#100daysofart: weeks 4 and 5, art is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Another week, another 2 weeks + fraught with real life and peppered with art.

Ironically, those weeks when things are a mess, and time is limited I find it easier to create pieces I actually like. Of course, this is not always the case. There are a couple in images below that were more or less phoning it in, but this exercise is about consistency and making it happen - each and every day. Much like life, some days yield great results, and some just yield.

Below is a shot I took on the Sunset strip and decided to filter it and send it out into the universe. 

Below that I was in the office, had my notebook and had had a lovely afternoon, leaving me with lingering inspiration and a Bic. With no preparation and no real tools, strangely, this is one of my favorite pieces thus far. Perhaps the simplicity and actual emotion made it work so well.

day 31

day 32day 33

day 34

day 35

Wanting my art to inhabit all sorts of spaces, not just that of my notebook, I had the chalk, and the time to make the piece 'Faux Sweet Home' - a simple sentence that entered my head and exited my hands. With a recent extended stay in Los Angeles, a new home that does not yet feel like that - home - it seemed appropriate. I am proud of myself for trying something new, making major alterations to a life that felt like it wasn't working - at least not for me - but that is no way means I am not missing Wash Heights, NYC.

I recently dug up some old college equipment, including my charcoal and , with my father as a constant beacon of inspiration and continuing presence in my life I thought a quick sketch of a recently acquired shot of him as a little boy, not the man who was my father, first with the 'stache in the 80s and then with the thinning crown of hair in the 2000s, this little boy was just Chris, Betty and Neil's son, Elizabeth's little brother and, in this shot, Santa Claus's lap companion. Strange to think of a life before me, in terms of blood relatives, of which I have few, but nice to be reminded of the beautify of the individual, devoid of your influence.

A beautiful dusk at a favorite watering hole, and a sad day with a blue canvas, sharpie and melted 99 cent store crayons made a melancholic piece. My time management was tested for the image below in which I was shooting the founder of Ping Tank, a new and innovative app in his Hollywood Hills home seemed an obvious choice and allowed for rare sighting of the artist herself, though shot from behind. I stand strong that my face does not need to make the rounds on the Internet and that the world wide web benefits more from what comes out of it's contents.

day 36

day 37

day 38

day 39

day 40

day 41

day 42

day 43

day 44

day 45

day 46

day 47

My head never quiets. It is both a blessing and a curse and, more in the distant past than the present, I take the opportunity to pour those thoughts, emotions and lines out onto physical paper. It helps clear my mind and makes me feel like pain, confusion and anguish can be a beautiful and useful tool. A poem, written art, shot under a bougainvillea seemed an appropriate piece and helped download some of the data on my internal hard drive. Blue sort of speaks for itself and with the cyber lives of millions becoming a series of hash tags, it was brought to my attention of National Siblings Day, on which I chose to use collage to honor my relationship with my big sister.

Art of Bella is a DIY painting studio in Koreatown I had been eager to visit for a couple of months now and, with a guest visiting me in the city of Angels, I took the opportunity to make a mug with words of wisdom for someone who has brought me into a positive space by proxy and for whom I am eternally grateful.

A visit to the Getty Center children's gift shop left me going home with an all one-stop-shopping watercolor postcards and a coloring book of transparent dragons - one of which now hangs proudly on my window.

Canvas, chalk and a sharpie created day 44 and as I approach the half way mark another pen and paper doodle ended up being one of my best received pieces.

I had originally had great plans for a dollar store find puzzle but, when the reality fully sank in, I chose to grab a handful of colorful pieces, a glue stick and, once again draw a line bouncing around in my huge Heard cranium and made a piece that actually spoke from a personal place. I find I really like simple pieces with words that mean something, to me if no one else, and day 46 most certainly reflected that.

Wanting to make this a Tuesday update, I am finding myself falling behind and felt done is better than perfect, a mantra I chant to myself, and a couple of dear friends on occasion and am leaving this post with a set of paper dolls, or analog emojis if you will that I created taking the cardboard out of some recently purchased ankle socks that I felt needed to be re-purposed and doodled on to make this phallic family.

