Afros 365

Unicia R. Buster in Richmond, Virginia is making Afros365!

She explains, "I am creating an Afro (one of my favorite natural hairstyles worn mostly by African-American people) everyday for a year. I started the day after my birthday (July 26). I came across Skull-A-Day by Noah Scalin by chance while out for my birthday. I was immediately inspired. My goal is to create 365 Afros using different materials or discovering different ways of using familiar materials for each day."

Why did you decide to do this project?  My creativity comes in spurts and usually show up in various art forms. For a month, all I want to do is dance. Then the next month, nothing. And then the following month, I want to sew. It's never anything consistent within a year and my inspiration or motivation comes strong for the first few days and then falls off for weeks. After buying Skull-A-Day, I was inspired not only to create but to stick with it. Having the blog motivates me because I know people are watching - even though they are small in number - and I don't want to disappoint. It holds me accountable. Creating each day takes a bit of pressure off, ironically, because I'm forced to just focus on the moment - not some tedious, way-down-the-road-from-finishing project that easily deters me from completion. I'm also forced to post whatever I come up with, some things being wonderful and some not so wonderful. That has definitely boosted my confidence in my work, especially when people give feedback.

How has doing a daily project affected your life? It has forced me to think outside the box. I work as an art specialist at VCU Health and doing arts and crafts is a part of my job. I visit with patients and their visitors twice a week to do a project. The project has to be something that takes less than 30 minutes to complete, utilizes a minimum amount of materials and results in a pleasant experience (whether they trash it or not). Patients often feel out of control of their situation and this gives them something to have some self-empowerment. Patients, unfortunately, also often are a bit groggy or even grumpy due to their medication and/or situation - understandably so. So, my projects have to be easy to complete but still pleasing to the eye. After being here for 4 years, it's easy to get into a rut and run out of new and fresh ideas. This project has given me that boost. Since starting this project, I've been able to apply some of the creativity to projects with patients. Even projects that seem only appropriate for childhood, turn out to be fun and exciting for patients of all ages (like working with construction paper or painting rocks).

It also has increased quality time with my son. He and I are almost opposites in terms of interests. He loves playing outdoors, soccer, bike riding, playing video games - your typical boy stuff. I on the other hand only enjoy art - dance, drawing, sewing, etc. However with this project, he, on some days, gets more excited about what kind of Afro I'm going to do today than I do. It has surprised me. And some of the techniques I've tried, he's wanted to try as well (like melting crayons).

I can say that this project has brought us a little closer together.

And lastly, this project has taught me that with the proper motivation, I can stick with something for longer than 30 days. I've surprised myself. I thought after a month, I would be unmotivated and kind of forget about it (as I've done with my four other blogs). There have been days, I wasn't able to post (I don't have the internet at home), but I am determined to catch up on the posts even if I have to borrow someone else's computer to do so. One of my other blogs is about doing the Konmari Method (named after Marie Kondo who wrote "The Japanese Art of Tidying Up"). During this process, I have discovered all kinds of materials that I would've never thought of had it not been for this project. Everything I touch, literally, I think "how can I make this into an Afro."

After this project is done, I plan to create a beautiful portfolio of long-term works that I actually complete applying the same motivation and principles.

See all of Unica's afros HERE.

365 Bikes

Brian Gibbs  in Lydney, UK is making 365 Bikes!

Why do this project? I took part in your workshop in New York and enjoyed the experience so much. I wondered how I might be able to make use of my re-discovered creativity to improve my work and home life. I discussed the workshop with friends and showed them my 30 horses that I’d created in 30 minutes – they encouraged me with great feedback, which inspired me further. I made the decision to start the project when I realized that I might be able to inspire some engineer colleagues to be more innovative and free-thinking if I showed them what I was doing and it’s worked – some of my colleagues have launched ‘Idea of the Week’ – suggestions for new products that we share amongst ourselves and even with potential customers.

