making life into art
(or fun little illustrations, at least)
the story
In 2017 I was feeling a little bored, and creatively burnt out. I decided that the thing to fix it was an artistic outlet outside of work. So for the second time in my life I took on Michael Beirut’s famous 100 Days Project: do a design operation every day for 100 days. In this case, illustrate — as simply as possible — one moment from my day and post it to Instagram. Like any task that involves endurance, it changed my life. Scroll through some of my favorite illustrations below, or see the whole project archived on my Instagram (link in header).
Day 04: lunch of champions.
Day 07: Marlene Dietrich exhibit... do I need a top hat??
Day 08: Tucker dog got a bath today. He was thrilled, as usual.
Day 14: Feeling better & back to happily yog-ing.
Day 16: Made Sarah's favorite dinner — coconut curry chicken noodle soup.
Day 17: My cactus, called Louise, has 2 new leaves.
Day 18: Movie night in honor of The Princess Bride's 30th anniversary last week.
Day 21: Very lazy Saturday finishing a book.
Day 33: design thinking exhaustion.
Day 36: New books! Because I definitely need more and definitely don't have a problem at all.
Day 40: continuing the 1998 theme, I ate a toaster strudel today, and it was perfect.
Day 42: made a trip to the Hirshhorn Museum, which always looks like an alien robot about to blast off.
Day 44: pulled out my winter coat for the first time this season and found a pair of sunglasses I thought I'd lost in the pocket.
Day 45: had zero trick or treaters today, but still ate plenty of candy.
Day 46: St. Vincent on repeat.
Day 50(!): Roasted Japanese sweet potatoes. They were actually this purple.
Day 52: as a Coloradan who was raised on sunshine, I'll never get used to the idea that it can be both freezing out AND rainy.
Day 54: chilly days = blankets for Tucker (who am I kidding, every day = blankets for Tucker)
Day 56: new gloves + La Colombe
Day 58: fresh paint.
Day 59: the joy of knowing you have fun socks hidden under your work-appropriate shoes.
Day 60: saw a great dane & a tiny poodle out for a walk together.
Day 63: The Great Thanksgiving Road Trip kicks off in New Orleans.
Day 67: visited the king.
Day 68: table so pretty we forgot to take pictures of the food (did not forget to eat it tho).
Day 69: hung out with a heron on our morning walk.
Day 74: Back at it.
Day 76: knowing that more coffee will not make me less anxious does not seem to keep me from trying.
Day 77: v busy Saturday.
Day 78: having kind of an avocado moment (I am the target demo for coffee shops selling overpriced avocado toast)
Day 81: goals for tomorrow — leave the office.
Day 82: Art Institute!
Day 84: apartment hunting begins with a little snow.
Day 92: RIP ridiculous yellow dog toy from the grocery store.
Day 96: long distance Christmas in the age of Amazon = unmarked cardboard boxes from mysterious senders.
Day 97: Wrapping.