After The 100 Day Project ended, I wandered around in the artist’s desert, thirsty and chasing mirages for a week. I sat in the sun and noticed a tuft of weeds in the sidewalk’s crack (because there are sidewalks and lawn chairs in my desert) and my imagination sprouted a tomato under the greenery.
So I grabbed the stash of chalk and got busy.
I drew a pink tomato. It was fun, whimsical, and temporary. I was okay with my work eventually being washed away. There was joy in the creation and that was the kind of day I had.
The next day I penned a message on a banana peel. I knew my husband would throw it away, but I made him laugh and that made me laugh and that was the kind of day I had.
The day after that, I gathered items that caught my eye and arranged them in what I intended to be a mandala, a symbol of my inner journey. It was misshapen and odd, and I knew something would naturally dismantle it. But right then I was present and appreciated everything that brought me to that moment. And that was the kind of day I had.
Then after four straight days of sunshine, I felt the urge to draw a sunflower and jot some thoughts on the whiteboard. I knew I would erase it eventually because that’s how life works: you get rid of the old to make room for the new and I was okay with that. And that’s the kind of day I had.
Today I gathered some leaves and decorated them with gel pen. I had to use a light touch and be gentle. With the leaves and myself and my art, and that’s the kind of day I had.
😊
This, my friends, concludes my exploration with ephemeral art forms and here are:
The 7 Permanent Things I Learned Creating Temporary Art
7. There was no fear or resistance, just playful curiosity.
6. It was a good practice for literally letting go.
5. There’s powerful focus on the present, the now.
4. The option to wipe the slate clean frees creative flow.
3. The process is more important than the quality of the results.
2. Mistakes and imperfection aren’t the end of the world.
1. It positively influenced the kind of day I had.
😊
May you have a creative flow in whatever you do today.
xox