 

How has the project affected my life? First, the amount of interest, encouragement and genuine enthusiasm I’ve experienced in feedback from others has been truly amazing and invigorating. Friends & colleagues who I’ve told about the project have given me new ideas, prompted me when my bike is an hour or 2 late, and been keen to tell others about my project…this is a new experience for me and is immensely rewarding.

I’ve discovered the delights of Instagram and have a growing band of followers, many of whom give me daily encouragement and feedback.

The project has improved my confidence. It still amazes me that people are so interested in my distinctly average art, but they really are and it’s thrilling to have so much support. One or 2 people have even offered to buy pictures from me!

Word of my project has spread amongst colleagues and I’ve been asked about it numerous times. Each time, when I tell them about the workshop, your own story of 365 skulls, and why I’m doing this project, the reaction is brilliant and I usually get another follower (although some are scared of Instagram).

The best thing is that I’ve inspired others to start their own projects. On day 5, I made ‘People Bike’ with 85 colleagues and several of them started their own projects the same day. I’ve even had friends, family and kids creating bikes.

The whole experience has been uplifting and massively rewarding – and it’s only Day 24!

Follow Brian's progress on Instagram at @365Bikes.

Make and Let Go

Sarah Westeren in Columbia, South Carolina is releasing her work into the wild daily in Make and Let Go...

She explains, "For some time, I have wanted to start releasing my tatted butterflies (tatting is a form of knotted lace made with a shuttle or needle) into the wild in order to spread unexpected cheer. I spent the first month or so making butterflies, so that I would not run out faster than I could make them. Over the next year I will release at least 365, leaving them behind for friends or strangers to find. Each butterfly can be worn as a pin or necklace, and comes attached to a sheet that describes what tatting is, that the butterfly is a piece of free artwork to keep or give away as desired, and a link to my blog should the lucky finder wish to tell me what they decided to do with the butterfly (contact is entirely optional - I will be happy with mystery, as well)."

Why did you decide to do this project? So many people I love are in crisis - pain, illness, stress, loneliness. Sometimes all it takes is one smile, one moment of cheer, to help make someone's day better. I consider my butterflies a tiny gift with no strings attached (pun intended!). It's a way for me to say, "You are a unique and irreplaceable being, and deserve happiness and joy."

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I enjoy having a reason to pick up my tatting every day! After only a week, I already find myself examining my surroundings with a different eye, looking for a grey area (or a beautiful one) where I could sneakily place a butterfly. My photography skills are mediocre, and I hope to see those improve through the year as well. The blog will feature photos of the releases to start, and hopefully expand to some book reviews and projects for readers.

Follow Sarah's progress HERE. 

Sonny Pictures

Sonja Schoemaker in Almere, The Netherlands is shooting photos of things that are pink every day in her project Sonny Pictures...

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to start the 365 pink project in the time I had lost my job. I wanted to learn more about photography and my Nikon camera and to keep myself in to a daily creative motivation.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? My project is today 159 days old. I haven't missed a day of shooting a pink picture and I already learned a lot of things like tenacity and proud. I have started to look different at things. Documenting my daily (pink) pictures is like a diary for me. It keeps me positive and motivated. For me it is a lot more than just shoot a photo a day.

To help myself at non-inspirated pink days I got by with a little help from my Matryoshka dolls. They are already my dearest friends.

See all of Sonja's pictures HERE. 

What's On My Table Today

Ana Belchí in Valencia, Spain is sharing a picture of her work daily in her project What's on my table today.

She explains, "The only self-imposed rule is to take a photo every day, no matter the time; or if the work is finished; or if I'm in the studio, at home or on the road lecturing. At the end of the year I will ride a video with them all. And we can see how my work change over time or if I work in a different way depending on the season. Or if my own style evolved over short or long period."

