Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., printmaking | Tags: boston, New Year, New Year's resolution, Project 365
Happy New Year! We had a LOVELY 50 degree day here in the Boston ‘burbs. Yummy! Why can’t winter be like this all the time? Oh yeah, then there would be no snow, ever. Bummer.
So, I’m wondering if I should jump on this “make-some-kind-of-thing-every-day” bandwagon. Here is a link to a blog about this kind of thing. I know. It’s a good thing to do. Basically, you commit to creating something every day for a year. In fact, I believe that my brother is going to do this…by creating at least one photograph per day. I’m interested in this whole idea, as I hope that it would push me to make something every day, and not be so precious about what I do. Some days, I hardly get any time to myself. I use that as an excuse as to why I haven’t created anything. But, maybe that’s kind of lazy! Maybe I just need to make something…ANYTHING, regardless of how much time I’ve had to make it. In the spirit of this, I made a print, which took less than an hour. I know. It LOOKS like it took less than an hour. Who cares. Here it is:
I know. Not so good. But, considering that I would probably have not bothered with it at all, as I had so little free time today…I think that it’s okay. Not great, but okay. Just THINK how much “stuff” I’ll have if I can keep this up! I may even learn something! Hopefully, some of these creations will be reasonable. I originally thought that I could make several things in one day…and then keep some to use on those days where I don’t actually do anything. BUT, now I see that this is really defeating the purpose. I really do need to push myself to make something every day. Even if it turns out lousy.
Is this my New Year’s Resolution? I guess so. I originally thought that I would try to be “less grouchy”, but perhaps I should work on that anyway.
Okay…signing off here. Here are some photos I took this week when we had heaps of snow and sunshine. Doesn’t it look lovely out?
[okay. I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I messed with that print again. Here it is again:
I think that it looks worse in the photo, but better in reality…okay, I’m cleaning up now…]
3 Comments so far
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slightly wonky 
The print are beautiful, more so because they were produced with spontaneity without that intimidating self-analyzing, critical phase. A project a day might prove to be freeing and allow your talent to take the lead, without your head monitoring each design.
The photograph of the rocks with the single oak leaf is great!
Comment by Jean Kostojohn January 2, 2011 @ 9:48 amThank you! I’m hoping I will be able to experiment more…as I may not really want to do something similar day after day.
Comment by slightlywonky January 2, 2011 @ 10:43 amGO FOR IT!! some of the best blogs (the ones that have gotten film and book deals) have been 365 blogs (Julie Powell, Jane Roper, to name a few) plus, who knows what you’ll force yourself to create in a short window of time (like your mini books or fabulous prints) You could also make progressive art or multi-layered art: start a print one day, add another color another, etc. In many cases, you’re already doing this. I love the picture of the layered snow, it reminds me of the tiered rice paddies in Indonesia, except much colder, and white.
Comment by growingmuses January 2, 2011 @ 3:51 pm