Nothing here took more than a 24 hour period to concept and create, nothing here was made with anything but my heart, mind and body and nothing here is perfect - but I can say with absolute certainty - that everything here is me.

#100daysofart: week 1, getting creative being creative

A week in and I can already feel the enormity of this self proposed challenge I have chosen to undertake.

While perusing the site for #100daysofart you can see many people chose themes, creating a selfie a day or a watercolor of a variety of landscapes - perhaps a wise move when stumped for your next potential project. I, on the other hand, being a Jedi warrior in the art of making things far more difficult than need be, chose simply to create with an open ended idea of what that meant. I wanted to make sure I utilized different forms and mediums and, in the process, stretch and strenghten my idea of what constitutes art.

A stop at my old familiar stomping grounds of the local art supply store not only brought me back to my younger days; days when my father purchased and set up a professional draft table in my childhood bedroom, giving me the proper tools to create Louvre-worthy portraits of Peter Pan and Mickey Mouse, but also those days from university where one was often faced with the choice between a chunk of premium charcoal or nutritionally balanced meal. Ah, the good ole days.

A few basics in my bag and I was ready to go and conquer.  

day 2

day 3

day 4

Day 1 had been an introduction to the whole project and allowed me to use my middle school level typography that I love so much. Day 2 lent itself to my doodle days and came almost effortlessly as I dragged pencil on paper and made a random yet consistent pattern. Day 3 and Day 4 I chose to go 3-D, decorating mugs (a long stranding tradition for me and a couple of other ladies) and making a collage about said father who purchased that draft table all those years ago. Neither my typical form of expression yet both uniquely satisfying in their creation and result.

day 5


Figuring a trip to the Getty Center on Day 5 would simply lend itself to my next work, I found I was a bit stumped and, as a professional photographer almost felt like I was cheating it when I grabbed a quick shot of beautful bougainvillea wrapped around iron rods in the garden. Not having used photography yet I felt I got a pass.

Then life kicked in, as it is wont to do. Meetings and commutes. Social commitments and time at the gym watching How I Met Your Mother reruns while on the elliptical began to fill every conceivable moment of my day and I knew that, with this only being the beginning, I would have to think outside the box to accomplish this goal. Literally.

day 6

I knew when publicly declaring my attempt to complete all 100 days of art, time management would play as big a role, if not bigger, than the ideas with which I needed to come up to make my art. Day 6 ended up being totally out of left field and a back up when a previous concept didn't look like it was so feasible. A found rubber ball with a black sharpie and white out can go a long way when in a pinch. Day 7 was going to be a painting but, when seated at a basketball game watching an antsy 8 year old desperately searching for ways to fill her time when her father was shooting 3-pointers, I figured part of the beauty of this project could be my ability to share art with others. With a good pad of paper and colored pencils at the ready, I thought, pretending the entire time that I was not at all concerned about the fact that I knew my pencils would be returned dull and out of chromatic order, why not offer this little girl a distraction from her youthful boundless energy and allow her to create what ended up being a great portrait of her daddy playing ball. Though she was not able to finish the picture before I had to leave (with my compromised pencils)  I was able to give her a moment of art and, create art by proxy. Though I did not document her work, I did manage to capture a shot of her creating her own masterpiece, lost in her own world of color and texture - a place we should all visit more often.

day 7 

day 8


Siblings are a curious thing. Two (or more) people, made from the same ingredients who turn out totally differently. My sister and I are no exception to this phenomenon and while I was born an artist, she was born a businesswoman. Her business is fashion and, while spending a day fondling fabrics and chatting over tea I saw the opportunity to make a face right there - at the Sunset Tower Hotel with table scraps of artichoke, peper and honey for Day 8. The lemon wedge to create a sunny smile was simply icing on the cake to a day with my very different, yet almost equally lovely sister and my first full week of #100daysofart.

Hopefully having worked out some kinks and warmed up some muscles, next week will bring new inspiration and new visual adventures. Wish me luck!