Why did you decide to do this project? This is something that commits yourself to work every day. When you work as a freelancer in a creative job is really easy to procrastinate and lie yourself saying things like "Oh I'm in creative storm now and I can't sit in front of my table to work'". I have a Picasso quote "Inspiration exists must it has to find you working" all the time in my mind so take a picture every day helps a lot to avoid laziness.

On the other hand it is something that allow you to understand the way you work. If your process is organized or anarchic. Or if you focus on one project from the beginning to the end. At the end it could help to analyze the way you work.

Besides My job is also teach is something I propose to my student to help them to improve their creativity. Some of them have joined to the project also.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project is now in its third part, and I can feel that something has changed in my way of working.

I feel excited to decide what time is most important in my day or what is most representative.

I notice that I'm [prone] to procrastinate, so this is improving my desire to be sitting in my workbench. I take long work days and I have to programs some alarms on my mobile to remember that I have to eat or pick my son from the school. So I'm meeting again with my inner passion.

My creativity has grown also, and I have a lot new ideas that born while I'm working

I also realize that some of my students are more confident with their work.

I appreciate the feedback I have from the social network. I realize from the very first step if a new collection works or not. Before doing this I worked in a full collection and show when it was completely finished. Now I can dismiss or modify and idea depending of the feedback I get.

At the beginning of the project I was always focused on the final video. That was the goal, but now this feeling has change I don't care about the final "product" I'm enjoying the road.

See all of Ana's work HERE. 

Diana's Writing Challenge

Diana Joiner who is "floating between Baltimore, MD and Ocean City, MD" is creating a Writing Challenge inspired by my book. 

 

She explains, "A friend of mine sent me your book all the way from Vienna to remind me to continue working on my craft. I was amazed by the different projects and artwork that resulted from your 365 challenge, but I’m no artist. I’m actually god awful at art; I’m way better with words. So, instead, I decided to start a fictional story and build on it with each challenge, incorporating the task into the next plot development. Some tasks I use in a different context to flow with the story, but I’ve loved seeing what I’ve come up with so far. I’ve got a historical cult-conspiracy on my hands; who knew that would happen?!"

 

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to do this project to challenge my creativity and myself through writing. I’m going through that awkward, mid-twenties where-is-my-place-in-this-world phase in my life and needed something to “lose” myself in that was a fun, but applicable, release from all the stress. Plus, it was time for me to write a new badass story. I was overdue for that.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It’s given me a whole new sense of confidence and imagination. I’m taking my writing to the next level, staying open-minded, flexible, and inventive in what I come up with. The fact that I’m also posting my story little by little on my website for people to see my progress has been scary, but also encouraging. I wasn’t expecting people to be so invested and curious to know what happens next, so their engagement has been my virtual cheerleader urging me to keep going. Plus, it's holding me seriously accountable, which is like an additional challenge in itself.

 

Follow Diana's story HERE. 

Daily Story Seeds

Scott Walker in Los Angeles, CA is creating Daily Story Seeds. He explains, "DSS is a free daily email containing a story seed: an idea for, or the beginning of, a potential story. Daily Story Seeds usually include an element of the fantastic, even though they’re often inspired by factual posts/podcasts I’ve come across."

Image by Conor Mayling

Why did you decide to do this project?

It was a gradual, and almost unintentional, decision.

I often come across articles in Feedly that spark ideas for stories. In late February, I read a post about a Buddha statue that was found to have a mummy inside it, and I thought it would be so easy to grow a story out of this little seed. So I shared the idea over Twitter:

"Today's #storyidea 'Scan Reveals This Buddha Statue Has A Mummy Inside' http://bit.ly/1EhuNgl"

By the next day, I had decided I would tweet a story idea each day, changed the hashtag to #storyseed, and posted this:

 

“Today's #storyseed: 'The Grand Godzilla Hotel.' Godzilla is the new bellboy at a distinguished hotel. http://bit.ly/1AGvtJx“

A few days later, I realized these daily tweets were getting lost in the the Twitter stream, and I was also hitting the 140-character Twitter limit. So I talked to a few folks who had responded to my daily tweets and asked them if they would sign up to receive them via email. They said yes, so I set up a Mailchimp list, worked up a serviceable logo, and officially launched Daily Story Seeds.

