Read the entire article HERE.
Etsy likes 365
Thanks to the kind folks at Etsy who allowed me to share my advice about getting started on a 365 project on their blog!
Read the entire article HERE.
Read the entire article HERE.
In The New
For the year leading up to her 30th birthday Jen MacNeil decided to do one new thing every day in her In The New project...
See all of the new things Jen did in her year, and what she's been up to since then, on her blog HERE.
And read an exclusive interview with Jen in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now and can be ordered from your favorite local independent bookstore and at all major online book retailers.
See all of the new things Jen did in her year, and what she's been up to since then, on her blog HERE.
And read an exclusive interview with Jen in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now and can be ordered from your favorite local independent bookstore and at all major online book retailers.
Quilters Needed
And for inspiration check out Sarah of Rabbit-A-Day's own unique contribution which she made a part of her project!
365 Days of Heather
Heather Addley in Richmond, Virginia has set out to photograph herself (or at least part of herself) every day for a year in 365 Days of Heather...
Why did you decide to do this project? After trying a “failed” (I got about half way through the year) 365 project a few years ago I decided I was ready to give it another go. This time, with the support of friends doing similar projects and a new creative outlook on life, I know I can succeed.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I am constantly aware of what is around me and I always have my eye out for that perfect shot or idea. I am inspired by the littlest objects that I may have looked past before. Also, I am using this as a tool to get to know myself and my body better. As a woman who has always had body image issues I know this is going to help me look at myself in a new light and find beauty where, in the past, may have been shame or disgust.
See a lot more of Heather on her blog HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? After trying a “failed” (I got about half way through the year) 365 project a few years ago I decided I was ready to give it another go. This time, with the support of friends doing similar projects and a new creative outlook on life, I know I can succeed.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I am constantly aware of what is around me and I always have my eye out for that perfect shot or idea. I am inspired by the littlest objects that I may have looked past before. Also, I am using this as a tool to get to know myself and my body better. As a woman who has always had body image issues I know this is going to help me look at myself in a new light and find beauty where, in the past, may have been shame or disgust.
See a lot more of Heather on her blog HERE.
Beingwoman
My friend Bridget Gethins here in Richmond, Virginia started her Beingwoman blog back in 2006, but it was just this past December that she decided to make it into a daily project in which she answers the question "What did women do in the olden days and how come we don't know about it?"...
Why did you decide to do this project? I ran a poll – completely unscientific – in conversation I have been asking the question for the last 4 years. "Did you know Mrs. King, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mother, was shot, murdered, assasinated? 99.9 percent answer NO! June 30th, 1974, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA. Sunday Service – Mrs. King at age 71, was playing The Lord's Prayer on the organ and a crazy man from Ohio walked in and shot her dead! This should be common knowledge. AND this is the tip of the iceburg. I am so surprised every day at the amazing lives women have lived. So the saying "Women are written out of history." It is true. And so we need another way to look at the events of the world – "Her-story!" Maya Angelo spoke of "she-ros" So, I say as many others Her-story.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This blog has profoundly affected my life – it is over-whelming at times. But, it is also – thrilling, amazing, exciting, and I am brimming with ideas and stories – I have been writing a play about it. "Mrs. King was Shot!!" And each day I drift off to this world of mystery- because women are so left out – it is has the excitment of uncovering past. And hopefully I am helping to make the future aware of her past.
Another woman who amazed me- August 3rd, 2006. I was searching and came across, "First female rabbi born this day in 1902, Regina Jonas." So, I followed the trail. Rabbi Jonas was ordained December 25th 1935 in Berlin Germany. I could not find a lot on her, but there was educational book that was published in 2003-ish in Germany and I ordered it. Regina Jonas was an amazing human being. Like Mother Theresa. I just Googled her and now she is all over the place! But, in 2006, my blog was one of the first sites that popped up about her. So, I have an idea that the blog helped put her-story on the map. Rabbi Jonas is in a ton of blogs now. And that thrills me.
The impetus for writing it was to support a performing arts group called The Women's Mercury which was founded by Bridget and her partner Keri Wormald.
Learn a lot more about "her-story" on her blog HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? I ran a poll – completely unscientific – in conversation I have been asking the question for the last 4 years. "Did you know Mrs. King, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mother, was shot, murdered, assasinated? 99.9 percent answer NO! June 30th, 1974, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA. Sunday Service – Mrs. King at age 71, was playing The Lord's Prayer on the organ and a crazy man from Ohio walked in and shot her dead! This should be common knowledge. AND this is the tip of the iceburg. I am so surprised every day at the amazing lives women have lived. So the saying "Women are written out of history." It is true. And so we need another way to look at the events of the world – "Her-story!" Maya Angelo spoke of "she-ros" So, I say as many others Her-story.
