How do you keep showing up to create?

Day 63 of The 100 Day Project

It is day 63 of my 100-Day Project. About two-thirds in, I began to lose my mojo. I have all the little 4 x 4 cards sitting on my desk. I grab one daily and decide what to fill it with. I don’t share my art daily like I used to because it feels like a forced exercise some days, not an inspired creative practice like it was in the beginning.

This is the danger zone. This is where I could skip a day. Then maybe another. Then I just don’t finish and say - good enough. I’m not feeling this anymore.

This project is about taking a “Tiny Thing” that delights me daily and creating a 4” x 4” card of art. But more so, it is about actually finding the Tiny Thing. It is me checking in with myself daily and not get stuck on auto-pilot. The doing. The I “have-tos”. The going on hurried walks because I have to get home to my list.

It is sitting with myself and making these tiny dots that feel like a stitch. And not feeling this need to go quickly to the next thing.

Created with dots of color

I have the seeds of so many ideas hanging all over the walls. Some lie facedown on the top of my bookcase so I don’t have to look at them. Like I child embarrassed by their work. They feel like wasted time I could have spent digging deeper. It is more than practicing marks on a page, it is practicing stillness. It is stopping time and allowing myself to get lost in color and shape.

Today I had a doctor’s appointment and I had to wait over 45 minutes. I came home having wasted my morning there. I was about to make lunch and I heard a lot of loud chirping in my backyard. I went to the backdoor to discover a little puff of a baby bird hopping around. Two dark-eyed juncos were chirping loudly from the tree above. Had the baby fallen out of the nest? He was big enough. But his tail feathers were short and his coloring was light. When I approached the baby to see if he was okay, both adult birds flew down right next to me. Unafraid. They were protecting their baby. I decided to back off and watch from a distance. They chased that baby bird all around the yard for about twenty minutes until finally, he took flight.

After lunch, I went to work on my 100 Day Project. I sat at my desk in front of the window in the sun. I played with the color palette. I dotted the colors. I lost track of time. It was not so much about it turning out “right” but a story I wanted to remember. It was a seed of an idea that could be something.

The baby birds in my backyard ✨ Day 63

---

Did you know there is a free app that identifies the birds you hear outside? It is called Merlin. When you hear a bird sing, you hit the record button and it picks up on all the birds around you. All at the same time. It highlights the bird actively singing. It is the most amazing thing ever. A must have. I walk around my neighborhood and identify all the birds around me. This app delights me. 😊

Credit: Beth Kempton of Soul Stack shared this in notes so please give her all the credit. I’m just sharing the love.

Until Next Time ✨ ,

Kim

Know someone who might enjoy “Looking for the Magic✨”? Pass it along…