Days 36 through 69 for the 100 Day Project 2019

My 100 day project continues into June with about a month remaining. I have mostly kept up with creating everyday save a few days where I had to produce a couple of pieces at a time to catch up. But I didn’t mind. I am glad for the excuse to get into my craft room and create more. Because that’s what this project is about. An excuse to create.

The project is deceptively more than this however. The continued creativity becomes a way trust that I can show up for myself. This is a lesson I continue to need to learn. To trust that I will show up for me.

The ICAD project, which I participated in for the past two years in a row, just started up in June and as much as I wish I was creating with them, I have chosen this as my sole challenge now. Plus I’m already doing collage which is my favorite medium for ICAD.

Summer has just begun and yet I am already enjoying my creativity routine. I am reading a book and working on the garden. Life is always better when I indulge my creative whims.

With a month to go, I need to look ahead to what I might replace this routine with. Last year, when my challenge ended I felt it was a waste not to replace the intention with something else. Habits formed are nothing to mock. 30 more days to go and I’ll do a round-up.

Go HERE to see the first two weeks of the 100 Days of Shalagh 2019.

Go HERE to see days 19 through 35 of the 100 Days of Shalagh 2019.

Go HERE for a definition and the home of the project. Or search the #100DayProject hashtag on social media.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

Days 19 Through 35 for the 100 Day Project 2019

This year is my second one participating in the 100 Day project. If you weren’t around in 2018, you can go HERE to see what I did. This project is an amazing way to prove to yourself how important your creativity is to you. And how you are trustworthy and worth showing up for yourself for 3 plus months in a row.

Last year was pencil and pastel sketches. This year I decided to just fall back to my favorite medium of collage. And also this year I forgave myself if I couldn’t show up on a day, say Easter, and allowed myself to do two the next day. I got a little behind but caught right back up. Because I quite honestly, love the excuse to step up into my craft room and escape for a little while.

I publish every creation on Instagram and Facebook daily just so I am accountable to myself and the people who are also participating. And perhaps next year, I’ll create a local group who wants to join in with me on the 100 Day project. Any one game?

Go HERE to see the first two weeks of the 100 Days of Shalagh 2019.

Go HERE for a definition and the home of the project. Or search the #100DayProject hashtag on social media.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

100 Day Project 2019 : Weeks One and Two through Day 18

This is the second year that I’m taking on the 100 Day Project. Last year I did both 100 days of sketches and pastels and simultaneously participated in the Index Card a Day challenge with collage and a few other random mediums. The thought of doing all of that again exhausts me.

This year, I decided to just do 100 days of collage on a slightly larger format than an index card. I cut a piece of paper in half and decided that was neither too big nor too small. It was just right. And everyday(almost) I get into the craft room and I stand there and I craft. Read about my start Here.

Here’s the thing, you are sure that there’s nothing that you could possibly commit to every day. But that’s bunk. You certainly can. You are committed to putting clothing on everyday. You concede that activity will take a certain amount of time and you patiently spend that time daily putting that clothing on your body.

Life is all about expectations. I have just added an expectation on to myself. Much like doing the laundry or making dinner or exercising, I expect that I must blog three times a week and now I art daily. Once it’s a non-negotiable in my head, I slide it into my day without a thought. Intentions become habits.

I have missed a day or two with the boy’s birthday/Easter/Spring Break combination this weekend but I am also not worried about it. I’ve also noticed that with this proactive arting, I don’t care too much about whether people are seeing it online. The act of doing it seems to be satisfying in and of itself.

Keep on Keeping on! Art like you mean it. And if you are interested in keeping up with my progress, you can follow along with me on Facebook or Instagram.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

The Courage to Create

Our windows are open. I’ve been laying awake n the morning listening to the birdsong. All different types of birds adding their unique love of life to the world. No need for permission to sing or be. Just singing and being.

Collaging daily is coming easier fore this year’s 100 day project. It feels easy to just create. A dozen days in and I do not care what the pieces look like. I am only happy to engage in the process and just be creating.

“Remember that in choosing to create you have acted with a rare courage. You have let down the mask; you have called forth your best self; you have taken a chance and revealed your heart to the world. This, no matter how struggling and unformed the creation it brings forth, is a praiseworthy act. For all creation is an act of love, and in the merest making of your art you have, in your own small way, made the world a little richer, a little warmer, and a little more filled with love.”

Kent Nerburn – Dancing with the Gods (thanks to Tara Leaver for quoting)

Anything that you do daily becomes not only habitual but ritual. There’s a sense of purposeful clarity on our daily promises to ourselves. Remove the negotiation and the act becomes a prayer for a better life. There is nothing more noble that a commitment to ones happiness.

Happy to have you with me on my journey as I let down my mask …

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.

What Will I Get Up To This Year?

Now that I have addressed the majority of my anxiety by taking the step to ask for pharmaceutical assistance from my doctor (he actually warned me not to quit after I was feeling better and I laughed at him and said,”You don’t know me. I’m the first one to admit I have this problem all over social media. I’m good for life now”), I realized that I can again start from here and do anything I want to do.

Armed with my Word of the Year, Focus, I can don my sparkly cape and head off in the direction that feels the best for me. That kind of permission is a little daunting. Like a free period during school, should you binge eat Hoho’s of go grab a smoke or take a walk or write in your journal? Suddenly being able to choose feels overwhelming.

But I started to think about the projects in my year that will be inevitable. I’ll most likely do a 100 day project again come April. There’s the ICAD project in June and July. And perhaps I’ll host my own creativity month somewhere in there. Those are the times when I feel focused and alive. Unlike writing, I have a pretty tangible thing for my efforts. It’s very gratifying too to have all the admiration that production gets you.

What else have I been thinking? I claimed my intention to continue to work on my soul as I connect with community and devote myself to creativity. So it would seem that community connections would be something that may need my attention. I say this but I still have yet to join those group classes at the gym. Or create a Facebook group or make a date to chat via Skype with some of my online people. I need to put my actions behind my words it seems.

And then there’s my writing. I need to respect my abilities and share them with the world. I love blogging and will continue to share what I am doing because it keeps me alive as a writer. This is the year that I need to commit to larger writing challenges more. I enjoyed the heck out of writing the Wholehearted piece for Quiet Writing’s Terri Connelan. So we shall see what and where I can find to continue this kind of writing expansion.

As always, I commit t0 my growth and betterment and to use the blog as a way to pursue that. Whether it’s reporting my art project progress or speaking about what I’m feeling or the lovely place and people I share my life with, I will keep showing up here. Until it no longer serves me. Thank you for reading what I write even if I don’t know you are. You make my day.

And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.

And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.