100 Days Project

I thought I would take today's post to explain my personal project choice and process a bit more. I am pretty cautious when it comes to sharing personal stuff online - and have been since 2005. That said my choice for this project came to me at a time off loss.  I felt that 100 days of taking an hour aside for reflection and illustrating a snippet of memories of my mom was a good thing.

I decided to use watercolor without pencil or ink and to distill the memory to a single image. I most often paint without drawing first - but - with some of these images a pencil would have been nice. That said I feel that my ideas of a memory can be portrayed best by not overthinking. This is both elusive and challenging. I have used references for some paintings, such as a vinegar cruet and a photo of a bookmobile.  There is a freshness for me to paint without drawing first, to make the brush the drawing tool.  To keep the fuzzy part of the memory intact. To let the feeling sink in and to remember.

By annotating the drawing/painting/illustration I have had the "pencil moment".  The writing part gives me a chance to be succinct about the memory and to add a little back story or detail. It is challenging and cathartic experience and yet a healing one all at the same time. The memories are worth keeping.