I spent a little time this AM thinking about what exact parameters I wanted to set for myself on the 100-Day Project. They are:
- One hour and/or 1 page per day. (Whichever comes first. Unless I have more time or energy to spend on a given day—or less. As long as the page or image appears complete in itself by the end of the session.)
- Work observationally.
- Use untried materials I already own (i.e., stash-busting), or use accustomed materials in new ways.
I have a coneflower plant in my workspace that I failed to plant in the garden last summer. In late November it sent up a flower bud which bloomed, then dried. When I’m in coworking sessions, I usually set up the tablet camera so that this dead flower is the image onscreen (a little macabre?). Because the lighting angle is different onscreen than my real-life view of it, I decided to paint the virtual view, rather than the actual, backlit angle. Kind of meta.
But the coneflower was just an extra page done as catch-up for skipping last Friday. Today’s main project was making a self-portrait sketch. I used a hand mirror stuck in my pencil carousel for reference, and began painting in basic shapes using quin gold and a mix of indigo & sepia with white gouache. No pencil outline, just straight to paint. Then I added minal amounts of shading and shaping in more earth tones, followed by some defining indigo/sepia black marks for the eyes and glasses.
