I've been determined to streamline and clean up my personal computer's desktop. I'm also sorting through old pictures and images. And boy, the memories.

Here's a few.

Sophmore year of High School. 1992 Ms. Plaxco's Class. Katherine Hudson sat behind me. And I loved this acrylic painting assignment. Image was taken out of some torn out magazine ad, I think... But seeing it takes me back. I remember lipstick colors, AP European History, some of the best of friends and the sense of independence only a driver's license can provide. (Side note: Katherine and I went to see U2 in Concert in Birmingham, AL on a SCHOOL NIGHT! - Now as a parent, I think twice about that. But an interesting fact: my now husband was also at that concert.)

Friendship. I have some of the greatest of friends. And this was painted in celebration of that.

And then this one. I painted this for a friend based off of Psalm 23. This one makes my heart still for a moment. She showed me goodness, strength and love when I most needed to see that.

Psalm 23, watercolor, pencil and ink, 2007

And this one is so strange to me. It's bright and colorful but it was painted as I waited for some of my mother's test results to come back during her battle with cancer. I felt as if my family was navigating through uncharted waters without a map or destination that could be seen nor understood.

Asian Girl in the Middle, watercolor, 2008

There's No Place Like Home, watercolor, 2008

Relentless Prayer, watercolor and acrylic medium, 2015

"Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind." -Nathaniel Hawthorne

I followed the trend. #100dayproject

On Instagram, these people committed to a 100 day project. I felt this would be a brilliant way to commit to practicing art and it would instill good habits. Tiffany Thomas being the most inspiring with all her beautifully captured abstract paintings.

I recently also read that Khaled Hosseini would wake up EARLY in the morning to find the time to write his best selling book, The Kite Runner and still tend to his day job.

That balance to find time for creating (aka sanity) and still tend to the chores of the day is so ... so... desired but yet so difficult to attain. For me there was/is so much to paint and learn! And knowing that time is one of our most valuable assets, I wanted to use and claim it, not squander it.

So I committed to 100 studio mornings. And it has proven to be so much more than simply time for creating and good habits.

Things I learned these 100 days:

posting for 100 days is really difficult - especially as my subject matter began to be paintings that were not for the entire planet to know about -many a random studio object became the center of the post
perfection is a time and energy warp and those Instagram editing options and filters fuel the need to capture everything just right. ugh. I gave up on that after a while.
I do LOVE a #hashtag. I'm still not sure why and most days I want to #watercolor in every language possible
I'm a better artist in the morning than I am late at night. I blame my 40 year old eyes. Hello reading glasses.
I wake up easily without an alarm clock because I am waking up to something I enjoy
I like and need to be completely ALONE in quiet spaces often-so finding time to paint early in the morning, helps prevent my being a troll the other hours of the day.
I have learned why I make art and what it is that I am after in the process
I discovered new things to study and explore
This quickly became a sacred time for me. Time for praying, meditating, pondering.

All to say, I have loved the process though there were times in the midst of it, that I was ready to be done with it. Mainly because of the posting aspect and not knowing what to put out there.

Here a look back at my first little full of energy and good intention filled post beginning the process. It feels very long ago! Now, I have only two days left. It has increased my productivity, my drawing skills have improved and I've learned a new thing or two about watercolor as well.

A few years ago, I learned to love watercolor from Tom Herzog. He encouraged our class then to commit to painting or drawing each day for at least ten minutes. I get it now, why that is so important and I completely agree.