(image via Mike Glenn Collection)
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This blog has profoundly affected my life – it is over-whelming at times. But, it is also – thrilling, amazing, exciting, and I am brimming with ideas and stories – I have been writing a play about it. "Mrs. King was Shot!!" And each day I drift off to this world of mystery- because women are so left out – it is has the excitment of uncovering past. And hopefully I am helping to make the future aware of her past.
(Regina Jonas image via: Jewish Women's Archive)
Another woman who amazed me- August 3rd, 2006. I was searching and came across, "First female rabbi born this day in 1902, Regina Jonas." So, I followed the trail. Rabbi Jonas was ordained December 25th 1935 in Berlin Germany. I could not find a lot on her, but there was educational book that was published in 2003-ish in Germany and I ordered it. Regina Jonas was an amazing human being. Like Mother Theresa. I just Googled her and now she is all over the place! But, in 2006, my blog was one of the first sites that popped up about her. So, I have an idea that the blog helped put her-story on the map. Rabbi Jonas is in a ton of blogs now. And that thrills me.
The impetus for writing it was to support a performing arts group called The Women's Mercury which was founded by Bridget and her partner Keri Wormald.
Learn a lot more about "her-story" on her blog HERE.
Snow Globe 365
Amy Whitehurst of Glen Allen, Virginia was inspired by my Skull-A-Day project and 365: A Daily Creativity Journal to start Snow Globe 365...
Why did you decide to do this project? I think snow globes are cool, especially the ones made of glass. The reflections caught in the glass globe are interesting enough to keep a project going, but I'm putting my subject in various surroundings, interacting with different people to insure a fun and easy 365 of fun.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I'm only 5 days in, but it has encouraged me to pick up my camera every single day which will make me a better photographer. Photographing glass is tricky, and has made me focus more on the technical working of my camera including proper metering and lighting, so that the flash is rarely used. With a daily project, I wake up each morning and think about what I will I do with my globe today. My entire family is supporting the project and they often find themselves saying, "That would make a cool picture!" My four year old son noticed the snow covered railroad trestles on the James as we crossed the bridge on 195. He told me it was a great shot and we needed to pull over. I sure wanted to, and though we couldn't stop on the interstate, but I love how seeing my interest in photography and my daily use of the camera has encouraged them both to see more creatively.
Follow Amy's snowy progress on her site HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? I think snow globes are cool, especially the ones made of glass. The reflections caught in the glass globe are interesting enough to keep a project going, but I'm putting my subject in various surroundings, interacting with different people to insure a fun and easy 365 of fun.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? I'm only 5 days in, but it has encouraged me to pick up my camera every single day which will make me a better photographer. Photographing glass is tricky, and has made me focus more on the technical working of my camera including proper metering and lighting, so that the flash is rarely used. With a daily project, I wake up each morning and think about what I will I do with my globe today. My entire family is supporting the project and they often find themselves saying, "That would make a cool picture!" My four year old son noticed the snow covered railroad trestles on the James as we crossed the bridge on 195. He told me it was a great shot and we needed to pull over. I sure wanted to, and though we couldn't stop on the interstate, but I love how seeing my interest in photography and my daily use of the camera has encouraged them both to see more creatively.
Follow Amy's snowy progress on her site HERE.
Art Every Day
My friend Jennifer Gorman decided she should make Art Every Day!...
Why did you decide to do this project? The conversation we had at Germanna [Community College] when you visited campus sparked my interest in a project like this. It really got me thinking, could I make something everyday? Could I open a conversation with others in the community? Could I make my voice as an artist any clearer? I'm pretty broad on what counts as 'art every day' sometimes its a meal, a painting, a poem or a sketch. That has kept it fun and fresh for me. And while it seemed simple at first, and is in theory; totally different story around a real life.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has really changed the way I think about the everyday tasks that lay before me. I try and see how I can do something different, and make it into art sometimes. I've also kinda been inspired by different forms of self-portraiture, mostly photos, but some days when what I actually worked on doesn't inspire me, or didn't have a chance to do what i wanted, I'm able to artfully take a self-portrait as my art...what a different view of myself I get from that. I'm currently working on a self portrait series of mixed media because of this realization... that I may have never considered before this project.
