It's over now. 30 days of experimenting, and brainstorming, and creating, and daring, and pushing through the daily life, and seeing just how much mom and house work I can get out of before my family hates me. It was intense. I want to step back now and reflect. Analyze. One of my favorite things to do, analysis. You know the phrase "paralysis by analysis"? It's about me. It's how I never had my projects in architecture school done on time. There was just so much more to do with them.
Anyway, back to 30x30. Here is what I think about it:
1) It was great to try new (or just forgotten) things and experiment. It definitely freshened me up after non-stop commission painting. I should do it more often. Maybe, something like first five days of every month, I get to play with whatever art supplies strike my fancy.
2) I loved the virtual presence of all the other artists who participated in this challenge. I found some extraordinary artwork, followed about a dozen of blogs, and connected with quite a few awesomely talented people. Artists are such a friendly bunch.
3) It was also very cool to have a buddy closer to home. One of my former students did the 30x30 challenge with me! He doesn't have a blog yet, so we kept in touch on Facebook.
3) I had very little difficulty coming up with stuff to paint. It may be because I opted out of having a theme or limiting myself in any way.
4) It was a fragile balance of pushing through with the daily painting and not being too tough on myself.
5) The "work-life balance" did not work at all. I felt very frustrated. I need to be "in the zone" when I'm making art and it's impossible with the kids and lunches and dinners. I only have a few hours a day after the kids go to bed and I'm usually wiped by that time, so...need to figure something out here.
6) I liked blogging every day and seeing increased engagement both here and on my Facebook fan page and Google Plus. It made me feel loved (or at least liked :) ) and motivated me :)
7) I did not make 30 paintings. And I'm fine with that. I lowered my expectations at the very beginning of the challenge. I still pushed myself, but when I had days when I just couldn't fit a painting time, I let it go. No reason to stress yourself out, you know? :) I liked Crystal Cook's setup, with scheduled weekends off. Smart thing to do.
8) In the middle of the challenge, I took an online Right Brain Business Plan course. It should be a 30 day challenge in itself. I spent quite a lot of time on it and two of my "painting days" turned into collaging-for-RBBP days. My work on the business plan is in full swing now.
That's pretty much all. Would I do it again? Oh yes. But not this month :)