Day 7: War skull

Kevin came home today, so I just did a quick drawing. He was playing a video game and this was an icon in the game. This skull was also inspired by the Skull365 project from 2008. That guy was dedicated to his subject. I don't know what I would draw if I had to do the same subject for a year. Just creating each day is challenging!

Day 6: Toothbrush

It's going to be challenging to post drawings on the blog that I don't like. But that's the point of these blog entries...to keep me accountable to creating daily.

At least you can tell what it is :)

Day 5: Secret Art Symbolism

I was so excited about yesterday's project that I made a completely new project using the idea as a springboard. It looks great and I am still so excited for this project :)

Update: March 7, 2014

 The plan is to watercolor the babies like a starfish and then use ramen as a stamp to make water behind it. But I haven't gotten around to do that.

Materials: heavy weight paper, ink, tracing paper, hand-made carbon paper

Time: 1 hour

Day 4: Secret Art

I was struck by inspiration late last night, so I stayed awake thinking about how I wanted to accomplish it. I woke up at 6:00 am and started drawing. I'm going to get home from work and still be working on it! Though I am unable to share the finished product with you all, I assure you that it rocks! Sorry for all the secrecy, but it's a gift and I don't want to ruin the surprise. :)

Date: March 7 update

Here is what I did. It was a card for some good friends expecting a baby. The color of the wrap would reflect the classic gender stereotype.

Materials: ink, watercolor card, watercolor paint

Time: 1 hour to design and draw, 20 min to paint

Day 3: "wish I could fly"

Materials: watercolor, ink

Approximate time: 20 minutes

Notes: This card painting was inspired by the picture book, "Up and Down" by Oliver Jeffers. I was practicing my white space on the balloon as well as making black (not really black paint) be able to be transparent enough to see his eyes. You can almost hear what he's thinking. Leave a comment to caption this image.

Full size card view with signature

Day 2: Robiraki sweets tray

Materials: Ink, colored pencil, watercolor, art marker

Approximate time: 1 hour

Notes: Robiraki is an annual Japanese tea ceremony event celebrating the transition between the furo (summer) to the ro (winter). This was the zenzai sweets tray, the traditional sweet red beans in syrup with a mochi ball. It's black lacquer ware with gold lacquer accents. The flower is a camellia.

Detail of camellia

Day 1: medieval "F"

Materials: Vintage medieval alphabet coloring page, vellum, art markers, glue.

Notes: The image is of Luke 7:36-50, where a sinful woman is anointing the feet of Jesus. Though I'm not a religious woman, I was struck by the woman's facial expression. She is meant to be crying while washing his feet. Why would she cry? What's going on in her mind? I colored this in 1995. I cut it out with an exacto knife. I thought it would be a fabulous first page since this coloring book was my mom's but she gave it to me years and years ago. For an elementary school student, note the gradation in the bottom of the letter.

Estimated time: 1 hour (over the course of 18 years)

I should also mention:

That the idea of this project scares me and intimidates me. What if people think I'm a terrible artist? (I had trouble with rejection in NYC when I worked there) What if I totally suck? What if everyone rejects me and finds me idiotic for trying this? What if I fail through laziness? What if people just find me insane for doing another 365 Project? A 365 Project is a large commitment. There is lots of room for failure. But I would like to look at this project through the lens of hope and self-betterment NOT just another thing to check off my to do list.

And with that, I'll end this post. I am feeling hopeful.