I have actually met a ton of people through Art Every Day. Folks I never even knew were interested in art have come out of the woodwork to tell me how much they enjoy, how inspired they are, and how much fun it is to make something, and share along in the make every day experience. The community building around this project has been the most fun.
I'd be remiss if I didn't add that – it's a lot of work. Not necessarily the making art part, but the posting part! Life happens, exams, births, weddings, funerals, some of those days I don't post, although I have made something, I feel a little guilt, but get over it pretty quick and move on. It's the journey, not the post about the journey that matters.
See all of Jennifer's Art on her site HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? The conversation we had at Germanna [Community College] when you visited campus sparked my interest in a project like this. It really got me thinking, could I make something everyday? Could I open a conversation with others in the community? Could I make my voice as an artist any clearer? I'm pretty broad on what counts as 'art every day' sometimes its a meal, a painting, a poem or a sketch. That has kept it fun and fresh for me. And while it seemed simple at first, and is in theory; totally different story around a real life.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It has really changed the way I think about the everyday tasks that lay before me. I try and see how I can do something different, and make it into art sometimes. I've also kinda been inspired by different forms of self-portraiture, mostly photos, but some days when what I actually worked on doesn't inspire me, or didn't have a chance to do what i wanted, I'm able to artfully take a self-portrait as my art...what a different view of myself I get from that. I'm currently working on a self portrait series of mixed media because of this realization... that I may have never considered before this project.
I have actually met a ton of people through Art Every Day. Folks I never even knew were interested in art have come out of the woodwork to tell me how much they enjoy, how inspired they are, and how much fun it is to make something, and share along in the make every day experience. The community building around this project has been the most fun.
I'd be remiss if I didn't add that – it's a lot of work. Not necessarily the making art part, but the posting part! Life happens, exams, births, weddings, funerals, some of those days I don't post, although I have made something, I feel a little guilt, but get over it pretty quick and move on. It's the journey, not the post about the journey that matters.
See all of Jennifer's Art on her site HERE.
The benefits of 365 at C3's Breakfast Club - Richmond, VA
I'm the guest speaker at this month's Breakfast Club hosted by C3 here in Richmond, Virginia on January 18th.
I'll be speaking about the benefits of taking on a yearlong project and the story behind 365: A Daily Creativity Journal.
This early morning event is from 7:30–9am
and costs $15.00 which includes a catered breakfast.
It's at The Corrugated Box Building
201 West 7th Street
Richmond, VA
For more information or to register go HERE.
I'll be speaking about the benefits of taking on a yearlong project and the story behind 365: A Daily Creativity Journal.
This early morning event is from 7:30–9am
and costs $15.00 which includes a catered breakfast.
It's at The Corrugated Box Building
201 West 7th Street
Richmond, VA
For more information or to register go HERE.
Hello, The Future!
Blue in Washington, DC is recording herself performing a new song (many of them originals) every week for a year (while sitting on her kitchen table). She calls it Hello, The Future!...
Why did you decide to do this project? I used to be a musician, and I got tired of not being one anymore. More specifically: I knew that if I started a project like this, something interesting was bound to happen and I'd be a changed person by the end of it.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Doing Hello, The Future! has, surprisingly, made me much more honest both with myself and with other people. There's a phenomenal change that comes with realizing that people are actually listening to what you have to say (or sing, in my case). If you put something out there and someone listens to it, the next thing you put out there is that much more honest and true. And then you realize that people connect to honesty and authenticity, and it's so amazing for a person like me who was always a little afraid of being herself.
I have made so many friends and met so many wonderful people doing this project. It's also opened up a number of performance opportunities; I even released an album, Infinity Right Now, and there's likely to be a second album in 2011. The whole thing has been just a gigantic amazing wonderful experience; and "hello, the future!" is exactly the best title I could have given the project.
Watch Blue sing all of her songs on her site HERE.
Why did you decide to do this project? I used to be a musician, and I got tired of not being one anymore. More specifically: I knew that if I started a project like this, something interesting was bound to happen and I'd be a changed person by the end of it.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? Doing Hello, The Future! has, surprisingly, made me much more honest both with myself and with other people. There's a phenomenal change that comes with realizing that people are actually listening to what you have to say (or sing, in my case). If you put something out there and someone listens to it, the next thing you put out there is that much more honest and true. And then you realize that people connect to honesty and authenticity, and it's so amazing for a person like me who was always a little afraid of being herself.
I have made so many friends and met so many wonderful people doing this project. It's also opened up a number of performance opportunities; I even released an album, Infinity Right Now, and there's likely to be a second album in 2011. The whole thing has been just a gigantic amazing wonderful experience; and "hello, the future!" is exactly the best title I could have given the project.
