January Reception
Saturday, January 6 / 2-4 PM
Many artists commit to a daily creative project during their career. The daily project honors the creative process, allows the artist to expand, and creates space for a new artistic direction to emerge.
On January 1, 2017, I started a mixed-media project called a Drawing a Day. It is a promise to myself to allow time every day to do what makes me happiest — create! The only constants to the daily drawing is the size of the paper (7” x 7”).
To inspire me, I base my work on the metaphor of Landscape — internal and external. This process gives me a chance to reflect on my day: the good and the not-so-fabulous. The vulnerable and the wonder-filled, plus everything in between. Sometimes the drawings are representational, and sometimes I have no clue what is emerging.
Finding the time to make a drawing a day was challenging on occasion: starting too late in the evening, or after a beer, while sitting on a plane, or being the last thing I do, at night.
Each drawing has its own energy; some come out quickly and some ask for hours to be birthed. Wanting to honor the time and space for this Drawing A Day project, I sit and wait for the drawing to emerge.
This 365 project has been shared daily, or at least when I had an Internet signal — to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The show opens on day 337 and will close on day 363 of the 365 days.
This exhibition will be the first and only time the project will hang all together.
As a process-oriented creative experience, I hold a few guidelines each time I draw:
Put something down on paper everyday.
Let my intuition lead the way, not my mind.
Allow what wants to show up — to show up.
Follow the energy and don’t worry about the outcome.
Let go of expectations of how it should look.
Let go of art jargon, composition, color harmony, and any other rules . No erasing or covering up because I don’t like it. That includes wanting to start over.
The last question I ask the drawing — Are you done yet? I keep following the energy of the drawing until a sensation of stillness, peace, and contentment moves through my body. Then I know the drawing is complete.
Am I done yet? I will ask myself this question on December 31, and see whether I plan to draw every day throughout 2018.