Stone Lanterns and 100 Day Projects

A love of series and the importance of picking a "just right" project.

Hello and happy Sunday!

We have to be careful not to let our own doubt, our fear, our worry eat away at us. We have to tune out voices that want us to believe there is only one way to think, to live, to be, to draw, to write. We have to be careful of things that make us lose our balance or our voice. We have to be careful, or we might look down some day and see just a pile of crystalline ash, the stuff of snowflakes unformed.

You matter. Your creative impulse, your voice, your vision, your insight, your perspective, wonky or not, matters. Don’t spend all of your time thinking that everyone else knows how to best walk the path. Your map is yours to draw, to fill with symbols, lines, stars, and arrows. The trail is yours to forge. Stand still when you need to take it all in, when you need to fish your notebook from your pocket to capture the contours, to record the beauty around you, the flash of a wing, moments of glimmer, the slant of the full moon through the trees. But don’t stand still because you are immobilized by others.

Wear earmuffs or ear plugs. Take a different road. Be willing to be lost or even wrong. Have faith in your intuition, in the depth of the waters within. Believe in the simple reality that there are no single answers, approaches, or strategies. Turn up the pink noise and breathe deeply. Fill your pen again and again.

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

— T. S. Eliot

Today, a few words for those thinking about choosing a series or doing a long challenge like the 100 Day Project.

Thank you for reading.

Amy

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Illustrated Journal Week 4 for 2024

My pages are still in progress for the week. This is a glimpse of part of Week 4 for #illustrateyourweek 2024.

Illustrated journal pages in progress. A. Cowen

Thinking About 100 Days

This is an update of a post from last year, my very first substack post. That post had been an update of an older post from my podcast blog. So, really, this is a set of nesting dolls, but it’s that time of year, and working in series is something I really value and find personally meaningful.

I tend to like gamifying my creative life. Or at least I used to. The pleasure in the counting and tracking has something to do with why I return to certain challenges year after year. At a deeper level, counted challenges unveiled for me the comfort in a series.

Today, my primary series is based on a year, a year broken into weeks, but I still do several other challenges each year. One that I consider each year is the 100 Day Project.

This year, the 100 Day Project starts February 18, 2024.

100 Day Projects Through the Years

I have done some form of "the 100 day project" a number of times. A few of those have been successful (whether I completed 100 or not). A few of the projects I picked didn’t really hook me for the long haul. At least once, I loved the project, but it just wasn’t the right year. Here are a few of the things I’ve done (some of which were in combination):

• I’ve drawn portraits.

• I’ve worked on daily panels in a “graphic novel diary” I was keeping.

• I’ve done daily slow stitching and freeform embroidery.

• I’ve used dip pen.

• I’ve used circles as a container.

• I’ve done contours.

• I’ve sketchnoted quotes.

• I’ve drawn and painted stone lanterns.

I’ve had some waffly feelings this week, but this list makes me long for some of these projects, long to be back in my creative skin in those years. I didn’t even realize how sentimental this list makes me until I was reading through again and tripped over the dip pen. In that stumble, I remember both the scratch of it, a sound that almost broke me, and the joy of it, the feeling of the art I created that year in my journal, all that precise, methodical hatching that was so intrinsic to my voice in pen and ink.

Stone Lanterns

Last year, my 100 Day Project involved drawing and painting a series of stone lanterns. Even though I didn’t finish, it was a project that captivated me.

The idea first appeared when I made my list (which is what I’m encouraging you to do). Although I was enamored with them every time I went to the Japanese Tea Garden, I didn’t even have the right words for stone lanterns when I first thought about them last year. I didn’t name them in my public post either. I kept the idea private as I considered it, a series of stone and light.

Illustrated journal pages with a stone lantern from 2023. A. Cowen.

I worked stone lanterns into many of my illustrated journal pages. I drew and painted some separately, too. I was hoping to use the series to experiment with watercolor. I didn’t finish, but the idea of this series still holds a soft spot for me.

Thinking Through the Options

I have pulled this post up every year for several years in a row, a cyclical moment of thinking, rethinking, and pondering. I like having the palimpsest of notes from earlier years that form the scaffolding for thinking about projects that might fit the current year. I am not starting with a blank slate. Instead, I've got some carefully placed guideposts and mile markers that help give shape to my thoughts.

Seeing how many projects I considered last year was really eye-opening. This year, I feel much more reigned in. This year, I found myself struggling to think of projects I would really consider. (I think the string of projects I let fade away in 2023 has given me a certain level of wariness. Maybe I’m just more pragmatic this year.)

What’s your gut-level response? When asked if you are going to do the project, what do you immediately think or say? When asked what your project might be, what do you immediately think about?

Your immediate response might not be what you end up doing, but it’s always a good idea to notice what immediately rises to the top when you think about living with a project for 100 days.

If you could open the door and dedicate a chunk of time each day to something, what would it be? A new medium? A specific subject? Something small you can tuck into your other creative routines?

