This year will be my third time at participating in The 100 Day Project and we are at day sixteen already. Having said that, sixteen seems very ‘still at the beginning’.

I am keeping up which is a marvelous thing, I have a little list of ideas which I jot down as they come to me, so that if nothing pops into my mind, I can refer to my idea bank.

If you want to see my project as it emerges day by day, you can follow along on Instagram at 100daysofcreativeideas.

Here are my first ten days of ideas –

1. Take up challenge. A monthly or a daily challenge. Search Instagram, it is full of them. Don’t be discouraged if a ‘challenge’ has finished or is part way through, do it anyway.  The 100 Day Project is a great one.  Other challenges I have done are Tinkersketch drawing challenge, Rae Missingan‘s mark making challenge, Fat Mum Slim hosts a daily photo challenge and Susannah Conway also has lovely photo challenges.

2. Go to the Art Museum or any museum you can get to. As you walk around, sketch all of the eyes you see.  In paintings, photographs, on ceramics, sculptures, anywhere you see an eye! Notice how they vary in expression and emotion and how you sketch that.

3. Make inkblots and make lots!  Drip a few drops of ink or paint onto one half of a sheet of paper. Fold it over and squash the paper down. Open it up to reveal your inkblot.  What do you see?

4. Make some book spine poems.  Choose some of your most lyrical titles, pile them on top of one another until you have a beautiful poem. Go to the library and see what amazing poetry you can make!  This idea was inspired by the fabulous Rebecca Johnstone.

5. Fill a page with dots. Just use the end tip of a marker and dot dot dot. Close together, far apart.  Fill the page or fill part of the page.  Be amazed at the movement you can create just with a bunch of dots!

6. Find an old photo, a family photo, or a random old photo. Write the story about the image and it’s participants. Paint or draw a copy of the photo. Old photos can be found at  thrift stores, antique malls or flea markets. Make up all the details including names and family connections!

7. Make a pattern using the same shape across a page. Use circles, triangles, squares etc. Make them uniform or random. Join them up or overlap them or space them out. Use the same colour or a rainbow of colours. Vary the sizes or keep them all the same. Vary the medium or mix it up. Watercolor with pen, acrylic with collage. All the possibilities!

8. Choose a figure from a magazine, stick them into your sketchbook or journal and give them wings!

9. Draw a page from a magazine or a catalogue.

10. Meet up with a fellow creative, artist, writer, art journaler or a friend who likes to make stuff. Make, paint, knit, write, sketch or create together.  What will you learn from each other?

Happy Creating and Happy Wednesday x