I had someone ask me last week what I thought I'd do for the 100th piece. Would it be something special? Something to pull everything I've learnt over the past three months together into one? I must admit this made me feel quite nervous and overwhelmed. If this person was asking me these questions would everyone else who has been following my progress be expecting something spectacular on the final day? 🤯 At this point I was in stress overload and couldn't stop thinking about it.

I began to reflect and ponder on why I had taken on the 100 day project in the first place. I reminded myself that my intention when starting this journey was self development. It was my desire to improve my knowledge of horse anatomy and to master ways of depicting it more accurately, as well as finding a process to become looser and more expressive. To make it more manageable and less overwhelming I broke the project down into sections, first concentrating on the horse's head, then studying the whole body and ending with focussing on both the horse and the rider. I definitely feel like I've achieved what I set out to achieve.

The 100 day project has far exceeded what I thought I'd be capable of. Being consistent and showing up every day was, on some days, extremely hard for me to do. There were moments when I didn't want to show up at all and was exhausted from other work commitments such as commissions and all the other day to day jobs that come with running your own business. However, the regularity of the project and my ambition of becoming a more accomplished artist are what kept me going on those 'not so great' days. 

I've used Quink Ink again for today's drawing and instead have worked into it with graphite and white pastel instead of pen (like yesterday's). I find it easier to manipulate and to blend with the ink to give subtlety to specific areas. I could start to feel myself wanting to put more detail into this one but had to stop myself. I want to 'suggest' detail rather than get into the fine detail I tend to do for my animal portrait commissions. I think I still have a way to go in achieving this, especially as the subject I'll be looking at next (read on) is so much more complex. This piece has naturally evolved from weeks of dedication and development and now seems the perfect time to move onto the next stage of my journey.

I've always had a love of medieval history and myths and legends. Combine this with my passion for horses and I have my inspiration. I've been exploring these themes for a while but have never dedicated time to actually exploring it fully. I know I'm passionate about these subjects but WHY do I want to depict them? WHAT do I want the work to say? These are the kinds of questions I'll now be investigating, while at the same time continuing to experiment with materials and techniques. 

So, going back to the question someone asked me last week and after sitting and contemplating about the last three months, should today's final piece be something exceptional? The simple answer to that is, no. To me, every drawing is special and each one helps lead me closer to where I want to be. Having that pressure of thinking the next piece of work should be 'the one', only seems to hinder my progress and dampens my freedom of expression. I've come to learn that letting go and enjoying the process is definitely the way forward for me.

My exploration is far from over and there is no conclusion to be made other than that my journey is just beginning and will no doubt be ever changing and evolving. 😊🐴⚔️