Tag: year of creative habits

Year of Creative Habits 2017: The Curious Cartographer

topographical-iceIt took a while for me to settle on this year’s creative habit. I first leaned towards a doll project. As a pushback against post-election ugliness, I wanted to do something that reminded me of childhood, something with an element of pretty, of sweet.

But, in the way of creative projects, signs revealed to me what I would do instead. Signs like ice at the edge of the beaver pond that Oskar and I cross almost daily. Ice that looks a bit like a topographical map.

If maps are on your mind. And guess what? They’ve been on my mind. Maps as a way of telling stories, maps as a way to remember, maps as family history and myth.

And so I am excited to embark on my 2017 Year of Creative Habits project: The Curious Cartographer*.

Here’s the goal: each week I’ll research and produce a map that tells a story from my life, my family history, world events, my imagination. To ensure my success, I’ve set up a weekly system, starting on Saturdays:

Day 1: Decide what story to map and decide on a map style.

Day 2: Determine any landmarks to be included and gather reference pictures. Make reference map if mapping actual places.

Day 3: Sketch landmarks.

Day 4: Draw map; add color.

Day 5: Add landmarks and any additional color

Day 6: Ink and letter.

What about day 7? I’m leaving myself a little wiggle room in case any of the drawing, inking, or lettering takes longer than I expect. My goal is to produce 52 maps this year, and I’m sure this system will change and be refined.

Want to see my first map?

map1

You can follow my progress on Instagram–I’ll post every day using #curiouscartographer2017. And you can check out other Year of Creative Habits projects here.

Tell me about your creative projects for 2017, willya?

 

 

 

 

*Not drawn to scale.

Lesson from a Failed Project

Remember that Postcard Project back in the innocent days of 2015? Maybe one landed in your mailbox? That was me, making a thing every day and feeling pretty dang proud of myself a year ago.

qb2Remember last year, how I purchased a cool daily agenda, came up with a kickin’ project name, and then failed? Well, you might not remember the Quotidian Bones fail because I never really talked about it. I kept hoping I’d get my QB mojo back. I let the unexpected loss of a good friend derail me. I gave in to the glum, the ennui that sometimes follows loss. I’m not here to bring you down, though. Nope. It’s a new year, and there’s a new project.

A project born from the lessons learned by 2016’s fail. It’s not like I didn’t meet up with loss in 2015. The difference was that in 2015 I used my project to help me through the loss. Last year? I didn’t want to tell the stories of losing Kurt. I shied away from them. I have weeks where I drew a thick black line on the page.

And you know what? I wish I’d kept doing that. Kept making marks. Because I know eventually I would have been bored by the thick black lines and would have wanted to make something else. That’s how freewriting works, and I’m a fan of freewriting. Even if I have nothing to write, I just keep writing. Sometimes I write “this is dumb” a zillion times before my mind softens and something more interesting emerges. In 2017 I want to remember to transfer the principles of freewriting to my project.

Oh, the project? It’s a doozy! I’ll tell you all about it on Friday (the Quotidian Bone picture is a hint!).

2016 Year of Creative Habits: The Quotidian Bones Project

Quotidian BonesBoy, oh, boy, do I love a project, especially when I figure out a smart name for it. Late last fall, I signed up for Crystal Moody’s Year of Creative Habits class. Crystal became an important mentor and model to me over the last few years (go look at her work, sign up for her newsletter–you won’t regret it), and I welcomed the chance to continue the momentum I built from the #2015postcardproject.

After freewriting in response to her prompts, I had the “Eureka!” moment–you know how it feels when idea hits and you realize it is a good idea, right? That happened.

See, back in late November, I was catching up on The Moth. I can’t find the podcast episode to link for you, but one of the storytellers talked about his method for finding his stories: at the end of every day, he opened up a spreadsheet and wrote one sentence that would serve as a prompt for the story he might want to tell from that day.

Did that rock my world? You better believe it. Then I got all mournful about missing making visual art every day. I know myself well enough to know the #2015postcardproject habit would slip away if I didn’t give visual art a new project. And I thought about a few ideas for illustrated stories for adults I have. And: Pop! Bang! Bingo! Hot Dog!

I had it. I would build from the postcard project. I wrote about whatever came to mind for that, and the text was not always a story, nor always related to the image. This new project would connect the two.

Here’s the plan:

At the end of each day (typically before I fix dinner), I will decide what story I can pull from the day. I’ll make an illustration and write a sentence (ok, I’ve already got entries with short paragraphs) to remind me of the story. Once a week, I will develop one of the stories either as a narrative poem or a flash prose piece and make a bigger illustration for it.

