Facing the Daze

Whitney Baumann in San Diego, California and "soon to be NYC (woo woo)" is doing Facing the Daze: Whit's Face a Day project HERE and HERE.

She explains: When I started this project I jokingly created a little slogan for it: "One woman. One face. One day. One year."

However, 31 days into it, my semi-melodramatic slogan is pretty fitting for my 365 project. I'm creating a face (or often faces) a day, for a year (and I am a woman!.... hear me ROAR..haha).

Plus, I think "Facing the Daze" illustrates the point of life I'm at right now.  After graduating college last December, I'm amazed at how quickly days, months, and even a year has passed.... Without a tangible goal (i.e. a degree) in my life to strive towards,  my life can feel like a daze.

Why did you decide to do this project? A wonderful friend, Sun, gave me this book for my 24th birthday (August 10th). She has always supported and believed in my creativity, and I think this was exactly the nudge I needed.

Basically, best birthday gift ever!!!

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?

1. My creative brain muscles are definitely getting a daily workout (They are bulking up)
2. I have a new found confidence in my creativeness/art. I share my art about a 1000x more than I used to... & people I know share with others too!
3. I've taught myself new techniques and explored new mediums.. This includes hand sewing, papercutting, stencil-making, and more & more & more...
4. Even though I am horrible at time management, I've learned to allot time for my faces... &, more importantly, I look forward to having my creative time..
5. Because of #4 I have had a lot less sleeping time..
6. {unknown}, it has only been 31 days, I can't wait to see what happens with a year...

See all of Whitney's faces on Wordpress HERE and Blogger HERE. 

The 365-Faces Project

Anja Brunt in Amsterdam has created The 365-faces project...

Why did you decide to do this project?  Originally I didn't intend to start a 365 days project. I was already making little faces from fabrics, and thought it would be nice to have a wall full of this faces!
But how to do this and keep it a fun thing? Make one a day! After a week I got a lot of more ideas and decided to make the faces more various.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  It gives me a lot of fun and freedom. You can call it brain-gymnastics ;-) In my daily life I am a graphic designer. You have to stick more to the briefing of customers then. This project is more playfull but has similarity with graphic design.

For instance the kitchen object face of 1 june, you can use this idea for a cookbook.

I discovered that the faces are great to animate see: 'The moving rope face'

This one was great because it became a little art piece. I put a print en fabric face in a little coardbox

This theme 'the cotonstick faces' is one of my favorites I have to make 365 of them ;-)

Last but not least. I got in contact with a lot of other people by this project including this blog!

See all of Anja's faces HERE.

365 Music Project

Brandy D in Minneapolis, Minnesota was inspired by Skull-A-Day to start her 365 Music Project...

She explains: I spent countless days, watching, observing my friends and coworkers submit themselves to the music that was selected for them by industry giants.

As an advocate for local food and business, I wondered too if we were missing an opportunity with music. While a majority of America was busy eating up whatever was dished out, I saw that we were losing a bit of ourselves in our music. While the idea for the project rolled around my head for a number of years, it wasn’t until 2010 that I made my first attempt at putting it into action. The plan was simple: tweet a new song each day, don’t highlight the same artist twice in one month, and make every attempt to select artists not considered mainstream.

The idea seemed simple enough. But as the project progressed, the brevity of it all became increasingly clear: I needed to do much more that simply tweet one song per day in the hopes that maybe just one person would discover this artist. No. I needed to become an advocate for these artists as well.

So almost 100 songs into the project, I stopped. I deleted my twitter account with all the followers, all the songs, and simply walked away. Unsure if I would ever resume or retry the project again.

After the cajoling of a friend, it became clear that I needed to give the project another go. But this time things would be different. We would not only have Twitter, but Facebook, too. And a blog so we could review concerts, albums, and post pictures. Even a contributing writer or two.

And that’s where it stands today. A project that will hopefully link 365 different songs with 365 new fans.

Why did you decide to do this project?  To me music is as enriching as art. To stay within the parameters of the project, I must devote countless hours to seeking out new music and artists. I am very methodical about which songs I post and when, oftentimes trying to coincide them with world events or local concerts.