What’s On Tap for 2024

In thinking about this year over the last few days, I realized with a jolt that this kind of project may not hold the same magic for me that it once did. Even so, the bit of time casting a net to see if there are any butterflies is always worth it.

Is your next favorite or pivotal or most important project one you will check off over a hundred days this year?

When it comes to brainstorming and evaluating series options, I have a simple list-oriented process that I think can be really helpful. (I’ll link to a step-by-step guide below.)

I pondered my list over the course of a few early mornings. My list was shockingly small this year. My current mix of creative projects happily take and fill my creative time. I'm not sure I can fit in something else that takes or splits my creative mind each day.

I am okay with not finishing, but if I decide to start a challenge, I do go into it with the intent to finish. So I am really careful about picking. I try to weigh the ideas, hold them to the light, and see if there is any sparkle, any echo within that tells me there is value in an idea or in doing this at all. 

Most projects have value or intrigue for a little while. But not everything has what it takes to keep you interested for the long haul. Finding something that excites you and is sustainable over many weeks is the needle in the haystack. But that’s what you’re after, the secret sauce.

What I’m Already Doing

Outside of my regular work life, I'm already doing or planning to do these, mostly small and interwoven, creative practices:

1. Working every day in my weekly illustrated journal

2. Using colored pencil (in my journal)

3. Exploring watercolor again (in my journal)

4. Knitting (multiple things)

5. Writing (this substack takes several days of work each week)

6. Podcasting (it’s still a part of me and something I am not ready to let go)

7. Weekly digital art graphic novel or diary comic panels (and/or weekly “list” panels)

8. Sketchnotes (my goals have shifted, but this is still part of my mix)

9. Practicing guitar

10. Weekly self-portrait

11. Running Illustrate Your Week and providing another year of weekly illustrated journal prompts

I work full time, and even though I work from home, margins are still margins. The list above looks exhausting to me. I removed some things from it so that it doesn’t look even more exhausting. I’m not complaining. I love my projects, but to add a 100 Day Project, I need to choose a project that:

1. I can still manage as an "extra" in my day (small enough to fit in and still allow me time and energy to do my other things)

2. Is toothy enough to feel like it is sustainable over the long haul (i.e., a project that is too simple would not hold my attention and would not be worth doing "just" to be ticking off the box)

3. Is doable and doesn’t require new things (and also, if necessary, has a ready supply of source material)

4. Is sharable (because being able to share my work gives me gentle accountability; I am more likely to stick with 100 if I'm sharing it)

5. Has some personal meaning or relevance (whether in the subject or in the process itself)

All of these matter. My bottom line is always that a project has to have personal meaning. Just counting to 100 is not enough for me. Ideally, whatever I do will fit in with my illustrated journal (rather than compete with it). The “toothy” issue is really important and has been a sticking point in years past. The “sharing” aspect is also important, and the current lack of engagement at Instagram is a definite stumbling block.

(Note: I generally share my list, but I decided not to this year. I’m really not sure I can manage the thing that most stands out on my list. It might be digital. It’s probably where I’m at.)

How I Think About a 100

I don't get caught up in "how to count" debates. If I start something as "a 100 Day Project," I'll do it for 100 days (or until I stop). I interpret "100-day" in a variety of possible ways:

• 100 days working on a specific project, skill, theme, or idea

• 100 days using a certain medium, tool, or color/palette

• 100 days of working on something, and it might be one single thing

• 100 days of working on something, and it might be that I make 20, or 50, or maybe 100

• 100 days of exploring something new, which allows 100 days of “learning” (of which “doing” is also a part)

• 100 days of working on a big project that meets personal goals and that devoting 100 days worth of effort and energy to will get it started, push it along, or even see it to completion

Doing the 100 Day Project doesn’t have to mean that you make 100 of whatever your project involves. Your project might be one that you work on for 100 days. This can be a very freeing perspective.

For example, I have several huge needlepoint canvases that we bought and started more than 20 years ago. (We wouldn’t even be able to afford these now, but life was different then.) I could work on one of them every day for 100 days, and, to me, that would be a wonderful project. It would be a project that would give me a “reason” to spend time each day stitching. It actually sounds like a cozy evening project.

I could knit in the same way, or quilt. These are not, however, growth projects. They aren’t toothy. They aren’t pivotal in terms of my art, and I’m a bit stuck in my ways. For the 100 days, I do tend to choose a drawing project.

I do think I should go dig one of those needlepoint canvases out. I wonder how far I might get in 100 days. (Would you like to see? They are Mary Engelbreit images, all of them.)

What Do You Want to Explore?

I've seen people do 100 days getting to know Procreate or exploring digital art, 100 days writing poetry, 100 days drawing a certain kind of object, 100 days of public speaking, 100 days in a certain medium, 100 days of rainbows, 100 days carving eraser stamps, 100 days vlogging or making reels, and so on.

Beyond popular picks like portraits, rainbows, and birds, is there a subject you want to explore? Thinking more broadly, you could:

• Write a haiku each day.

• Do morning writing each day.

• Fill in one square or circle each day. (You might consider the One Color a Day Sketchbook: A Daily Art Practice and Visual Diary by Courtney Cerruti.)

