final day: 30

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." --Leonardo da Vinci

though this particular 30 day challenge has ended, i'm just beginning. with what---your guess is as good as mine!

quick 30 day challenge reflection:
cons:

• unsurprisingly, developing & finishing a drawing everyday is tough work, even with clear basic rules to help take off some pressure. 
• it didn't provide a "warm up" situation for the day like i had hoped. these drawings turned into the main and only event, which still seems like not enough. at the minimum they took 45 minutes, at most and very rarely, 3 hours. i'm probably still in the "working long = working hard" mindset when maybe the actual minutes don't matter as much.
• i actually don't know what i'm going to work on next.

pros:

• i have much more done than i had 30 days ago.
• i even like almost 1/2 of them.
• leads into other ideas...i think. i mean---it must, right? maybe in a few days something will present itself.
• felt purposeful to have some accountability to myself...good practice in feeling worthwhile enough to keep promises to myself.
• a little more confidence that i CAN be self disciplined if i really want to be.

for a reward? maybe i'll FINALLY purchase this written by one of my favorite art bloggers, the jealous curator. she is really talented in so many ways, one being finding amazing artists and making a beautiful website i look forward to viewing on a regular basis.

day 29

"When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg." --Guillaume Apollinaire

i try to avoid quotes that use the word "man" to mean "human" but i made an exception this time. 

day 28

"The sadness of the incomplete, the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art."
--E. M. Forster

not feeling great today. allergies? a cold? can't really look down without my nose running all over the place. also feeling a little low--- just couldn't finish this today. hint: it wasn't going to be another blue circle in the empty space! or maybe it's done, i can't think about it right now.

day 27

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." --Helen Keller

another unintentional shape association: granny smith apple.

day 26

"If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable... we must be content to creep along the ground, and never soar."
--John Henry Newman

didn't occur to me while i was painting this that i was painting a caution cone. a flat one. i sorta don't mind that.

day 25

"Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it."--Hunter S. Thompson

day 24

"People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved."

--Anne Sullivan

not sure how interesting the results are, but i've got several more of this type in mind--though the traditional collage didn't work for me yet, they did lead me in this direction which i'm enjoying.

dang. i wish i hadn't outlined the entire triangle. and i wish it were on wheels.

and is it me or do the stairs and the ladder appear more "human" than the hair? i have more to say on that...but it probably needs to marinate a little longer...

day 23

"Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse." --Doris Lessing

the quotes started out as motivation for a handful of friends doing their own personal challenges, but they have become an appropriation for the drawings that i sorta like. even the cheesy ones.

day 22

"You have to accept the fact that sometimes you are the pigeon, and sometimes you are the statue." 
--Claude Chabrol

weeelll, this week's focus is emphasizing shapes more as 3D objects. i'm digging it so far. 

my intention was to eventually move beyond drawing and get more sculptural anyway: first staying with a fairly flat relief using embroidery and then who knows...paper shreds? hot glue as very dangerous modeling material? clay? string and starch? 

day 21

"The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it." --Dale Carnegie

i was dreading the last collage today so rather than that, i avoided it all together. this has a bit of felt tip pen in it and pencil. and scanner dirt.

day 20

"i'm undaunted in my quest to amuse myself by constantly changing my hair." --Hillary Clinton*

i'm unhappy with this and i'm stumped with the collages for now. it's making these past few days pretty painful to sit down and do anything with it. i still want to figure it out, but i'm not there yet. maybe it's the wrong combination of materials**, not good enough collage fodder laying around, my drawing limitations...maybe it has to be an actual built object?

i have one more left to do and then change things up for the last week.

*this is made more funny to me because i was told i looked just like Chelsea Clinton today. mostly because i had my hair down and curly.

**even the strongest and highest quality of glue sticks can't adhere to chalk dust. duh, vanessa.

day 19

"Perception is created and twisted so quickly." --Louis C. K.

probably falls into the "don't care for it" pile. 

i did cut out a couple of hairs and quickly took these photos, which i think i like better.

day 18

"What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his?" --Emile M. Cioran

day 17

"Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky."--Fran Lebowitz

i am about as good as a toddler when it comes to more delicate collages. i have bits of paper stuck on all my fingers, dirt everywhere on the paper and the inclination to have tantrum at any moment.

this one looks much better scanned--some of the mistakes and dirt blended away.

day 16

"There is no black-and-white situation. It's all part of life. Highs, lows, middles." --Van Morrison

i'll have to try something similar on bigger paper. and, graph paper is one of my favorite art supplies.

day 15

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." --Theodore Roosevelt

this week's focus is adding collage elements. only a slight change for today....trying this out "strategically." so what is it? a stylish, literary unicorn?

i also think i overdid the editing on this photo. it's not nearly that bright or blue in real life. i'm not that bright (or blue) in real life either.

by the way, this 30 day challenge is half way over! quick reflection on this: 

pros:

• it's been good to feel obligated to sit and finish at least 1 thing a day. 
• a few limitations really help me from becoming overwhelmed with options.
• get lots of small work done quickly.

cons:

• several aren't very good and they seem to be getting worse, so now i'll be happy if there will be 20 to be confident with.
• not sure anyone (including me) should care about this series. i don't really know what they are or what to do next. my inner critic is talking a little too loudly.
• it's not a good way to work if you're doing larger or more intricate stuff....i suppose that's a different challenge....
• i'm tending to get into a "well, i did my one for the day. guess i'm done!" mindset. this was NOT the intention. they were meant to be a warm up before working on other things.
• not being as experimental as i thought because i know they will be posted...so fear of failing is also seeping in. the result is they are getting stale. hopefully the collage ones will help make things interesting again.

day 14

"This is unexpected... like squirt from aggressive grapefruit." --Earl Derr Biggers

the painting underneath is so simple but i really enjoyed making it. the drippy point on the top most triangle fell directly into the still wet outline of the hollow triangle beneath it and just stayed there. it was really beautiful to watch. 

this past week i focused a little more on background & foreground, revealing/concealing. i'm looking forward to being able to changing it up a little more this upcoming week.

day 13

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." --Benjamin Franklin

i really didn't want to sit down and draw today...but here's for the sake of the 30 day challenge. i guess it's silly to think i'd like ALL 30 of these.

day 12

"Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something." --Thomas A. Edison

this is "thalia." yesterday's and all others got renamed so they would all be in chronological and alphabetical order. like hurricanes. since i started making these prior to this challenge, i'm already on T and i have 18 days left. hmmm...

and, i broke my own rules today. i wanted to do them ALL in color for 2 weeks, but i just wanted more contrast and control over the materials on this one. i still tried to keep it lose looking in most places.

day 11

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."--Lao Tzu

i started naming the files after people a few days ago. this is "Summer."