I would say this started as an idea I had to share publicly and formally (i.e., a Daily Story Seed) something I was already experiencing privately and informally (i.e., I would have inspirations for stories each morning while going through my RSS feed).

While it took me a week or so to figure out exactly what Daily Story Seeds should be, the decision to turn it into a 365 project happened almost instantly, and the reason was simple: I have long been searching for a 365 project that was (a) manageable, (b) fun, and (c) potentially interesting to other people. I feel like I stumbled into just that with Daily Story Seeds.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? (feel free to include some specific examples of new/unusual things you've experienced)

It’s still relatively early days (the official launch was March 4th), but I love the fact that I feel obligated to stick with this project. And sticking with this project has already helped me find new confidence as a creative. And *that* has given me a ton of inspirational energy to tackle additional ideas I’ve long wanted to complete (one of them is another daily project!).

Get Scott's Daily Story Seeds in your inbox by signing up HERE!

#CreativeSprint

Need a creative boost? 

 My art & innovation consulting company Another Limited Rebellion is offering a free 30-day #CreativeSprint to anyone who wants a fast, fun way to get their brains in shape this spring!

The challenge starts April 1 and all you have to do is sign-up HERE for our daily email prompts!

Stuffed Animal A Day

Rebecca Jackson has quite the creative family! She sent me the following note, "Inspired by his brother Den’s Lego a Day and my Robot a Day, my 11-year-old Rylan has now been working on a 365 project. He has a myriad of stuffed animals that he writes lengthy stories about (one such story is 51 pages long)—they all have names and personalities. So he’s featuring something to do with his stuffed animals each day." So without further ado, here's Rylan's project...

Rylan Jackson of Baldwin City, Kansas is creating a project called Stuffed Animal A Day!



Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to do this because I had great ideas and my brother and mother were doing it so I decided to do it. I also have over 80 stuffed animals so I have plenty of things I can do.

How has doing the project affected your life? It has affected my life by me doing it. Every day I do my blog in the morning so I can be done with it and I don’t forgot to do it. I do it right when I get up and that is why it affects my life. It makes me feel like I just can’t stop and I have to do it right away. And it’s fun to make something with them every day like them getting stuck or them just being funny.

Follow Rylan's progress HERE.

ArtFoodWine365

Katerina AKA Plateresca in Madrid, Spain is creating ArtFoodWine365...

Why did you decide to do this project? The funny thing is, I decided to get into a large and time-consuming project because I was overworked. I knew that such a project would make me find that ever-eluding time to spend with my art and writing, and when my husband gave me 365: A Daily Creativity Journal as a Christmas present, I plunged into it that very evening, and by New Year we had my website up and ready for the first 'real' post and the first prompt!

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I have only been doing the project for less than two months now and I hope that you ask me again in a year and I can boast some significant career changes owing to this project... But right now I can tell you that it is true that if you can stick to one habit, it makes it easier to go on with all the others. I was trying to draw daily last year, but missed several days almost every month. Since I've started my ArtFoodWine project, I haven't missed a day of drawing, though my blog doesn't always require me to draw something for it!

I do hope to find new friends via this project.

I think that daily blogging teaches us humbleness, too, because you have to share something even if you don't really think it's great, and it's not a bad side effect.

And I just like doing it, I feel more whole when it is my daily task to create and share something. Starting this blog was like coming back home for me!

See all of Katerina's posts HERE.

A Bird A Day

Stripygoose in London created a bird a day for a year from September 1st 2013 to August 31st 2014!




