to running drunk around 11:00 at night several times.

In April: got up at 3:00am to get my run done before I had to fly all day.

I will definitely make my project for next year a creative one!

My Daily Art

Kyle Williamson of New Freedom, Pennsylvania spent the past year using photography and other media to make his My Daily Art project...

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided at the end of last year that I wanted something to help me focus my artistic energy. As a photographer and art teacher I found that most of my creative time goes into doing things for other individuals. This projects was a way of assuring that I spend a portion of the day thinking about and creating a personal project.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I have found this a nice challenge so far. I like the idea of creating everyday, and plan to continue it. My hope for the future is to create larger pieces and to focus more on other media. I have completed work each day this year, though it has been difficult to publish the blog everyday because I have had occasions where I did not have any access to the internet.

Check out all of Kyle's daily art and congratulate him on finishing his first year today on his blog HERE.

Over Exposure 365

My friend Dennis "Deni Kaos" Camargo, from San Gabriel Valley, Southern California, has embarked on a yearlong project he's calling Over Exposure 365...

Why did you decide to do this project? there are a lot of bleak moments in my life, and when i take photos, it's always of beautiful things, so i want to remind myself that everyday is beautiful. i also really want to test my photographing skills with what little i have right now, which includes my DSi, a cellphone, and a kid's toy digital camera. i've recently been getting into digital lo-fi as a medium, mostly because i am forced into it! i may be getting a proper camera soon, so we'll see if the medium changes.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? well, i've only done day one at the time of writing this, so i can't say it has much! but after following Noah, and meeting him at one of his shows (and not throwing up out of nervousness, mind you!) and seeing all the people who loved his work and had the same inspiration i had from him, i wanted to do the same. i also started looking at other 365 day project blogs, and i was just amazed at the creativity! i knew i had to take the challenge, but i wanted to wait until i had a proper camera, but after reading Noah's second book, i was like "what the heck? i'll just go for it!" [UPDATE] after three weeks so far, i have really had to stretch my imagination. i've been mostly practicing self-portraits. i'm going to go back and try it on some other models. there have been days, i will admit, where the idea seems a little thrown together, but i try to have my work reflect my mood of the day.

Watch Deni's progress on his blog HERE.

My Daily Nature Photos

My friend and co-editor of the Skull-A-Day blog, Abby Davis, has committed to documenting the outdoors for a year in her My Daily Nature Photos project...

Why did you decide to do this project? One day, in a pile of craft supplies, I thought "What is my hobby?". I make things almost every day in great variety, but to me that's not my hobby. It's more my obsession or life's compulsion. I realized that the only other creative thing I did besides my crafts, was photography. I normally have my camera with me, but one day my dad asked me where it was. I hadn't been carrying it as much as I used to. Sporadically, for the last 2 years I have been taking nature photos. Many of them at my parents' house. I had really wanted to do something with the thousands of photos I had, but they were sporadic. I wanted something more organized. I was reading over your book on Amazon and realized that I should turn them into a daily project. I would start new and document nature every day for a year and more. I'm still in the beginning of the project, which I started on November 12th.
 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I realize now that November, the end of Fall was probably not the smartest month to start in, but since the original reason I started taking nature photos was due to the Camellia bush I have that blooms in late Fall/early Winter. To me, it's an unusual plant. I wondered if there were any other plants that choose cold weather to bloom and thrive. There are many and that is something I am exploring in the project. I will probably end up with many beautiful photos and a continuous cold from staying out in the cold weather to photograph nature. To me it's worth it, because I'm actually doing something productive and beautiful with my hobby.

See what Abby has been photographing on her blog HERE. You can also follow her project on Facebook and buy prints of her photos!

365 Haiku

 My friend Jennifer Willis in Portland, Oregon has set out to write 365 Haiku!...

Opportunities
abound now. New doors open
unexpectedly.

Why did you decide to do this project? I've known Noah for going on ten years, and have always marveled at his artistic stamina – especially when it came to his Skull-A-Day project. When I first heard about his 365 book, I knew I wanted to get involved but I wasn't quite sure how. I'm not a visual artist. I thought briefly of cooking/baking something new every day, but didn't want to follow in the footsteps of the Julie/Julia Project and didn't want cooking to become a chore. I'm not sure where the idea of haiku came from; I am a writer, but had only once before attempted haiku – earlier this year as part of Michelle Rafter's annual blogathon. I jumped in with daily haiku without thinking too hard about it.

