The 100 Day Project 2024

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious 100 day project? Yeah, I know the project comes around every year. And also? Mary Oliver isn’t talking about productivity. But she is talking about slowing down to see things and marvel at them. And that’s one of the joys of the 100 day project. This is the eleventh year for the 100 Day project. I contemplate the project every year and some years I can get it off the ground and some years (I’m looking at you 2023) not so much.

I’ve started the 100 day project four or five years and finished it twice. The ambition to get it started is huge and the gumption needed to keep it going is even more huge. I’ll admit I was a little bit smug when I wrote How to stick with your 100 day project while still in the middle of that particular 100 day project. But hey, the advice isn’t bad and I did finish that year!

Better than finishing though is enjoying yourself. If that’s sketching, drawing, painting, weaving, crocheting, knitting, collaging, memorizing lines, cooking, coconut carving, whatever it is that you fancy, if you are having fun or building your skills (hopefully both!), then it’s a successful project.

What’s your favorite color, baby?

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do. What feels sustainable right now for me to work on daily for that length of time. I’ve got so many things happening these days and my art making time feels even more meager than usual. I have a box of 100 Pantone postcards that I bought in hopes of using them for this project. It’s kinda perfect. There’s exactly 100. They are small and they come in a nifty little box so I can keep up with them. I blame Jennifer (read her interview here!) for this because she used these cards for collage purposes and I was so jealous of the idea that I wanted to do it too.

I sat in carline recently and used sandpaper to rough all of them up. A process I thought would take a long time and actually probably only took about 30 minutes. Now they are all grungy and ready for what’s next.

I’ve contemplated doubling up on my projects for the year. Cutting them all into circles for The 6000 Circle Project while doing The 100 Day Project seems like a smart use of time. But then the perfectly shaped box isn’t as cool? These are the things that I ponder when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Around and around in circles

So I’ve got the cards and maybe I’m cutting them into circles. And then I’m what? Collaging on them? Drawing on them? Trying to think through what is easy to do every day and that I can feel good about the individual finished pieces.

My previous 100 day projects have all been collage so I’m really considering doing something different. I saw this great reel the other day and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Not the persimmons specifically but the stencil process. Something like that would be easy to do every day for 100 days.

100 Days? Really?

I already know I’m probably not going to get it all done in the 100 allotted days. With the other commitments I am juggling it just seems really unlikely. And I’m ok with that. I want to start this project and have it available to work on. I’ll finish in my own time. I love the open nature of this project. It’s designed to be low pressure for everyone involved and I think that’s great! We need more encouragement with lower stakes all around. So I’m not fussed about not getting it done. I’ll just work along with everyone and when I get it done then it’s done.

Just for me

Past 100 day projects I’ve sold off individual pieces and donated some of the money to charity. I don’t think I’m gonna do that this time. I want to be able to keep the whole set together, preferably in its lil’ box. (Yes, I’m obsessed with that box. Don’t @ me.) Whatever form it takes, I’m planning on keeping it.

I’ve noticed lately I’ve wanted to keep the things I’ve been making. I don’t normally feel a big drive to keep stuff because the making process itself is what I love. So I keep creating in order to chase that feeling and the finished pieces are easier to let go of because of that. I’ve made a bunch of small things recently and I feel compelled to hold on to them for now. I apologize in advance to my offspring who might someday have to figure out what to do with all my little bits and bobs.

Are you onboard for The 100 Day Project? What are you making or practicing? Catch up with me on socials, email me, or go old school and leave a comment on this post to be immortalized for all of time.

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