“…every year that I have started a 100 day project—whether I have finished or not—it has helped me to better understand my own creative process and how I work at creating a container for it.” ~Anna Brones
Here on a Monday the creative container is my garden and vases I make to share. But for the last few years, I have been exploring more of my artistic/creative side to expand that container and to expand myself.
It is one of the reasons I do #the100day project each year, to advance my creative practice. Each year I try using a different art medium or technique to increase my skill and knowledge.
I have been building a practice or habit where I show up daily, hold myself accountable while beginning on a new adventure with paint or colored pencils, or this year drawing/doodling. And as I have said before this practice, while some days too much for me to even think about, helps open me to other creative endeavors. Like blogging, gardening, making vases, cooking, creating artistic photos with apps and so much more.
Artist Anna Brones says….
“Committing to regularity in our creative practice is what gives us the permission to build a container for that practice, and embarking on #the100DayProject does just that.”
Committing to this project yearly permeates my whole life while I learn more about my creativity from the inside of me. This year my creative practice is tied solidly to my spiritual practice and healing. Something has been missing from my long road of healing and just recently I was gifted with the revelation that it is my creativity.
There is an inner artist inside me that has been stifled for decades looking to have an invitation to come out of the shadows to play, to create, to be part of me. There is great trepidation, but I have made it safe for her. Made her part of my practice, part of my life.
I am so energized now to keep creating and trying new things with the doodles and in other creative arenas. I am beginning to try new ways of writing poetry. This one is called Poetry Oracle. Making words cards and then randomly choosing the cards to make a haiku or start a poem.
I am also starting again with The Artists Way. A class/book to help you find your way back to your creativity and heal it. Julia Cameron’s course, through her book, is very intensive, but our book club is breaking it up over the course of a year. So much more doable for me. And I am finding this time, I am not cursing Cameron, her book or the morning pages which we only do weekly.
I think the main reason I stick with this blog and with the weekly practice of making a vase is because I love the creativity it evokes. The community tied to both is also key for me.
This week we warmed up considerably and the garden was growing, but not enough to get bulbs blooming for a vase due to the cold snap we had Thursday and the many (12-16) inches of snow. So my husband surprised me with these alstroemerias.
Love the spring color. And had to but them in a favorite spring Belleek vase. Feels like April now both outside and inside. Snow melting, temperatures warming again…crazy for early March.
The doodles here are from my Daily Doodle Journal book that I am using for #the100dayproject. It seems my word of the year, STRETCH, was pretty much on target for this year…at least so far.
With this vase, I am joining in with the wonderful meme, In A Vase On Monday, from Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. And I hope can join me in #the100dayproject by following along as I post on Instagram and Facebook.
All the pictures shared in this post were taken with my Nikon Coolpix or iPhone camera, and manipulated on my iPhone using the apps, Pixlr and Prisma.
All original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View, 2010-2024. Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only.
I like the Daily Doodle Journal… what a great warm up for the day! Gorgeous alstros!
Eliza it really is great first thing. It also is a challenge some days for this beginner.
I love Alstromerias and the simple treatment is perfect.
They really need nothing else.
I’m impressed by your persistence and the practical ways you’ve found to exercise your creativity, Donna. I hadn’t thought about the weekly IAVOM activity or blogging in that way but I think you hit the nail on the head in my case too.
It just seemed a natural fit for us all.
Glad you are finding ways to invite creativity into every aspect of your life. It is obvious it makes you happy to explore that side of you with curiosity and care. Hubby came through again with a lovely bouquet. IOVOM gives me a creative outlet too. Have a good week.
Thanks so much!
Your desire to be creative in several fields of artistry, Donna, is something I can identify with. Once it’s begun, creativity eventually creeps into every aspect of life, and I often wonder why I didn’t join Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday sooner than I did. It’s a highlight of my week, choosing flowers for a vase, arranging them, then reading fellow vase bloggers’ journeys through the seasons around the world. And I see your romantic husband has delivered again, with flowers for your Monday vase. 🙂
I read Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way a few years ago, and still write Morning Pages to this day. (I have also sent you a friend request on Facebook.) x
Thanks so much Joanne
Lovely flowers Donna! It is interesting to hear about your creative processes and how the regularity of doing something is key. I find the same with these Monday vases as the others who join in are a constant source of support and inspiration. Have a great creative week Donna!
I couldn’t agree more Cathy. Thank you for the continued support!
I do enjoy reading about your creative journey, Donna – what a lot of discoveries you are making on the way And I LOVE the alstroemeria – what a glorious colour they are!
They really are my favorite color. Thanks for coming along with my discoveries Cathy.
The community…yes. The community helps, doesn’t it? You are a creative soul, Donna, and your drawings, doodlings, prose, and poems are blessings to all of us. <3