Now I’ve lost my voice.
I sound like a muppet or
cartoon character.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I began this project on October 31 – Halloween is my favorite holiday! – so I'm a far cry from year-long at this point. I cheated at first: writing up a bunch of haiku and pre-loading them to post on different days. I was admittedly intimidated by having to do *anything* each and every day for a full year, especially beginning at the same time as National Novel Writing Month. Now I only pre-publish if I know I'm not going to have internet access for a few days. My daily haiku postings don't have a particular theme as yet; mostly it's just a reflection of what's going on in my life – the weather, flight delays, power outages, going to the rock gym – though these seventeen daily syllables also afford me the opportunity to muse on global events, passing seasons, religion, and more. Being limited to so few syllables poses a daily creative challenge, which is the whole point. I sometimes get so excited that I write four or five haiku in a row – and I now have a running list of options to choose from if I ever find myself stuck.

A power outage
means haiku by candlelight
and a restful night.

Follow Jen's poetic journey on her site HERE.

Every Day is Awesome

My friend Paul, who runs the excellent Dude Craft blog, has started a new project where he's writing daily about why Every Day is Awesome...

Why did you decide to do this project? I started EDiA because I missed writing longer pieces. DudeCraft isn't really built for long form stuff and there we're some things I wanted to write about that didn't really fit the site. My other reason for starting it simply has to do with challenging myself. I wanted to see if I could write 500 words a day for a year. I have no idea what will come of it, but I figure that, at the very least, I'll be a better writer by the end.
 
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?As far as affecting my life, writing for EDiA is a lot more work intensive than doing DudeCraft. Sometimes a piece will just come tumbling out of my brain and I'll only spend a couple of hours on it. Sometimes 500 words can take all day and most of the night. Luckily, I'm surrounded by people who understand this kind of mania from me. If I wasn't doing this, I'd just be doing something else equally nutty, and they know that. So far, I've written over 25,000 words, so I'm on pace to break 150,000 by the end of my year. That's kind of exciting to me. If, out of the 150,000, I can manage to pump out 65,000 good ones, I might get a book out of it. We'll see. For now, all that matters is that I keep going.

Find out why today is awesome on Paul's new blog HERE.

A Flower A Day

Jackie read 365: A Daily Creativity Journal and was inspired to make A Flower A Day!...

Why did you decide to do this project? Flowers are one of my favorite things. are a symbol of friendship and love. No matter where they are they always bring beauty.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has taught me to think outside of the box and to explore new forms of art. It has also pushed me to take other art forms that I know but not good at and become better. It has also made me more aware of the the world around me.

See how Jackie's flowers are growing on her blog HERE.

Obsessive Consumption

Not everyone stops doing a daily project after a year is over. Kate Bingaman Burt has been documenting her consumerist tendencies since 2002 and drawing her purchases daily since 2006 as part of her Obsessive Consumption project!...

See what Kate has purchased recently on her blog HERE.

And look for my interview with Kate in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now! Look for it at your favorite local independent bookstore  and at all major online book retailers.

A Rabbit A Day

Just because a daily project doesn't get done every day doesn't mean that it's not successful. Even though Sarah Bayly of Ilfracombe, North Devon, England had to put her A Rabbit A Day project on hold for personal reasons for a little while, she still got a lot from her experience and is able to return to it from time to time when things get easier!...

Why did you decide to do this project?  For most of my life I had a sensible job and ignored that creative niggle inside me. Then my life was turned upside when I got pregnant and found myself a single mum, meaning I had to give up my job and move house.
Oddly it was this event that gave me the time to become more creative, and made me reassess who I was, and who I wanted to be for my littel girl. Since then I've launched my own business (making handmade textiles) and started a textiles degree.
However I feel the years of ignoring that creative voice in my head means the creativity doesn't flow naturally, and the synical voice steps in too much. I wath my little girl drawing and making things and she doesn't care if things don't look perfect, or indeed if they don't look like anything at all!
So I think it's really important to force myself to do something fun and creative once a day, to try and access that little girl inside me, to almost pretend at being creative, until I one day because second nature and that synical, "it looks nothing like a rabbit" voice finally goes away!