Selecting one song a day seems easy enough, but give it a month or so and it starts to wear on you! : )

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This is my second go-round with the project. In all honestly, I originally left it because I was in the process of getting a divorce. This is significant because one of the strange by-products of this project is that I can play through these playlists and literally remember every single day of that particular month. This is an odd revelation and, I must say, highly unique experience. (I scrapped the project originally because I didn't want to remember every single day of that experience).

Oftentimes it's hard for us to remember what we made for dinner last week, so listening to a playlist from two or three months ago and remembering the events of that particular day, followed by the next and so forth is highly unique but sorta cool, too.

Hear all of Brandy's musical selections HERE.

Through the Forest in 365 Days

Michelle Kavanagh from Glasgow, Scotland is making a tree a day and going Through the Forest in 365 Days...

Why did you decide to do this project? I have just finished a college course in Model Making and 3D design. I have been unable to find model making work but still have bills to pay and I was worried that, if I ended up in a job that was not creative then all the valuable skills I had developed would be quickly lost. I wanted to do something that would keep my creative juices flowing but that I would also be able to persist with at those times when a dull job would leave me tired and uninspired. The stories of other artists on the 365 website really resonated with me and I thought it seems to have really helped them this could help me too.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has given me true hope. It has allowed me to have faith and confidence in myself. I have tried many tricks, timetables, planners, books etc. and yet every time I would encounter difficulty, either creatively or just through everyday life, I would hit a brick wall and whatever I would be working on would fall by the wayside.
Doing this project has been so different. At times when I have finished work late and been really tired I have still managed to complete a tree. If it had been any other creative endeavour I would not have found the energy to work on it when I was feeling exhausted. Admittedly some of the trees are better than others but even that is a gift. Somehow doing this project has allowed me to break through the mental wall built by my perfectionist nature. Often I worry about what I will make my tree of on a particular day but then, as soon as I actually sit down to make it the idea comes to me. In fact I have found myself with a particular idea/material in my head or hand and then at the last minute I spot something else that makes me think “let’s try that”. I love it when that happens because it says to me that the possibilities are endless and that I don’t need to be afraid about my abilities.

See all of Michelle's trees HERE.

365 Art Journal

Dianna Malinao in Fullerton, California is doing a 365 Art Journal. She explains, "For my 365 project I am working in a journal everyday and creating art. My art journal is mixed media, it's where I can get messy and explore new techniques and ideas without worrying about being perfect or just right. This is a learning process and a way of discovering what I can do without limitations. Each day I work in my journal, sometimes it's simply painting a background and other times I'll complete a whole page. Since I work full-time I felt completing a journal page everyday would be too demanding for my schedule."
 

Why did you decide to do this project? I learned about art journaling when I started watching youtube videos by Teesha Moore. She does a lot of collage and cool pen work in her journals that I really admire. I started out creating a mini journal. When I finished it I made a larger one and have been doing my 365 project in that. At first I didn't really understand what art journaling was and I mostly added paint for a background and then did a border around the page and would add some doodles here and there. I left the background mostly blank because I thought I would use this journal as a regular journal....well that traditional idea flew out the window once I started looking at other how to videos and exploring other peoples art journaling. Art journaling has become a new way for me to express myself and what I am feeling that day or years ago. There is a fun and healing quality to it for me all at the same time. Once I have completed a journal page I feel very satisfied looking at the final page. Half the time I can't believe it was something that I created!

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  I am committed everyday to do something with art which has been amazing. I am no longer spending too many hours watching TV. I have loved all kinds of art since I was a kid. I corchet, scrapbook, make beaded jewelry, draw and just about anything else I can get my hands on. Working in my art journal everyday has been a learning process, it is where I throw out my self-doubts and tell my perfectionist critiquing to take a hike and enjoy the process of making art. As I progress with this project I am realizing and using more and more of my potential and learning about myself at the same time. I really enjoy the process of painting, gluing and getting my hands messy. I use everything from tissue paper to bubble wrap to home made stamps. It's all about being creative and not worrying about making a mistake and pushing yourself further even when you like what you already have. I have tendency to put myself in a box because it's where I feel safe and that's where my perfectionist self rules. With art journaling I am free to explore and do as I please and push myself to do more without limits.

