Project Fifty-Two: The End Is Here

I have completed my little project that I set for myself: Project Fifty-Two.  Let's look back at all fifty-two projects:

Lots of stuff I love!  And yet, it wasn't quite the artistic whirlwind I had planned.  When I started this year long endeavor, I wanted a project that would inspire me to try new things and create in a structured way without being too limited.  I thought it would be fun to do it publicly to (a) keep myself motivated and honest and (b) connect with some other artsy fartsy types.

Here's where it went wrong:

• It was too unstructured.  Without something tangible - a prompt, a constraint (an ATC, an art journal page, a quilt, etc.), etc. - I just sort of made things fit into the project instead of making things for the project.  So it all felt a little haphazard and disorganized.
• I'm not a flickr person. I find the interface unfriendly and difficult to navigate and it's just so darn big.  I just don't naturally upload my stuff there, so it became an extra step to get it onto flickr and into the group and then go through everybody's stuff.  Whiny complaint, I know.  But it made it hard.
• Sharing publicly is hard.  2009 turned out to be an emotional roller coaster and it was difficult to walk the line between creating honestly and maintaining some sort of privacy.

Here's where it went right:

• I have fifty-two wonderful pieces of art to remember the year by.  You can't beat that!
• As I mentioned, I don't love flickr, but it's still one of the best ways to make connections.  So many talented and creative people!  And I met some great folks this year through Project Fifty-Two.
• I learned about myself.  If I ever decide to do another year-long project, I have a much better handle on the way to set it up so it works for me!

As for 2010, there are lots of great year-long projects to participate in.  Here's a quick list of the ones I'm intrigued by:

From Gina of Tyggereye Art Love: "...Weekly art journal prompts this coming up year. Every Saturday in 2010 I will post a prompt and an art journal page I've made."

I just signed up to receive e-mail prompts from A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.  "The prompts and ideas here are for inspiration, and motivation to be creative, and create. I will post suggestions and ideas for art journals. The ideas are for you to take and make your own. Because the art you create using these ideas are YOURS, there is NO right or wrong way for you to interpret or create your art. If you prefer more 'scrapbook' style art, that's fine. If you prefer lots of acid and 'unsafe' materials on your creations, that's fine! If you create something every week, that's AWESOME. If you only have the chance to create things once in a while, that's OK!! Maybe, you don't even have time to make a visual creation, but you are inspired to record your thoughts and emotions about a prompt in the form of an on line entry. PERFECT! Really. It's 100% up to you."  They are starting a ning network for 2010.

Davinie Fiero and Scrapbook Cards & Today are getting together for Project 12: "The Project 12 challenge is simple. The idea is to create a layout on a monthly basis which recaps what you’ve been doing.  Whether you took 31 photos, no photos, or 100 photos, simply choose your favorites that best described what you were doing that month, and create a layout."  There is a new sketch by Becky Fleck every month.  You can use the sketch if you want, but you don't have to.

Why not join me and the rest of the Pencil Lines design team in 2010? (So excited to be joining this group!)  "Pencil Lines is a blog all about using sketches to expand your artistic horizons, get you outside your box, and lift you out of scrappers block and to help you get more layouts done. It is about thinking outside your normal processes to create something wonderful.  So join us every week on Sunday at 8pm GMT (3pm EST) for new sketches."  Fifty-two sketches = fifty-two layouts (or projects) done and in your albums!

Thanks for stopping by!