Watch Blue sing all of her songs on her site HERE.
365 Short Stories
Ara Pehlivanian in Montreal, Quebec, Canada decided to write 365 Short Stories (or story fragments) over the course of a year...
Why did you decide to do this project? I've been wanting to write fiction seriously for a long time. I'd only dabbled here and there but hadn't done any of the substantial writing I'd always envisioned doing. So I bit the bullet and decided to write something every day for a year. I see it as an opportunity to hone my ability while entertaining friends and getting feedback.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It hasn't affected me too much, except for the daily demand on my free time. That being said, it's shown me that it's something I really want to do as I haven't grown bored or tired of it yet – which I often tend to do with projects.
Read all of Ara's stories HERE. Be sure to click on the post titles to get the full stories!
Why did you decide to do this project? I've been wanting to write fiction seriously for a long time. I'd only dabbled here and there but hadn't done any of the substantial writing I'd always envisioned doing. So I bit the bullet and decided to write something every day for a year. I see it as an opportunity to hone my ability while entertaining friends and getting feedback.
How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It hasn't affected me too much, except for the daily demand on my free time. That being said, it's shown me that it's something I really want to do as I haven't grown bored or tired of it yet – which I often tend to do with projects.
Read all of Ara's stories HERE. Be sure to click on the post titles to get the full stories!
Young House Love likes 365
Thanks to my friends at Young House Love for the nice mention of 365: A Daily Creativity Journal on their "We're Digging" sidebar...
Skirt likes 365
Skirt Magazine kindly included 365: A Daily Creativity Journal in their Skirt Loves section!
See the post HERE.
Painting a Day Series
My friend Greig Leach made (and sold) a Painting a Day for a year in 2007 and has started the project up again recently...
In Greig's words: The original idea was to create works on to post on ebay on a daily basis to gain a wider audience for my work and to earn a small additional income. What has been discovered was a whole new genre of subject matter to work from. The need to find subjects finally took me out into the garden to paint from the flowers that I have been struggling to cultivate. This not only led to a extended and continuing investigation of small scale plein-aire floral paintings, but generated the ideas for numerous full scale floral works the majority of which have found their way into private and corporate collections. The project has created numerous works but more importantly has informed the full scale works and driven the creative growth by the constant rapid fire subject, color and compositional development.
The project was begun in mid 2007 and ran for about a year but had to be set aside during the economic down turn of early 2008, by mid 2008 a years worth of work had been completed but the desired audience development could not be realized. So now that there is economic life and at the request of previous watchers and purchasers I have decided to restart the project. With the development of readily accessible social media, I am still presenting the works for sale through ebay but using facebook as the more direct marketing approach, allowing a wide spread audience of friends and strangers to view the works and follow the project as it progresses.
Check out Greig's daily paintings either on his Facebook fan page or on eBay.
In Greig's words: The original idea was to create works on to post on ebay on a daily basis to gain a wider audience for my work and to earn a small additional income. What has been discovered was a whole new genre of subject matter to work from. The need to find subjects finally took me out into the garden to paint from the flowers that I have been struggling to cultivate. This not only led to a extended and continuing investigation of small scale plein-aire floral paintings, but generated the ideas for numerous full scale floral works the majority of which have found their way into private and corporate collections. The project has created numerous works but more importantly has informed the full scale works and driven the creative growth by the constant rapid fire subject, color and compositional development.
The project was begun in mid 2007 and ran for about a year but had to be set aside during the economic down turn of early 2008, by mid 2008 a years worth of work had been completed but the desired audience development could not be realized. So now that there is economic life and at the request of previous watchers and purchasers I have decided to restart the project. With the development of readily accessible social media, I am still presenting the works for sale through ebay but using facebook as the more direct marketing approach, allowing a wide spread audience of friends and strangers to view the works and follow the project as it progresses.
Check out Greig's daily paintings either on his Facebook fan page or on eBay.
Daily Monster
Not every daily project has to go for an entire year. Stefan G. Boucher chose to make a Daily Monster for only 100 days and still had a ton of great things come out of it (including have a book published of his work!)...
Stefan still makes monsters on occasion and you see them on his blog HERE.
Look for an exclusive interview with Stefan in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now and can be ordered from your favorite local independent bookstore and at all major online book retailers.
Stefan still makes monsters on occasion and you see them on his blog HERE.
Look for an exclusive interview with Stefan in my new book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal which is in stores now and can be ordered from your favorite local independent bookstore and at all major online book retailers.
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