I have found an online art journal studio for women called Wild Precious Studio, and have made some wonderful friends there. There is lots of ispiration to be found in this studio, everyone is supportive, caring and encouraging. Some of my journal pages are inspired from journal prompts and other e-courses at that online studio. To view the content you have to be a member but it is free to join. I have also started doing art journaling with a friend and teaching her how to do it, there are no rules in art journaling, but she is used to painting with oils. I have even taught my sister about art journaling and she has made her own journal to create in. I have enjoyed sharing my art and my journal pages with friends and family. Everyone has been supportive and encouraging.

See all of Dianna's journaling HERE.

Trinket a Day

My friend Beth Brown in Richmond, Virginia is making a Trinket a Day...

TRIN-KET: noun - a small ornament, piece of jewelry, etc., usually of little value.

Why did you decide to do this project? Long ago, in a lifetime that feels oh-so-far-away, my husband and I made jewelry and small crafts and sold them out of the back of our car. The experience was a grand adventure, allowing us to live a carefree and nomadic life for a while, but it left us with tons of leftover supplies when the journey ended. I hung on to all of those materials for over a decade, so it seemed the most logical place to begin a daily project - by using what I already had on hand.
 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This daily project has been an overwhelming reminder that something huge can be accomplished in tiny steps. Spending five to ten minutes a day, letting my brain quiet down and have a bit of creative fun, and then watching this enormous cache of finished work build over a few months has been sobering to say the least.

Gone is the age of using the excuse of "I don't have time today." I've also found that I look at every little thing I encounter (even garbage) as a potential piece of a trinket!

See all of Beth's Trinkets HERE.

And be sure to check out the new book Richmond Macabre that Beth co-edited with fellow 365er Phil Ford (and features a cover designed by me!).

Toy-A-Day

Joe Tanaka Chiang in Singapore is making 365 DIY paper toys at Toy-A-Day. Originally a daily project started in 2008, Joe now periodically makes a toy to add to the collection, all of which include a downloadable PDF so people can make their own!...

Why did you decide to do this project? At that time I had a lot of spare time at hand, so I was looking for ideas to do something to spend my time. At the same time, I did not want to start something too difficult so I thought making a paper toy using a simple template was the best solution. Also, I could share the templates easily with anyone as I did not want to do something too self-indulgent.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project certainly changed my life in unexpected ways. Toy-A-Day was featured by popular sites like Gizmodo, Technabob, Super Punch, and the official Star Wars blog. I certainly did not expect to have thousands of hits a day when I began this project.

One of the more unusual things that happened was getting an email from Disney asking me to remove all the characters belonging to them within two weeks or they would send in their lawyers! I had no choice but to comply. However, that was not the end of the story. A few months later, I got another email from Marvel (which is owned by Disney). This time round, they wanted to commission me to design several Marvel characters for a new magazine they were starting using the same templates! I have since gone on to have a good working partnership with them.

One of the things that made me feel worthwhile doing this project was when I received some photographs from a school teacher in South Korea of little children having fun making paper toys from my templates on Children's Days. That really made my day!

See all of Joe's toys (and make them yourself!) HERE.

Doodle Daily Follow-Up

I've decided to periodically check back in with some folks who have completed their 365 projects...

Warren Beinart recently passed the 800th day mark on The Doodle Daily project which he started on June 30th, 2009. 

Why did you continue after the end of your first year? I kept the project going, because I was having so much fun.  I have also met some really amazing and creative people along the way and they would be most disappointed if I broke my streak.

What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project so far? I learned that I have a creative, artistic side that I had never truly explored.  Even I am surprised sometimes with what I produce.  I have also enjoyed the routine of having to create something new on a daily basis and ensuring it is posted regularly.

In what ways has the project changed your life? I am more disciplined.  The project has given me a creative outlet that I have always wanted to explore.  I enjoy sharing my artwork with others.  I would really like to get my work published, so that I can influence others to unleash their own creativity, without being afraid.  So a book is definitely in the pipeline (I just have no clue where to start).

Do you ever foresee this project coming to an end and do you have any other projects in the works? I will keep going as long as it does not become stale and I am able to produce new work.  A spin off from my project was to engage others to share their artwork, which I would in turn post online.  In doing so, I created the "World Doodle Challenge" and invited followers to share their own doodles with me.  I have since received countless pieces from all over the world.  My quest is to gather 1,000,000 doodles (which I know is a rather tall order) my motto is to "Unite the world one doodle at a time"   I have been fortunate to be featured on local radio i the DC area, so my aim is to go national with the challenge and help get me closer to my goal.

