The One Hundred Somethings Project

Last night, after I left a comment over on Leah's Creative Every Day site updating my last two Art Every Day Month entries, I followed some of the links other participants had posted and ended up at mousetales, home of the lovely Miss Rosie Posie; and from there to the marvelous Tollipop, where I came across an open invitation to Make One Hundred Somethings.

Hmmmm, I thought. That is my kind of project.

But what clinched it was going from there to FairieMoon's version of it, in which she is making one hundred dresses for her doll Hitty Dauphine.

And when I saw those doll's dresses my heart just leapt. Oh what fun that would be! O wouldn't that be wonderful! And so I contemplated what one hundred Somethings I could make.

But then the tedious, overly serious Grown Up, the Artist, capital A, in me, the judgemental-yet-defensive Critic started in; and she subtly, and ever-so-reasonably started swapping out the idea of one hundred dolls' dresses for more serious, Artsy, Religious things, saying things like, Well, how about something like writing one hundred meditations? Oh and hint, one hundred Somethings should fit a Tarot deck inside of it quite nicely actually; then there are one hundred Gods you should be drawing, or, really, one hundred descriptions of Goddesses, since aren't you supposed to be writing a Book you useless procrastinator, you shiftless dreamer you? You should be doing one hundred Useful Somethings, one hundred High Art Somethings; why don't you take this as an opportunity to get your sad, sorry butt in gear?

And so I felt rather bad, and guilty, and all those other useless, harmful, judgemental things that actively stop creativity; but then I remembered something.

When your heart leaps at an idea, when you are so taken with something you longingly exclaim What fun! O! How I wish I could do that! That would be so marvelous!

That is the surest sign you must. For that is your soul speaking.

So, I will honor Inspiration, and the Muse.

Though it won't be one hundred dresses, I don't think. I have too many ideas for things, fun things, like the things I made when I was a child, to restrict it to that. So I'll open it up a bit more: I will make one hundred toys. That will include dolls, dolls' dresses, critters, and who knows what else; perhaps I shall even be inspired to make something in wood. (This may, also, indicate the beginning of an Etsy shop, so stay tuned.)

I don't know how long it will take me, probably some time, at least a year. But it is my kind of project. You may have noticed that I work well on long projects made up of small individual parts; my brain is wired in series, I guess (har har). Goddess Oracle cards, God cards, Tarot, even the Obscure Goddess Online Directory are all of that ilk.

I don't know where it will take me, and this is a good thing. I expect it will evolve and do its own thing. That is another wonderful thing about doing art in a series: through repetition of a theme one works through habits and prejudices about what one thinks things should look like, if only because one simply gets bored.

At any rate, by this time next year I should be more than qualified for a job at the North Pole with the Elves.

(Though, you don't think Santa would have a problem with my being Pagan, do you? I mean he is Saint Klaus, after all. I would assume, given his reputation for being the generous sort, and his (His?) ancient ties to Yule customs, he'd be an equal opportunity employer, right?)

Anyway, I do know that I have felt stuck in a rut lately, artistically. And perhaps I have forgotten how to have fun with my art. Before I fell into painting Goddesses, I was focussed on children's books, mostly of the fairy-tale princess sort. Not, really, that big a leap, stylistically, or thematically, when you think about it. But a lot more fun. I think that is what I really need now.