The 100 Day Project - 100 days of Biro

Hi there. How Are you?

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the practice of making on a regular basis. There’s been lots of reasons why I haven’t been making, but I decided there was no more time for excuses, I just had to give myself a creative push. 

On January 31, I started The 100 Day Project. In this global challenge, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating.
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Despite my worries about taking this on, I decided to just get started. No judgement. No pressure. Just intuitive making. ⁠

These 4”x4” little cuties serve as the backdrops for my ballpoint pen drawings.

The Plan

I cut up 25 or so 4" squares of mixed media paper and got to work making marks with acrylic ink. These little cuties serve as backdrops for my ballpoint pen drawings. I'll aim for one a day for 100 days. ⁠I’ve been using Amsterdam acrylic inks by Royal Talens. It works perfectly for my purposes as it’s a little transparent and can easily be drawn on top of with my trusty ballpoint.

My initial 4 drawings for The 100 Day project.

I’ve already had my ups and downs…

I’m 43 days into the challenge and I’m learning. Somedays these little drawings just pour out of me. Other days, it’s a slog and I’m ready to throw in the towel and give up. But, I haven’t. 

I’m keeping at it. I’m giving myself permission to make some bad art. I’m giving myself permission to experiment and grow with each tiny drawing.

Day 6 & 7 of my 100 Days of Biro drawings for The 100 Day Project.

Day 5 & 8 of The 100 Day project.

See it all on the “Gram”

I’ve been documenting all of my drawings in this series on Instagram. You can see all of the pieces I’ve make so far under the #100DaysOfBiro hashtag. I share openly there about my drawing struggles and my wins.

I’m working on uploading all of my drawings here on my website as well. Stay tuned.

That’s all for now.

My goal is to get back to regular blogging. I miss it!

Ciao, Jen

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Daily Drawing Complete!

Hi there. How are you?

My Creativebug 31 days of drawing challenge is complete! It was a great experience and I'm proud of the work I created.  Click HERE to see the first 12 days of drawings. Here's what I've drawn since I last posted:

Daily Drawing Challenge, Day 13-20, January 2016

January Daily Drawings - Days 21-26

January 2016 - Daily Drawings days 27-31.

So, I decided to make the Day 29 drawing the large one in this vignette, as I like it much better than day 31. I didn't have a whole lot of time to draw those phones, and it's not my most successful drawing. At least I still did the drawing, right?

What's Next?

I woke up on February 1st feeling a little bit of a letdown. With January's drawing challenge complete, I just didn't know quite what to do with myself!

There are actually 2 different February drawing challenges out there and I was planning on taking part in one or both. I sat down to draw yesterday and was just not enthused about either course. I guess I'm getting a little tired of someone else telling me what to do (although that was quite comforting over the last month. ) 

I've got my own subjects to tackle and I'm ready to get cracking on these! I want to do a special drawing so send out to my mailing list later this month. I want to draw wine and coffee illustrations to complement my beer tea towel design. I want to finish up my second coloring book.

I'm not going to give up the practice of drawing each day, and posting them on Instagram, but I'm going to draw what I want to. If the prompt in one of the daily challenges seems appealing, I'll draw it, but I won't feel beholden to the draw what's been prescribed for today.

That's all for today!

Ciao friends. I have to go draw. See you here next week! Like to see what I'm up to in the studio on a daily basis? Follow me on Instagram.

Daily Drawing Challenge and A Belated Happy New Year to You!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it's almost the end of January, but 2016 has been slow going for me. I'm finally getting into the swing of things, and now I am ready to kick some 2016 a$$!

I'm taking part in the Creative Bug 31 Days of Drawing during January 2016. Click to see all of my daily drawings.

Daily Drawing Challenge 2016

To kick-start my creative practice in 2016, I'm taking part in a daily drawing challenge, organized by Lisa Congdon, one of my artist heroes. Each day in January, she has selected a different subject to draw. It's been awesome to have someone tell me what to do, and I look forward to drawing each day!

But Sometimes It's a Challenge

Some of the subjects we've drawn this month have been totally in my wheelhouse. Drawing these root vegetables was a breeze. Other subjects, like watches and cats, were outside of my comfort zone and I had to really push myself to do the drawings. Even if I'd have varying degrees of success with these daily drawings, I've learned and grown much.

Daily Drawing Challenge - Days 7-12, January 2016

Follow Along on Instagram

I've been documenting each of my drawings on Instagram. I invite you to follow me there. It's been fun to see how other artists have approached the same subject matter. I'm learning as much from my fellow artists as I am from doing the drawings myself!

That's all for Now

I've got lots of big plans for 2016. Check back soon to see what I've got brewing. Ciao!