The project has also helped my grow my graphic design and social networking business.

See Warren's original 365 interview HERE.
And see all of his doodles HERE.

Have you finished your own 365 project? I'd love to hear from you!

A Stamp A Day

Gertie Jaquet in Amsterdam, The Netherlands is making a Stamp a Day.   

Why did you decide to do this project? I'm a children's book illustrator who loves making stamps.
For many years I've been making them, just to relax between my illustration commissions, but I thought time had come to show them to the world. I like the personal challenge of this everyday project.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Many different stamping themes came to me during the year, some better than others, but many of them I would never have discovered without this 365 days project.

All the nice reactions I have got, sheered me up and stimulated me to go on.

I'm doing a lot of stamp carving workshops with people who have seen my blog and want to make their own stamps.

More and more I am using stamps in my illustration work.

Here an example from a flamenco fairy tale picture book I'm working on:

On holidays a 356 project can be a bit tricky, but luckily my daughter showed me how to program blog-post for many days in advance!

See all of Gertie's stamps HERE.

365 Characters 1 Mira

Mira Kaufman in Atlanta, Georgia is making 365 Characters 1 Mira...

Why did you decide to do this project?  I read the "Skulls" book with 125 of the skulls made on skulladay.com and I was really inspired! I love art and I wanted to hoan my skills as an artist. I'm only twelve so I thought doing something like this would really improve my artwork. It makes me commited to sitting down and drawing or painting or something everyday. Sometimes it's hard to make yourself start an art project, but with 365 projects you force yourself to do it. Now I'm really happy drawing something new everyday, and sharing it with my friends. I have only been going for about a month, but I hope I can stay on track!

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has definitely made me more organized. Juggling homework, sports, and the 365 project has made me think out my day, which may help me in the future [just maybe..]. Also doing this project has let me find lots of other awesome people who are doing 365 projects as well. I can see what they are making, and I get so inspired by their work.

I also love having all this artwork around my room. Whenever I need to decorate i just take one of the pieces I've drawn and stick it there.

Doing a 365 project is awesome, and right now I'd encourage anybody to do it!

See all of Mira's characters HERE.




 

365 Drawings

Jess Hale from Brooklyn, New York is making 365 Drawings...

Why did you decide to do this project? I completed a graduate program in Illustration in 2005, and weeks later I landed a gallery job in New York City where I've been working ever since. I went several years (about 5) where I didn't have the willingness (or perhaps courage) to draw. The daily drawing blog was a last ditch effort to revive this dying studio life. 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? (feel free to include some specific examples of new/unusual things you've experienced)   I think it changed my relationship with fear and how it affects the creative process.  Through this 365 project, I began to more objectively see the ebb and flow of my creativity. I used to be terrified of the ebb.  Now I feel like I can ride out the ebb, and there's a flow right around the corner.  And that next flow is not going to be anything like a flow of the past.   Also, the creative ebb is not a scary monster who will take away my ability to draw.  This has helped me to let go of expecting myself to  "be really great..  like that one time, when that one flow was sooo awesome!"  I think this fear of the creative ebb had me in the aforementioned place of not creating anything for 5 years..

Another result is that I'm less precious about the things I make, and I'm a heck of a lot quicker on my feet when it comes to ideas.   Not knowing what the next drawing will be has been an amazing exercise in letting go of control. There's also a humor in what I do now.. and maybe this was there all along, buried in fear - The rhythm and urgency of the project has had a squeeze effect - extracting out the most authentic parts of what I've been meaning to say all along.   I hated to word "Cartoonist"  before - but now I am starting to use this word to describe myself, and I don't mind it one bit!  (Granted, I'm new at it..  not always as funny as I think I am at the time)

I would like to join a writing group and begin the process of writing a graphic novel.  I don't know how that is going to look, but I feel committed to the idea, one day at a time!  I don't think I would have seen this as a possibility had I not gone ahead with the blog.   The blog has taught me about perception and possibility.  

See all of Jess's drawings HERE.

Unstuck: Sneek Preview!

I'm very excited to finally give you a first look at my new book Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio!

