The daily posting of Project365 A Drawing A Day is coming to an end today
Last daily posting! 50/365
As I mentioned in my heads-up two days ago, I have an important update.
This may come as a (fill in the blank), but I’m gonna press the stop button.
The daily posting of Project365 A Drawing A Day is coming to an end today. This means this will be my last time keeping to a Monday to Friday fixed schedule of sending my drawing and thoughts to you.
I will still be keeping the commitment to myself of a drawing a day. Project365 A Drawing A Day continues.
I’ve been thinking about it for some time. This daily posting and about HopeMail per se.
Let me explain my reasons for stopping the daily posting:
Psyche
When I started this project, I had three whys.
Develop my art.
Develop my business.
Develop me.
While drawing daily is meeting the three whys (or at least the first and third), posting daily had a more negative impact. Though there were numerous positive experiences which I’m so grateful for, like the meaningful interaction with some of you, the daily “exposure” of posting took a toll on my psyche. It’s feeding on my insecurity which I’m already battling.
Growth
By daily taking away the space to make bad art, any art, and just the space to make art privately, I’ve unconsciously gone on a path of stunting my growth as an artist. Refer to point one.
Time
I realise that I can’t stick to just one short caption to name the drawing. And I spend time crafting the daily posts to share from my heart. While I’ve enjoyed writing and connecting with you, I need to channel my time along with developing my art, to develop it as a business too. For example, offering my work on a commission basis, or developing some of my artwork as prints. That aside, I’m suddenly thrown into a family relationship crisis, and time is needed to take care of practical matters and my mental health too.
Moving forward…
In our noisy online world, I hope (pun intended) HopeMail will be a quieter, simpler space for me to write about things in my he(art) and life. May it be a quiet place for you to find rest too.
For now, there’s no fixed publishing schedule or format. Just—honest writing from me.
And yes, I will still share some drawings from my “Project 365 A drawing a day”. ❤️
And now, day 50/365!
My first abstract art? Today, I had a taste of purely creating from imagination, not copying, purely intuitive, picking different tools and colours, and 100% letting go. Ok, 95%. There were moments when I hesitated if I was doing it right. But doing it right is not the point. I am now seeing how, as I change as a person, my art goes along.
I read this quote from a blog post.
You can’t create anything that doesn’t reveal who you are. You can’t create what you want to be. You create out of who you are. ~ quote from Landa Cope
So there you have it. The daily posting is over. I truly appreciate you reading, cheering me on, and sharing your thoughts through emails and comments. This is not the end but a transition to a new phase. You are more than welcome to come along.
🍁 Melinda
p.s. If you want to “reminisce” 🙃 the past 40+ days drawing journey, here’s the link to my archive.
Thanks for hanging in there as long as you could. It is a HUGE commitment to post every day for a year. So much happens even in one week, we are all taken off course from time to time. I'm only now getting back to my substack after a hiatus (inadvertent) that lasted for several weeks. It's okay. Doing what we feel is right and true is far better than filling a quota, whether self-imposed or otherwise. Looking forward to your posting as they come!
This makes sense. I take photos every day but posting every day just wouldn’t be possible for me either!