• Do a mindful doodle or Zentangle each day.

• Sketchnote a song each day.

• Draw daily affirmations.

• Try yoga and document the experience.

• Draw something you heard, read, or saw each day.

• Challenge yourself to post somewhere each day (e.g., challenge yourself to make an Instagram post or a Substack note)

• Work in an illustrated journal each day.

(➡️ For more ideas, see 50 Ideas for a Series.)

There are lots of easy answers, but I hope you look for a project with a bit of “tooth” for you personally. I think of this kind of challenge as a potential landscape for personal growth, a project that centers around a goal or skill you want to develop and can spend dedicated time exploring over the 100 days and celebrating what you learn, what you make, and what you discover.

Brainstorm Broadly and Consider Your Options

Coming up with a list is the first step to understanding what your options are for a series and what projects are calling to you. Not every idea you have will fit your objectives and goals, but when you write them down, it's easier to see what's what.

Lots of ideas are good ones. You might want to do them all at some point. But some ideas will work better than others for a long challenge.

Brainstorm and jot down all the ideas you think about in the days before you make a decision. Don't censor yourself. Even if you know some ideas are stronger than others, go ahead and write them all down. Then, when you reach a list that seems big enough, start narrowing in on which ones you are most interested in and which ones will or won't work — and why. Sometimes, as you go one by one through your list, the answer will be really obvious to you. You'll find or feel or see that spark. You'll feel pulled one way or the other.

If that happens, yay!

But don’t worry if it doesn’t. By progressively going through your list, you can flesh out your ideas and continue to narrow the list. Hopefully, in the end, you will be left with an idea you are excited about living with for several months.

Last year, I posted this piece, a step-by-step approach to brainstorming, evaluating, and choosing for a series:

Don't Let Fear of Not Finishing Make You Not Start

You shouldn't let fear that you might not finish dissuade you from choosing and starting a project. Pick something you think you will love. Start it. See where it goes. And if it turns out you fall off somewhere along the way, that's okay, too. You'll pick up your creative life with something else and move on.

I encourage you to think about a 100 Day Project. A “long-count” challenge can be a really good vehicle for encouraging and supporting daily art, for helping you deep-dive into a project or medium, and for helping you carve a sustainable creative practice.

Some Rabbit Holes

Looking back, I posted musings on possible projects in 2019, 2021, and 2023. I have also posted a good bit on working in series, especially in the context of the Index-Card-a-Day Challenge (ICAD). I talked many times about the “slice of life” contour series I did one year as a 100 Day Project. The year I combined circles and dip pen was also a pivotal year in my illustrated sketchbook.

A few posts or episodes of the Creativity Matters Podcast you might go back and listen to that are related to the 100 Day Project:

• 50 Ideas for Working in a Series

• Episode 439: Loving It (about the dip pen year)

• Episode 437: Do This, Then That

• Episode 356: Slice of Life

• Episode 331: Crossroads (about The Crossroads of Should and Must)

• 100 Days of Circles and Dip Pen (a journal flip)

I do love a good count, a good number, a good goal, and a simple but powerful way to give contour to creative practice and habit. 

Are you choosing a 100 Day Project? What are you doing for the 100 Day Project?

You can find out more about the 100 Day Project here.

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Read-Along

📕 Week 4 notes for Sidewalk Oracles

Illustrate Your Week

🎯🖋️ Week 5 prompts for your illustrated journal

Share the Love

Here are a few things I read this week that I really enjoyed, found thought-provoking, or found moving.

• Home is a Mug of Coffee: Part 1 (Candace Rose Rardon)

• Revisiting My Bucket List (Jo Linney)

• Once There Was a Haiku Robot (Jason McBride)

• The Great Watercooler Novel (Daria)

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Made It?

Thank you for reading today. I enjoy your comments, and you collectively shared a wide-ranging set of J words last week. I think we get a feel for one another through the words we offer.  Juxtapose showed up, which of course I love. The word has so much to do with how I string things together. What else might I add… jam, jasper, jade, jigsaw, and  juggle. Sweet, green smooth, fit, and balance.

Your J words from last week:

• Ja-Ikes (in a dictionary of one)

• Jabberwocky

• Jack

• January

• Jar

• Jaundice

• Jaunt

• Jaunty

• Jennifer

• Jettison

• Jingle

• Jittery

• Jockey

• Jocular

• Jolly

• Joviality

• Joy

• Jubilant

• JubJub bird

• Judicious

• Juju

• Jumble

• Jumpin’ Jehosephat, Judy

• Junco

• Junk

• Just

• Juxtaposition

As for the squirrels, raccoons, and turtles….you all surprised me!

Silly questions maybe make it easy to join in. There are no right answers. Everyone should feel welcome to comment in some way, to leave a little flag that you were here today, sharing coffee, reading a word or a thousand, and moving into your day.

• What color are your socks today? (Be honest.)

• What color do you wish your socks were today?

• Three words that start with K.

• What are you thinking about for 100 days (if you are)?

• Were there any surprises in your week?

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