It's coming out in November from Voyageur Press who also published 365: A Daily Creativity Journal. The format is very similar to 365, but in Unstuck it's all about getting an immediate creative jolt from doing one of 52 short projects that are arranged by time commitment from 30 seconds to several hours.
And it's designed to be used by everyone from artists to professionals, from teachers to young people.

The book also features interviews with a dozen of inspiring people and how they deal with their own roadblocks to creativity.

In addition there are sidebars with even more projects to get your creative wheels turning.

And as with 365, Unstuck includes plenty of blank space to use as you see fit!

The book will be in stores officially on November 15th. As always I recommend supporting your local independent bookstore if you still have one, but if not you can also pre-order at Powells, Amazon.com, Qbookshop, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters/Indigo.

Too see even more of the book, check out the extensive preview HERE.

And I'll keep you updated as the release date gets closer and as book signing events are announced.

365 Merit Badge: Napkin Moustache A Day

Phil has won a 365 Merit Badge with this video about his Napkin Moustache A Day project...

Follow Phil's progress on his blog HERE and see his original interview for this site HERE.

And don't forget you can get a merit badge of your own just by making a short video. Details are HERE.

Flow likes 365

Flow magazine from the Netherlands recently interviewed me for an article about daily projects!  I can't actually read it, so hopefully I make sense in Dutch...

 

The article also features interviews with the creators of several other projects that heave been featured on this site including A Granny A Day, 365 Jars, and Peggy Tourchette's 365 Birds.

The magazine itself is really beautiful and features a bunch of cool things inside, including a giant wall chart with 365 ideas and sources of inspiration including a whole bunch of other projects by folks that have been on the site (and many that haven't).

If you can read Dutch I highly recommend getting a copy of this issue for yourself. More info is HERE.

365 Days of Zen Meditation

Matthew Lepold in New York City is doing 365 Days of Zen Meditation...

He explains, "My goal with this project is to meditate a minimum of one 25-minute period every day for a year. The focus and discipline of it is to pay attention to how I am doing; am I serious enough to do it daily? After each session is complete I log it in a spreadsheet and make any necessary notes."

Why did you decide to do this project? I began practicing Buddhism in 2009 and I see this as an opportunity to deepen my practice. I meditate regularly but find it too easy to skip days here and there.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I am trying to understand myself on a deep level and use Zazen meditation as a tool for self-transformation. For me, meditation creates a larger space within which I can more deliberately choose my response to challenging circumstances. It takes longer for me to get angry and I don’t react as much to adversity. I only started to track this project a few days ago, and already it’s been interesting to observe myself try to justify skipping a day.




photo: Noah Scalin

Tephyr's Garden

Tephyr Burgess in Hancock,  Massachusetts is going to try to do one different challenge a week, starting this week with 5 Days/ 5 Canvases...

Why did you decide to do this project? Ten years ago I was diagnosed with Leiomyo Sarcoma: considered a terminal disease. I went through a lot, as you can imagine, and when done feeling sorry for myself I made a 180 degree turn in my life and returned to doing studio art. (I’d been a teacher of Medicinal and Metaphysical Herbalism and ran a small herb business).

I’ve been working even harder to get my creativity kick started and had heard of other artists doing similar projects and always thought I’d like to try one but felt daunted by a year commitment. Partly as I go through stages where I don’t feel well or going through treatment and so really can’t commit. But I realized I could do small ones when I am feeling up to it.

I also did Julia Cameron’s Artist Way and worked with a Face Book group doing the same and have found a lot of inspiration to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve had my blog for some time but it had never occurred to me to write about my art work. I’ve also started posting my work on my Face Book page as well as an online Art group I belong to.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Well.. I just started. This is only my second day. But so far I’ve loved it and I look forward to sitting down and getting one done. And rather then get in the way of other projects I seem to be able to focus on them more. Like the little canvas projects are warm ups.

I’ve been so enthused about getting into the studio to do them I changed my daily schedule of getting my house hold chores done before the studio and now head to the studio first. Then, after, I do all that stuff we have to do so the house doesn’t fall apart; which so far it hasn’t. I think it’s good for me to change my perspective that the art comes first; mundane stuff can wait.

See all of Tephyr's canvases and future projects HERE.