I started 2017 with lofty ambitions to do two 365 projects which you can read about here if you like.  This continued until about April when one fell off the wagon and wandered off by itself.  As I went through the year I did many monthly daily challenges which were made more possible once I decided to stick with the one 365 creation.

The project which stayed on the wagon with me and I have nearly finished is creating daily in my Moleskine planner.

This planner is not at all the ideal medium for an art project of any sort, it has terrible paper, lines on each page and is not very big. I am using the ‘large’ planner which is 8.5×5.5 inches.  Having said that I think it is the fact that it is not an ‘arty’ item to start with is one of the reasons I have continued with the daily arting in it.  There can be no pressure to create something amazing just the opportunity to create something, anything.  I have drawn, printed, stuck stuff down, stitched, painted, collaged and just found pictures I liked and stuck them in.

It is a joy to look back on now and it is so fat it is fantastic! It is a diary/journal full of ideas and creations and I am so proud that I carried on with it.

I have purchased another Moleskine daily planner for next year and it is ready to go.  I chose a limited edition Alice in Wonderland 8.5×5.5inch planner as you can see above and below.

How on earth did I manage to create something everyday?  I took the pressure off  enough to do it and keep doing it.  Some days I didn’t create on time and was a day behind, some days I was so prolific I created for a day or two ahead.  I was and am fine with this, as long as I didn’t allow myself to get more than a couple of days ahead or behind, all was well and relevant to the period I was in at the time.

Some days were just a mess and some were a creative triumph, nothing was torn out or thrown away, just turn the page ready for the next day.

Once I was two or three months in, I could really see that the planner was filling nicely and that alone was encouragement to keep going.

Without even thinking about it, the book is now a visual diary of the year, including sketches of stuff I bought, stickers people send on envelopes,  experiments with various media,  often using natural objects which were specific to the season we were in. Unwittingly I created a time capsule of the year and I loved doing it.

Some days were a 20 min sketch and some were a 1 minute stick down.  All were totally worth it.

The monthly round ups can be found here – January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December I will write when we are done with the year!

Are you doing a 365 next year?  Did you complete one this year?  If you are even thinking about it, I would recommend it.  The diary layout is good to keep you going on a day to day basis. Don’t let the paper quality put you off, if you want to make a watercolour masterpiece one day, go for it and stick it in your planner on the day you created it.

Happy creating and happy Thursday x

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