About 365 Guitars

In another life, I was in the advertising business.  There is some aspect of my personality that thrives on that day to day stress of deadlines and projects and the constant flow of creative ideas, and in my current incarnation as an artist, I miss the pressure.  So it came to pass that in the course of reading a blog that I check regularly, [paris breakfasts], Carol mentioned a book by Noah Scalin called 365:  A Daily Creativity Journal.  I was intrigued enough to pick up the book, and further intrigued enough to start creating on a daily basis the thing that came quickest to mind – a guitar.

Ok, granted, I am only ten days into the project and am facing an entire year of trying to create a guitar a day.  It will not be easy, at least I didn’t think so going in, but already it is becoming a habit for me to be thinking about what kind of representation of a guitar I might be able to find or build or create.  I talk to a lot of people, and the response is amazing.  I am being bombarded with really, really good ideas, and offers of help and materials – I’m having a ball.

So why guitars?  I play, of course, not well, but forever.  I was given my first guitar when I was 9 or 10 – and I have hauled one or more of them around with me every since.  I don’t know what my house would look like without a guitar leaning in a corner of at least one room.  They have been for some time now my warm-up exercise for my painting – I will do 8 or so quick sketches or paintings of a guitar to start my day in the studio.  The shape pleases me…and the more I consider the guitar for this project, the more ways I am finding to represent it.  It is a shape that is easily recognized, even in highly stylized forms.  It is fun

What is clear, already, is that there are going to be really good days, and there are going to be really lame days, but the point is that I am thinking creatively every day.  I’ve been emailing the results to enough people who will push me to make it happen, and posting this blog is going to be a further encouragement to produce – it is almost like the old days, except it is somewhat unlikely that I face unemployment if I miss a few.  But I do not like to disappoint – myself or others, so there is a likelihood that I will be pushing myself to come up with something.

Thanks so much for helping me stay on point.  Shall we begin?

Cheers!

Barbara

ps…just to make it legit – I’ve a few things up on SoundCloud…here is the most recent…https://soundcloud.com/userbp4063578/one-too-many-mornings