Monday, June 1, 2009

Day 1 of 100

A fellow blogger and artist and all-around inspiring person (Rowena/Warrior Girl) issued a challenge: create something for 100 days.
Another incredible artist (Amanda/Persistent Green, who also happens to be my daughter) told me about this challenge and lit a fire in me.




I had a zillion ideas of what I might do. That's my usual downfall: trying to do EVERYTHING I imagine doing and obviously being unable to do so and thereby "failing" before I even start. So, in addition to the joy of the project itself, I am also breaking new ground in making my commitment fairly simple: I will play with watercolors every day, in my new little playbook, and I will post what I do. The posting is critical, because before today arrived (the official starting date), I had already begun to diminish what I envisioned doing . . "it'll just be doodles . . not really art . . won't really qualify as something creative . . .blahblahblahblahblah."






So, I am posting today's play. I sat down with no conscious intention other than to swipe my favorite brush across my palette and lay same brush across the waiting page. What ended up on the page are seven shapes--seven often indicates "completeness" for me. The shapes are all distinct from each other--and the portions of my life seem pretty disjointed right now. What the shapes have in common is their vibrant color--same goes for the levels of intensity in the chunks of my life.






No clue whether I will "see meaning" in each day's doodle . . . this is just what I thought today.

It's sorta scarey, and at the same time liberating, to try a project with such simple expectations.



Thank you, Rowena and Amanda, for helping me start this. I'm excited about the possibilities.

2 comments:

Lauren said...

Way to go Maureen! I am fascinated by watercolors, but don't have an artistic bone in my body when it comes to paint & brushes. I look forward to seeing what you create over the next 100 days!

I already like just how vibrant those colors look. Delicious!!

Have a great day -- and congrats on a great start!

aquamaureen said...

Lovely to find your comment this morning, Lauren. And you just might be surprised at what kind of "bones" you have hiding inside you!!! I did NOTHING "artistic" until a non-trad college class a few years ago. I chose "some class" in the art field, to counterbalance the math classes I was taking. Fell in love with it all and have discovered parts of me I never knew were there. As much as I love and need words, sometimes something in me aches to be expressed without (or beyond??) words . . . that's where playing with color comes in. You've got me walking for the next 30 days . . . can I nudge YOU to pick up a crayon, colored pencil, even a tube of lipstick!!! and just twirl and swirl on a piece of paper with it????