I checked in with a few people to see what questions they had about the project…here they are, with my answers:

  1. What’s the deal with that notebook you’re using? It’s a Hobonichi Techno planner. I bought it thinking it would replace my moleskine bullet journal, but I can’t quit my grid. The Hobonichi’s paper is Tomoe River paper, which is super thin yet stands up to a lot–so far, my crow quill pen and india ink, walnut ink, and watercolor.
  2. What do you hope to get out of a daily project, beyond the product? Maintaining the habit of making visual art every day is important to me as is developing the skills and “visual voice” to create the illustrated stories I have in mind. I have a little piece hanging next to my desk that reads “Great Creator, I’ll take care of the quantity, you take care of the quality.” I made it when I worked through The Artist’s Way back in 2001. The project is one way I’m committing to taking care of the quantity.
  3. Do you have the idea when you wake up in the morning? Nope. I let the day unfold and see what might make a good piece for the day. Since much of my life is routine (by my choice!), I have to be more observant than usual some days to find a story.
  4. What’s with that name? On New Year’s Day, after our hike and the after-party were done, I asked Neal to help me brainstorm ideas for what to call the project. I wanted “daily” something, but I didn’t want to use “daily”. I thought the word quotidian, which not only means daily (but fancier! With a “q”–my favorite letter after “z”!) (yes, I have favorite letters, don’t you?) but also “ordinary or everyday, especially when mundane“. Since my daily life is generally (by my choice!) a bit on the mundane side, this seemed perfect. We talked about the purpose of the project, how I planned for it to work, what I hoped to get from it. “Skeletons,” Neal said. “You’re building skeletons of stories.” I loved that, but didn’t like the mouthful of “Quotidian Skeletons.” A little more brainstorming, and we hit on “bones.”

I’d love for you to follow along with not only my project, but the super cool projects of my peers–follow hashtag #yoch2016 on Instagram to see the work we’re all doing. Daily.

Let me know if you have any questions about the Quotidian Bones Project or tell me about your own habit building projects for 2016!

#2015PostcardProject: a review of daily creative habits

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The Final Card

I’ve had a little time to reflect on my #2015PostcardProject, and here’s what I have to say about it:

  1. I did it! I made and mailed 366 postcards–I messed up the numbering at some point, so I made two on the last day.
  2. I experimented with a lot of techniques and media, from watercolors to acrylic ink to bic pens. My favorite technique is an ink drawing with watercolor details added.
  3. I developed a style. What started as a need for a model who would always be available when I was ready to draw (many a selfie card went out into the world), along with facing my fear of drawing faces, grew into a love of making my illustration people.
  4. I forgave myself. A few times, I missed a day and made it up later. The first time it happened, I almost quit the project. And then I didn’t quit. A few times, I made a card so lame that I was embarrassed to send it, but I sent it. And then I tried to make a less lame card the next day.
  5. I like working in series. I had a calligraphy series, a doodle series, a very lengthy famous faces series…whenever I had a series going on, I felt a little more excited about sitting down to make my card.
  6. I made some folks happy. People like mail! I sent to total strangers who later wrote beautiful notes about how much getting a piece of friendly mail meant on that day. Perhaps most exciting, my mom–known for being no-nonsense about clutter–framed the card I sent her. And I even got a few postcards back in return!
  7. I did not dig documenting the project. Originally I intended to post a gallery at the end of each month like I did in January. I did take a picture of all the cards, and a lot of them are posted on Instagram.
  8. I fulfilled my goal of not dropping out of drawing (or painting) once my semesters got busy.
  9. I had fun. I enjoyed trying out new skills as well as imagining my cards wending their way around the world.

If you have any questions about the project, leave a comment. I am happy to share whatever information might be helpful to you!

Book Review and Give Away

One of my favorite spaces online is Crystal Moody’s Year of Creative Habits. Crystal’s posts are thoughtful, educational, inspiring. Her FaceBook group is one of only a few in which I find myself actively participating–she’s created an encouraging space for fellow creative folks.

A few months back, Crystal sent me an extra copy of Chris Guillebeau’s The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest that will Bring Purpose to Your Life. I read it as I ate breakfast each morning–it’s easy enough to pick up and put down when you want something to read for a short while. I found myself inspired by the variety of quests he shares, his own included. The book is less of a blueprint (because your quest won’t be the same as the quests in the book), and more of an encouragement to live the damn life you crave, even if that means doing something a bit off the map.

I’m a woman who loves a project. I enjoy testing my ability to do something for a sustained period, to challenge what I think I can do and push through to what I can actually do. Guillebeau’s book reminded me: do that more.

To build on the creative spirit and generosity that prompted Crystal to send me the book, I’d like to pass it along to one of you, my dear readers, with the condition that after you read it, you do the same.

If you’re interested, leave a comment telling me about a quest you’ve undertaken or long to undertake. Next Wednesday I’ll randomly pick a name and mail the book to you next Friday.

ETA: Kym is the book winner! Thanks to all who left comments–your quests are terrific!

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