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Having to do something every day is really liberating. It's almost as if you've been given permission to be creative, so it doesn't matter what people say. Ive got odd looks on the way to school, taking photo's of clouds or concrete rabbits that no one else can see. But when I say "it's for my project", I feel proud instead of silly.
 It's also very good for confidence. There's a theory that if you pretend at being something for long enough you'll become it. So I'm hoping by the end of 2011, i'll be creatively flowing artist!

See all of Sarah's Rabbits on her site HERE.

Make A Thing A Week

Kit McSmash in Virginia decided to pull herself out of a creative rut and Make A Thing A Week...

Why did you decide to do this project? I was having a bout of art block that made me think I'd eventually slow down on sewing altogether (it will NEVER happen!) and knew a change was needed. This was just sort of a fun idea I had been kicking around. I started it after spending 2 weeks in Japan and having my head get crammed full of ideas for stuff to make. I just wanted to do something for a fun creative change.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I've always been an artsy craftsy kind of person since childhood (thanks, mom) so making things has always been part of my life. But I was getting a little bogged down with the daily grind, etc. It was time for a change of project pace. So I started Make A Thing A Week. At this point, there isn't a day that goes by where I'm not thinking up ideas and scribbling them down on whatever paper is lying around if I'm not in my studio. Before Make A Thing A Week, I hadn't been drawing as much, but now scribbles and sketches are coming out which lead to more projects and sometimes pulling bizarre ideas out of thin air. This project also is helping to shave down the incredibly massive amount of fabric I apparently had been hoarding since college as an added bonus. I find myself looking forward to doing projects, even if they're small ones, and the joy is back in creating for fun (even with self-imposed deadlines) and more non-Make A Thing projects are coming out too. I currently have a closet full of costumes that would make my 7 year old childhood self green with envy.

See all of Kit's Things on her site (and even buy them if you like) HERE.

The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project began as an attempt by Sheena Matheiken to wear & accessorize the same dress every day for a year. She used the project to raise money and attention for children living in slums in India and succeeded by getting international media attention and over $100,000 for the Akanksha Foundation! The project continues into it's second year now with monthly dress projects by different people around the world.

See how the project evolved and where it's heading at: The Uniform Project


And look for my interview with Sheena in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now! Look for it at your favorite local independent bookstore  and at all major online book retailers.

Year of Thanks

Karlin Lictenberger and her friend Jaime Patterson are working together to create a Year of Thanks in my hometown of Richmond, VA. Every day they are taking turns finding someone to thank...

Why did you decide to do this project? I had started the project last year, but as a college student it proved to be too great a task to take on by myself. That is why I called on the services of my talented friend, Jaime. One day she will post and the following day I will post. It has proven to be a great decision because I feel we are getting more variety in people, stories and photography styles even already.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Though we just started, we are already starting to make the project part of our lives. It is forcing us to jump out of our comfort zones, open up conversations with people and even look a little silly when we ask to take their picture. All in all, our goal is to shine a positive light in a generation that tends to err on the side of negativity.

See who Karlin and Jaime are thanking all year on their site HERE.

Ornithoblogical

NYC-based illustrator Anna Raff decided to create a bird image every day for a year on her Ornithoblogical site...

See all of Anna's lovely birds on her site HERE.

Mailart365

London based mail art aficionado Andy Hoang decided to corral a group of fellow mail artists and create Mailart365. All told 20 artists around the world agreed to commit to making (and mailing) a piece of art every day for a year starting on December 1st!

