Thursday, October 3, 2013

100 on the wall

Day 100 of the 100 Days Project was on Saturday 14th September. It was with a bit of anticlimax that I finished my 100th Sharpie drawing. I was wanting to do something really amazing, but in the end inspiration was lacking so I drew seaweed, something I'd drawn before, so it didn't even feel very original!

With two other local ladies who did the project as well, we arranged to hold an exhibition at a local shop and gallery, The Old Post Office Store in Upper Moutere. This involved a bit of media release and interview with the local paper. Amazingly I'm managing to smile for the photographer as I was four days post-op and didn't feel like posing!


I drew on A5 card which came in pad form, and it was quite a task ripping them apart. 100 drawings did make a lovely big satisfying stack.

Here's my blurb (written in haste the night before, as usual - my least favourite task):


Sally: 100 days with a Sharpie


At the beginning of the project I started with the following brief:



“Every day for 100 days I'm going to draw with my Sharpie pen. I'll be drawing on a piece of A5 card so I can use collage, paint, whatever takes my fancy - as long as I use my black fine point Sharpie pen.”



And that’s what I did for 100 days. I soon found I didn’t need to use other materials, that a Sharpie pen was enough.



Procrastination is the evil twin of productivity. While doing the project I had no time for procrastination (well not if I wanted to sleep), so it didn’t get a chance to lurk each day. So the flipside was that productivity reigned.



What I found hardest was finding inspiration. I’d like to say it got easier over the 100 days, but I’m not sure that it did! Completing the project has given me a resource of images to use in my art practice, something I can turn to when inspiration is needed.



I also learnt to trust my instinct and not to be too self-critical. So here are my 100 drawings, which took 100 days and 7 Sharpie pens.



Enjoy.
 


We hung the exhibition on 25th September, and it will be up until 28th October.  Well 'hang' is hardly the right word, it was more of like "masking tape them up". I shuffled my drawings and taped them up in random order. The wall made it interesting, with light switches, battens and other features I couldn't get anal about the spacing, I just had to keep on sticking them up, and down.



That evening we held an exhibition opening, and I was delighted that two of my drawings sold then. I had never planned to hold an exhibition or sell them when I started the project, so it all felt a little weird. But I'm getting over it, plus the sales should cover the wine and food expenses!

My favourite from the 100 days is day 89. It's the only plein air and "self portrait" drawing I did. I drew it while waiting for the kids at a sports day in Motueka. I found the seedhead from the pohutakawa tree and was going to draw it, but saw the shadow of my hand holding it on the paper and drew that instead.


If you have a favourite let me know as I will be giving those that don't sell away at the end of the month to my faithful followers. Yes you will have to be faithful, and a follower (with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin' or  Facebook), and because comments give me such a buzz, my regular commenters will get first dibs (well only if they want one!)

Here's the link to my Facebook page which has all 100 drawings in an album.

9 comments:

  1. I'm impressed by your determination, 100 days is no mean feat! They look great as a group too. I like both the ones you showed here-i thought the shadow one was a one tree hill! Are they all up on your facebook page or is there a group flickr pages we can see them on if we're not in the moutere district?
    They are making me want to get my ink and lino cutter out and make a black and white christmas card for 2013...

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  2. Oh Sally, they all look marvellous!
    I'm popping over to facebook now (hoping I can have a look-see without being a proper facebooker...)
    So...where's the pic of you smiling????
    Thank you very much for your generous donation to my Frocktober fund too btw, I really, REALLY appreciate it Sally :)

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  3. I've had a look Sally and I love them all. I began making a list of the drawings I liked the most, but that was ridiculous because I ended up scribbling practically all of them down - so if you decide to give me one of your sharpies (and I hope you do!) I'll let you choose okay x

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  4. ooooo looks so amazing! your giving them away!!! really???? well if you decide to then i have 2 clear favourites!! day 47 contained....the one that reminded me of motherhood and also day 88 strange fruit...reminds me so much of my 3 kids.....oooo love them all! It's been so fun watching you do this project, how i wish we were not on other sides of the world, i would have come for sure!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx

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  5. I have been eagerly awaiting this post, and I love it! That article about your project was so cool! All your drawings looks so wonderful up there on the wall. I am a HUGE fan of your work. My favorite is day 91 - the floral wreath (Day 15 - Feather II is a close second and Day 8 - Circle II is a close third!). Amazing job on this challenge! :)

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  6. Congratulations of reaching your goal! I expect it made a nice change to not have to do a drawing every day. Your display looks lovely- it looks like tiles on that wall. All your pictures are so lovely, I'm not surprised that some of them have been snapped up so quickly. You are so talented!
    Sarah x

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  7. Wow well done you! it takes a whole load of committment! they are awesome - just awesome :) and yay for selling a couple too :) I love love 85 and 91, but they are all fantastic :)

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  8. Wow, Sally, you are one talented woman. So glad you visited my blog because now I've found yours and I'm liking what I see. Your photos are amazing and I adore the purses you made in a previous post - the doily ones and the tapestry ones are inspired! xx

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  9. Sally just wanted to let you know you and your beautiful work made the Art-Stopping Sunday collection this week. Thank you for letting me watch this project unfold, it was a journey! xxxx http://textgeorge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/art-stopping-sunday.html

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