I learned about the 100-Day Project on Instagram last year and decided to jump in. I love watercolor and always wanted to learn more. Perfect time to try it out right? For my project, I chose to make a card a day to represent life that day. Doing this also forced me to practice lettering and use different types of pens.
I’m a paper crafter first and foremost, but I love mixed media. This project ignited a new interest for me. I now use watercolor quite often and have expanded to activities like trying projects with a Gelli plate to branch out in my creative endeavors. You can see last year’s 100-Day Project here and here.
Fast forward to this year and I’m ready to embark on another 100-Day Project. This year I’m choosing a photo project that will incorporate mixed media that I’m calling Faux Family History: Stories That Might Have Been.
Here’s the Story
My husband and I brought back boxes of old photos and memorabilia from his parent’s home when we cleared it out after their passing. It has taken me a while to sort through the boxes and bins, but oh what I have uncovered. A huge collection of photos and memorabilia dating back as far as 1850. Documents including marriage licenses, land deeds, report cards, and hotel receipts. Letters from World War II, old stock certificates, newspaper clippings, stamp collections and more. But in this process I’ve also collected a large amount of photos. Many are unidentified and undated. Some are even tin type photos. We know they are relatives, but we have no way to figure out who they are, making it impossible to document their story or connection to the family.
The A-HA Moment
One afternoon when staring at them I decided this could be my 100-Day Project. I could create a fun book of the photos and write statements, captions or stories that “might have been” or “could have been” their history. Historical fiction you might say. I’ll make sure to write an introduction about my “faux” history for future family members. But I think this will be fun to dream up stories that match the photo or period of time, while also playing with mixed media and photo transfer to create a unique piece of art. Old photos have their own character anyway don’t they? It will be a creative challenge to find a story behind what is going on in the photo and to guess what may have led up to its taking.
Are you doing a 100-Day Project? It can be on anything. The idea is to practice some kind of activity for 100-days in a row: art, writing, painting, photography, needlework … anything at all!
Why don’t you join me? Click here to learn more.
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