Why did you decide to do this project? 2 years ago I decided to close my facebook account and send and receive letters instead and the idea of my REAL wall was born. REAL posts on a REAL wall. It didn't take long before I started to receive mailart and discovered a whole artform and community of talented and positive individuals, who inspired me to find my inner artist. Mailart365 is a homage to the worlds mailartists and to that community of people who keep the postal system not just alive but positively vibrant. It is my way of saying thanks to the people who strive to send a smile through the post.

by L-plate

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The excitement of the participants building up to the launch date of December 1st, 2010 has been incredible and initial signs are that everyone is really thrilled to be involved. It's been such a buzz and the whole challenge has really galvanised many people into creating. The creative spirit that everyone has shown has made the project seem like it's going to be a breeze, but I suspect that it won't be. Already, I've found that I've been really busy keeping the site looking good and making sure that all participants are happy, but I think that this will die down and I will soon get back to the creation of artworks, which I can't wait for. If it's had an effect on my life, so far I can say it's given me a huge feeling of pride to have created and seen through the idea and to collaborate with so many people I admire.

 by Mim

I have personally started thinking in terms of collage and picking up every scrap of paper I see "because it might come in useful somewhere" and both me and my fiance have now got a legitimate excuse to spend Saturday mornings on eBay buying rubber stamps again!

by Camel

Follow the progress of all of the participating mail artists on their site HERE.

Wordy Birds likes 365

If you missed my recent radio interview on the local radio show Wordy Birds, about my new book you can now listen to it, in its entirety, online HERE!

Weekly Reliquary

Not every 365 project has to take place on a daily basis. My friend Tere Hernández-Bonét is a fantastic jeweler here in Richmond, Virginia who was looking for a way to inspire her own creativity in the midst of a very busy schedule. She decided on creating a Weekly Reliquary over the course of a year and give herself more time to put towards each piece...

See all of Tere's reliquaries on her blog HERE.

Reminder: Book Events in Richmond

Just another reminder that I have two more upcoming book signings in Richmond, Virginia to celebrate the release of 365: A Daily Creativity Journal...

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18th    12 – 3pm

Quirk Gallery

311 W. Broad St.

Bring the family for some free craft-making fun with materials provided by the gallery.

AND

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21st   12:30 – 2:30pm

Fountain Bookstore

1312 E Cary St.

Richmond, VA 23219

804.788.1594

If you're in the area I hope you'll come by at least one of them and say hi! Both stores will have plenty of copies and I'll be on hand to sign books and talk about my project.

A Room A Day For 365

Gaynor Baker in Saskatoon, Canada was inspired by my book to start a project where she will virtually decorate A Room A Day For 365 days and give tips on decorating a similar space!...

Why did you decide to do this project? I found the idea fascinating. It will give me a sense of accomplishment and connect me with other like-minded people. Encouragement is always nice too :)

How has doing a daily project affected your life? Since I've only just started I can only imagine how it will affect me. But I think it will give me a sense of accomplishment, and a purpose; especially when I begin to get comments (knowing that others are interested in what you are doing is good for the soul and for motivation). And if others can use some of my ideas to better their own life that would be great!

Watch Gaye's progress (and add your comments) on her rooms on her site HERE.

Canada & the UK like 365 Skulls

Two great international online mentions of my 365 Skulls in 1 Minute video...

Strombo in Canada

Who Killed Bambi in the UK

8 Great Ways to Spend A Year

In case you missed it, I wrote up an article for Boing Boing about eight recent 365 projects I've encountered.

I hope you find it inspiring to get your own project started or to keep going on one you've already begun! Read the entire article HERE.

BBCX365

Johnny Selman from San Francisco shared his BBCX365 project in which he's creating a poster every day for a year based on a headline on the BBC news website...

In his words, "I am currently working on my graduate thesis at Academy of Art in San Francisco. My intention with the project is to bridge the knowledge gap between global current events and the American public. The project has been featured in the BBC, the Guardian UK, and Dezeen. I am prepping up for a 100th poster event in SF on Dec. 16th. where the first 100 posters will be displayed in storefront windows down a stretch of Valencia St. in the Mission."

See all of Johnny's posters on his site HERE.

Napkin Moustache A Day

My friend Phil Ford was inspired by me to start making a Napkin Moustache A Day!...

Why did you decide to do this project? Being silly for my wife at various meals, then Noah had to go and do this thing to inspire to create and all that...so, can I do this for a year?

How has doing a daily project affected your life? I have already had a positive response from people, some even asking to contribute (which I may do as the year goes on).  I think what has been interesting so far is the directions that I can go with it.  What is kind of happening is that I have been writing about what is happening at that moment to bring me right up to the photograph of the Napstache.  A captured diary moment, if you will.

See all of Phil's "napstaches" and read the stories of the meals behind them on his site HERE.