One drawing per day for a year capturing all the little in-between moments as a reminder to appreciate the sweet, funny, frustrating, mundane, beautiful moments that add up into a full life.
Drawing 27/365
I’m currently 50 days into my 365 Daily Drawing Series. To see the full series, to claim originals, and order prints from the series click here.
On July 31st, 2023, I decided on, committed to, and took the first daunting exhilarating step forward with a daily year-long project. The project? Drawing one moment from each day for 365 days.
Drawing 16/365
Today marks 50 Drawings in 50 days.
Of those 50 days, I’ve shown up to draw on good days, bad days, sick days, cramp days, and even ones where we were traveling and visiting family all day. I’ve coined this new practice as ‘a non-negotiable’, and frankly, even when I initially don’t feel like it or it’s late and I want to go to bed, I find myself enjoying the process once I have my pencil etching on the page.
Drawing 40/365
I’ve always been fascinated with the story-telling of the mundane in-between moments of life. The things we all experience on the day-to-day, but perhaps get overlooked or fuzzed out while operating on autodrive. Things like doing dishes, kissing our loved ones ‘good morning’, talking to mom on the phone on a sick day–the moments that aren’t considered the main events that get included in the eulogy yet played frequent imperative parts to daily life.
Drawing 15/365
Around 8 years ago, I was sitting in a small dim-lit literature class in college while we talked about a book I can’t remember. I raised my hand and argued that you could write a whole story about the mundane moments of life. Perhaps this was the first of many times when I said this sentence with conviction: “There is beauty in the mundane”. My professor said you might lose your audience along the way writing a whole story about, say, brushing your teeth, but I still personally saw that as an interesting premise. Brushing your teeth links you to a shared human experience, and shared human experiences are interesting subjects. I would like to note that, at the time, I was an overly idyllic 20-year-old dancing circles with my own romantic naivety, so take that riveting story premise about brushing your teeth with a grain of salt, though I’ll admit that part of me today still thinks it holds merit.
Drawing 39/365
What I didn’t know at the time sitting on that non-aerodynamic chair in the corner by the door, is that I hadn’t found my preferred medium of story-telling yet. Maybe a whole written story about the time I drowned in laundry, watched my cats watching birds out the window, or kissed my husband at the front door after he came home from work would have a limited demographic of patient readers after hitting a certain word count. But perhaps a whole story delivered in a one-shot glance–the distinct super power of visual art–will be more concise in showing why all of the sweet, boring, silly, frustrating, sleepy, cozy tiny moments of ordinary life are important puzzle pieces that piece together a beautiful life well lived.
Drawing 49/365
The Heart of this Series
The heart of this series is to highlight all of the small moments that make up an extraordinary ordinary life. I plan to compile together the completed series into some form of book(s) to hang out on my (and maybe your?) coffee tables as reminders to live with eyes wide open and notice all the details that make up a life. Though I’m drawing moments from my own daily life, I believe that much of, if not all, of the drawings are a bridge to shared human experiences in some shape or form.
Drawing 38/365
Series End Art Show
Click below to fill out a form for a personal invitation in the mail when the show gets closer.
I plan to have a Series End Art Show gathering of sorts here in Portland, Oregon when the series is finished to display all of the original drawings and to celebrate this feat with those that supported, encouraged, or related to this 365 day journey. The originals are available to be claimed starting today, and they will be ready to take home via the event if you’re local or will be shipped to you after the event upon completion of the series in July 2024. If you’re interested in attending the event, please click above to get on the list for a personal invitation.
Drawing 30/365
In Closing
If you’re reading this and are enjoying this series, please help spread the word by sharing this and telling your friends. This project is important to me and now shares mindspace with me literally every day for the next 11-ish months and it will be that much more special if experienced alongside a lovely community of fellow art lovers and daily life livers.
Drawing 36/365
I want to give a big thank you to each of you for appreciating my work enough to read, view, and interact with it and I want to give a special thanks to my Art Collectors and Studio Friends on Patreon for helping support my art journey and helping me continue to share my work with the world.
In closing, if this project leaves any impact at all, I hope that it serves you as a beacon reminder to notice all of the details in the smallest of moments in your own daily life and maybe even gives you a laugh or two.
Thank you Art Collectors & Studio Friends:
Atessa B., Dawn W., Jessica V., Larissa Z., Mandolin H., Margaret S., & Meghan S.