Days 11-20 of the 100 Day Project 2024

One of the biggest things that I’m noticing about myself during this year’s project is that I’ve gotten a lot better about allowing myself to create however feels best to me. Even when you are doing a group project or challenge like the 100 Day Project, it’s important to set your own rules and guidelines.

I’m really proud of myself that I can say, during this 3rd year of participating I’ve learned to give myself more grace. One thing I know about myself is that I work best by batch-creating. I fought against this instinct because it wasn’t how I was “supposed” to participate.

For those who don’t know what this is, batch creating is when you create a lot of the same type of piece (a specific type of papers for example) instead of creating all the pieces in one setting (papers + embellishments + clusters + everything else that goes into creating an art journal.) This allows me to get into a good creative flow while I’m creating. How often do you feel a bit rigid when you first sit down at your art table? I think this is quite common and completely normal! But, what happens when you repeat the same thing and try it a second, third, and even fourth time? Things start to get easier and flow a bit more freely! Instead of a start-and-stop process of constantly switching gears, you are able to pick up speed and feel more comfortable while getting in the flow. I really enjoy making all of the different pieces and then having them all premade when I go to put them together.

During my first year (and second, really) I didn’t feel like this was “allowed.” But here’s the thing - there is no right or wrong way to create art! Sure, there may be guidelines, but we need to start thinking of those as more of suggestions rather than hard and fast rules. No one is in your studio policing how you create. And if you are like me, you may be your own worst enemy. Sometimes the rules that I’m trying to adhere to are the ones that I made up in my own head!

Now, I’m not claiming to have this totally nailed down - but I can say with confidence that I have gotten better! That is one of the fun parts about doing something year after year. You can see the changes and the growth! Not just in your art style, but also in your mind and thought processes.

Reframing my thinking has helped me - instead of thinking of this as the 100 Day Project I’m thinking of it as the 100 Pieces Project in 100 days. If your goal is simply to make art every day (which I think is an awesome goal!) then this doesn’t necessarily apply to you. But because my goal is to come away with 100 collage clusters - this reframing fits my needs a little bit better. That means that some days I will create 5 clusters and others I won’t make any. This frees up my mind and allows me space to work on other projects or to simply take a day off. Plus, I find that I like my clusters a lot more if I don’t put so much pressure on myself each day.

Remember, there is no right or wrong way. I repeat this again because I think we can all use the reminder, I know I certainly can! Art is meant to be fun and feed our creative souls! We have to keep that at the forefront of our minds!

This will be my 3rd year and I’m continuing on with the same theme #100daysofcollageclustersbybbhenry - Check out my projects from the last 2 years!

Make it work for you. It’s meant to be fun! Comment and let me know how you are making this project work for you!