Blimey we are into the final ten days of the 100 day project which seemed so far away back in April when we started. I don’t think I have repeated any ‘ideas’, but I might have done!  I don’t look back to see if I have made a copy.  Maybe I should! Here are ideas 71 – 90. 71. Draw a cat with your eyes closed! No peeking. 72. Cut out a picture and stick it down. Draw a frame around it. Make a gallery! 73. Watch a flower grow, draw each stage.  This would be a cool sketchbook once it is full! 74. Look in the mirror. Draw your face without looking at the paper. Keep your eyes on your face and your pen on the paper. 75. Take a page from a book and cross out all the words except a few to make a new sentence. 76. Make a pattern which looks like part of a map. Start with a small shape and use different line thicknesses and closeness to make your …

51. Gather some lovely beads and some thread or beading wire. Make yourself a pretty necklace. 52. Let’s design some borders. Put them along the bottom of a page. Make your own stationery or a pretty card. 53. Paint some blocks of colour onto sheets of paper.  Cut out random shapes from the painted paper. Stick the shapes onto a blank page to make a stunning collage. 54. Find patterns. In the course of your day, be on the look out for patterns. As I was sitting on the plane heading to our vacation I found some shapes to make into a pattern. 55. Sketch your day. Make small sketches of things you come across in your day. A flower in bud or a ticket to  flea market. Have fun! 56. Use a funky phone app to alter a photograph. For this photo, I put it into the Diptic app and turned the colour all the way down.  Play around, see what happens! 57. Stitch in your sketchbook. Find some cotton or embroidery thread and …

41. Tear a piece of cardboard from a box. Paint a forest of birch trees with white gesso or paint. Add details with a black pen when the white paint is completely dry. 42. Want to try a new technique? Improve on an existing skill? Hop over to the inter-webs and find a video via an artist’s blog or YouTube channel. 43. Look in some books or magazines and find pictures or photographs of buildings. Copy them into your sketchbook. Draw a street or a landmark or a village on a mountainside. 44. What is your favorite colour? Make a sketchbook or a single using only that colour and shades of it. A blue series, how pretty would that be? 45. Make a little single signature sketchbook/notebook. Use some lovely paper and keep it small enough to staple the pages in down the spine.  How about a tiny book? 46. Make a quick (up to a minute) sketch of someone in movement. Maybe a walking figure, how about a yoga pose or a dancer? 47. …

21. Choose a page from a magazine and cover part of it with white paint or gesso. Cover half the page or just make a circle in the middle. When the white is completely dry, get a black pen-Posca pens are my choice-and make a pattern in the newly painted area. 22. Find an old used book at a thrift store or a yard sale.  Use it as a sketchbook! Draw and paint in it as you would a regular sketchbook. 23. Pick an object. Set a timer for 1 minute. Draw! 24. Very loosely paint a group of trees along a riverbank on one side of the paper. Fold over the other side to get the ‘reflection’. I used coloured inks to make mine. Remember to work quickly before the ink or paint dries before you get the fold done. 25. Use dashes across the page to create wave-like movement. I used coloured pencils in a close colour palette. 26. Cut a photograph out of an old book, use an original vintage photo, or …

The 100 day project started on April 4 and I am still going strong!  My little library of vintage cards with ideas on them is growing nicely.  Here are cards 11-20 11. Go to the library and find a picture book in the children’s section. Pick one with illustrations you love. Sketch some ideas from this book – patterns, creatures, lettering, anything. Pick another book and repeat. Some of my favorite children’s books for the illustrations are by Lauren Child, Oliver Jeffers, Chris Riddell, ‘Gaston’ by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Christian Robinson and ‘A lion in Paris’ by Beatrice Alemagna. I just discovered the Welcome to the Museum series and ‘Botanicum’ is just gorgeous, so don’t forget to check out the non fiction books too. 12. Take yourself for a walk around your neighbourhood or favorite place.  As you go, notice all the circles and make a note, a sketch or take a photo. How many circles did you spot? Did you notice anything new about your neighbourhood? 13. Give yourself permission, allow yourself …

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 …