Why did you decide to do this project? I came across mailart 365, thanks to working alongside its founder, Andy Hoang, for a while, and was immediately interested. So I started making and blogging mailart every day for a year, and completed my first 365 in March 2013. I loved it so much I knew I wanted to repeat the experience and decided, as I’m stripygoose and drawing and collaging birds makes me happy, it had to be a bird a day. I was really tempted by the challenge of having a single theme for all 365 postcards.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It’s brought me a tonne of enjoyment and connected me with mailartists all over the world. Now, other mailartists send me bird art in the post and that’s wonderful too.

The happy-sense of achievement is a great feeling. The daily practice has a surprising and liberating effect, in spite of it being a routine. It also guaranteed that I spent time every single day doing something I like doing. That can’t be bad can it - sometimes it was only a few minutes, sometimes longer, but always worth it.

Inspired by all of this, I have started going to a fantastic, local community arts group and am amazed to say I have exhibited some of my art in galleries too. I’ve rediscovered a love of art.


See all of Stripygoose's birds HERE and HERE.

A Year in the Trees

Alycia Helbling in Portland, Oregon is creating A Year in the Trees.

Why did you decide to do this project? My main career involves helping others, and art is for me. I care for myself by spending time in nature, with trees, and by appreciating the Earth through spending time observing and translating natural things into art. Choosing to do a project every day has given me even more of an excuse to take the time to mindfully experience the natural world around me. Trees, in particular, have always been exceptionally important to me . They give me strength, oxygen and wisdom.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I see more. I notice every tree on my walks to and fro. I notice how the branches grow in different directions on different trees. I feel calmer and happier having spent more time observing and creating. I also have tried new mediums I had never thought to use, or have been nervous to try. Doing art every day has helped me dive in and get my feet wet more often and more freely. I am really grateful for what I have experienced so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the year.

See all of Alycia's trees HERE.

A Painting A Day

Matthew Langley of  New York,  New York  is making A Painting A Day!

Why did you decide to do this project? 2014 was a really creative year for me. Without expecting it, I started on a new body of artwork that has been received far beyond my modest expectations. At the same time it got me thinking about my work and how I have been pursuing new images in my work. I realized I was plowing through ideas at a fast pace and I got really energized by that.

This last December I had a show of my artwork at a gallery and had a great experience. One of the things I was able to do during the installation process of that show was to develop a deep conversation about painting with a fellow artist there. These conversations were very unlike other artist conversations. They were full of detailed technical approaches and open honest questions about the approach of both of our works. In short, they were a feast of knowledge gained by actually making art and listening to others.

I have become determined to expand this knowledge and I've decided to push it as hard as I possibly can for the new year. I have decided to do a painting every day of the year.

These artworks may come as quite a shock to people who have always viewed my work as being exclusively hard edged. During the course of this year I am trying to focus on approaching this work with openness, eagerness, and a lack of preconceptions of the final outcome. I’m hoping to find new ways of working and discovering qualities about my work that are currently unknown to me.

 How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  As far as life changing experiences go, I’ve been into this now for one month, so it’s very early to tell. While nothing has been exceptionally groundbreaking, there has been a sense of understanding of the tasks at hand and a freedom that has allowed me to loosen up my artwork and to let more in – as opposed to parsing more out. Currently that has been the biggest change – getting out of my own way and letting the artwork flow.

See all of Matthew's painting HERE.

 

Phobias

Matt Gruenfeld in Chicago, Illinois is creating a yearlong project about Phobias!

Why did you decide to do this project? I am a high school art teacher, and was given your book by my co worker (another art teacher who is also taking the challenge). I am primarily a 2-D artist that specializes in figurative work. I chose Phobias since there are so many (over 500), and I have always been interested in the quirks of the human mind/personality

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  I think that this has really helped me focus on creating something daily.  I love coming up with new solutions to the creative problems posed.  It has also helped in my idea generation outside of doing pieces for the book. For example, I have started a series based on the major arcana of tarot cards.

See all of Matt's phobia's HERE.