Grubby Grrrl in Upstate New York is making 365 Days of Cats...
Why did you decide to do this project? I have been wanting to add something creative to my life for the last few years and bumbled about trying things. I never fully committed to one idea so I would start one, drift off into another and yet another and not really progress with any one project. (I am a Gemini. Can you tell? He he.) I heard Noah Scalin interviewed on The Accidental Creative Podcast and loved the yearlong challenge idea! And loved receiving guidance from someone who had walked the path already and had great ideas. I believe that everyone is creative and we all need to create to be really content. I also love how if you give 10 people the same raw ingredients with the same assignment to create some piece of art, you will get 10 unique pieces. I was curious what mine would look like.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Hmmm, I am actually surprised how only 4 weeks in, it is having a pretty big effect on my life. Making the commitment has forced me to get something out each day. So it makes me ignore my normal drive for perfection, which is a BIG stumbling block for me and which I have used as an excuse to back out on other ideas before. I like how I am a little uncomfortable every day, worried if I'll get an idea, worried if I can get a cat done, worried if it will be good. And yet I need to ignore that and come up with something every day and end up with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each project. Especially as I look back, already weeks of cats accumulating! Doing a little at a time, we can all achieve so much. This has also pushed me into learning how to set up a blog which is actually fun. And now I'm following other blogs which creates a sense of community for me. It has been both fun and helpful to watch other people's 365 projects and sometimes they are a source of inspiration.
Doing the cats and wanting to enjoy the process also teaches me to focus on producing things that I like, without worrying about what others think. Practicing in different mediums is really fun because I've been away from art for so long I don't even know what I like to do anymore and there are so many options. I let my posts go out to Facebook, so people I don't expect surprise me by commenting that they actually like the cats. Someone at my workplace had suggestions for making a cat, which I'm going to take her up on. It's just fun to have others involved. And I have gotten two other people to "drink the Kool Aid" who are starting projects which I find so exciting! I want to see what their work looks like! On the Make Something 365 blog, I read that others improved their time management skills with this project and I had hope, but I'm still bad at that. Yet it is amazing that I make the time to do a project every day.
The only down side is that I get less sleep but even that hasn't effected me as much as I expected. I feel energized by this project. I have to work to keep my focus on the cats, because seeing how much I am accomplishing with this level of focus and daily commitment, I have other things I want to make a daily commitment to, but they will have to wait for the future.
See all of of Grubby Grrrl's cats HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? I have been wanting to add something creative to my life for the last few years and bumbled about trying things. I never fully committed to one idea so I would start one, drift off into another and yet another and not really progress with any one project. (I am a Gemini. Can you tell? He he.) I heard Noah Scalin interviewed on The Accidental Creative Podcast and loved the yearlong challenge idea! And loved receiving guidance from someone who had walked the path already and had great ideas. I believe that everyone is creative and we all need to create to be really content. I also love how if you give 10 people the same raw ingredients with the same assignment to create some piece of art, you will get 10 unique pieces. I was curious what mine would look like.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Hmmm, I am actually surprised how only 4 weeks in, it is having a pretty big effect on my life. Making the commitment has forced me to get something out each day. So it makes me ignore my normal drive for perfection, which is a BIG stumbling block for me and which I have used as an excuse to back out on other ideas before. I like how I am a little uncomfortable every day, worried if I'll get an idea, worried if I can get a cat done, worried if it will be good. And yet I need to ignore that and come up with something every day and end up with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of each project. Especially as I look back, already weeks of cats accumulating! Doing a little at a time, we can all achieve so much. This has also pushed me into learning how to set up a blog which is actually fun. And now I'm following other blogs which creates a sense of community for me. It has been both fun and helpful to watch other people's 365 projects and sometimes they are a source of inspiration.
Doing the cats and wanting to enjoy the process also teaches me to focus on producing things that I like, without worrying about what others think. Practicing in different mediums is really fun because I've been away from art for so long I don't even know what I like to do anymore and there are so many options. I let my posts go out to Facebook, so people I don't expect surprise me by commenting that they actually like the cats. Someone at my workplace had suggestions for making a cat, which I'm going to take her up on. It's just fun to have others involved. And I have gotten two other people to "drink the Kool Aid" who are starting projects which I find so exciting! I want to see what their work looks like! On the Make Something 365 blog, I read that others improved their time management skills with this project and I had hope, but I'm still bad at that. Yet it is amazing that I make the time to do a project every day.
The only down side is that I get less sleep but even that hasn't effected me as much as I expected. I feel energized by this project. I have to work to keep my focus on the cats, because seeing how much I am accomplishing with this level of focus and daily commitment, I have other things I want to make a daily commitment to, but they will have to wait for the future.
See all of of Grubby Grrrl's cats HERE.
I love this project idea, and your creativity is awesome (not surprising, just awesome!)! Have no idea how you find the time, but maybe that's part of the project...
ReplyDeleteGreat job, BA!