Day 2

There's a quote attributed to Elizabeth Taylor that goes like this:

"The problem with people who have no vices is that you can be sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues."

And, god, isn't that true? We're no huge fans of goody-two-shoed tattle-tales. And for that matter, give me a tragic or anti hero over a perfect one any day. I can't stand Superman (this is Brittany talking so if he has any violent fans out there, please let Tynan survive.) Ever since I was a kid I had a crush on David Bowie and James Dean (and I know I'm not the only one). Vices are what make people interesting.

And we're not just talking tragic flaws. Huge immoral sins? Totally interesting. Tiny flaws in character? Just as interesting. There's something almost disturbingly ritualistic in the way some people bite their fingernails.

Anyways, today your prompt is "a vice". Yours, someone else's, a character's, vices in general. Have at it and link us to it! We had some awesome writing, lovely art and photos, and a very nostalgic jazz tune yesterday. We're loving all your work!

Tynan's vices
Brittany's vice

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The Challenge Begins: Day 1

AHMAHGAH IT STARTS TODAY. (We'd post an excited gif here but we have so many things to do!)

Today’s theme is “Something Forgotten”. When we were coming up with the themes, we made two lists, compared them, and then removed things we didn’t feel fit as well. On one list, we had “abandoned”, and on the other we had “Something Forgotten”. They're pretty similar so we chose "something forgotten". 

TYNAN: For me, this is anything that’s alone, that gives the feeling of silence and abandonment. This could range from an overrun abandoned factory, to an empty marina in the winter. Or, even, a bike that’s been tipped over and left on the ground. Something that has been left behind, leaving no trace of human presence aside from that one object.

Tynan's something forgotten

BRITTANY: What I love is how differently all of these prompts can be interpreted (does that sound vain? a little? oh, well, I'm proud of our prompts). As soon as I sat down to think about the prompt I thought of people I'd forgotten, people that have "been left behind, leaving no trace of [my] presence". And because I am fairly vain, that led me to think about people who've probably forgotten me. People who left me behind. And that made me all teary. But, HEY, I made something.

Brittany's something forgotten

Now how about showing us what YOU came up with, and linking it below!

And travel to the Tumblr feed  to check out some great ones that haven't been linked here.

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Tomorrow's the big day!

How's everyone feeling? Excited? WE ARE.

(see? see how excited we are?)

Tynan and I will be posting the prompts every morning and then linking our work to them as we finish. Pleaseplease remember to link yours in the comments so we can see them as well! And, of course feel free to comment on each other's work (in a supportive manner. We have a no tolerance for assholes policy.)

We can't wait to see what this month brings!

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A Little Clarification about 28 to Create

We’ve received a few emails and comments from people who are really excited about the challenge but worry they will not make the day to day posts because of all the time that goes into creating even one piece of work.

Now this is true. We know it. And we’d say (and are saying) “hey, even if you only participate one day, that’s something great!”

But the main point of this challenge is bringing you to the table (or the desk or the easel or the barre or the camera or the whatever) every day, feeling inspired or not. Because some days our muse doesn’t show up and we have to push through it anyway.

We’re not expecting something ready to hang at the Met or publish every day. We’re probably not gonna be able to provide a beautifully polished piece of work every week. And that’s okay. This isn’t about making your best work ever, it’s about MAKING at all. Creative people are the worst at getting down about their talent or time and then coming up with excuses to stop creating (we can say that because we’ve done it). This is taking away that excuse.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be NEAR perfect. We just want to see you walk up to your art every day this coming month and say “You might suck today. But I’m here anyway.” Now if you create something this month and then decide to go back and perfect it, well that’s even better.

We also suggest watching this video before the challenge begins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA

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4 days until go time!

Hey, everyone! We are getting super pumped (is that a thing? pumped? or should we have left that in the early nineties with our patterned shorts and childhood innocence?) about February 1st! 

We want to remind you to come here for your daily prompts OR sign up to follow those prompts by email! (The sign up is in that little sidebar to the right. It's the part that says, you know, "follow by email".) And if you're willing pleasepleaseplease come back here and link to your work on the daily prompts. We want to be able to see what everyone's creating!

In honor of all the creating that's gonna be happening, check out this TEDx video by Jake Nickell (a creator of Threadless) called "Never Stop Making".

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Introductions: YOU

Now we want to meet you! If you're interested in the project or definitely gonna participate (a little or a lot) please add a comment to this post telling us a little bit about yourself!

We're especially interested in why you want to do this challenge, the artsy-writingy-performancey-creative mediums you might use and your favorite joke/snocone flavor/murder weapon.

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Introductions: Tynan

Hello, everyone, I’m Tynan. Some of you may know me through real life (aka, not the internet), but for the sake of retaining some of my anonymity, I’m Tynan here.  This little post is going to be a small introduction for you.

I’m a young woman stuck in her life. Or at least, that’s how I feel. A love for art has always been in my blood; my grandmother was a fantastic illustrator & painter, all of my cousins have artistic bones in some fashion, my grandfather did photography for years. I grew up being encouraged to draw and color and embrace that side of myself.

So, naturally, I went to “art” school.

While I was there, I took a couple photography classes, and that’s when I really fell in love. Passionately. I started collecting cameras, experimenting with digital and film, trying to convey to other people the way my twisted little brain saw the world. It was an outlet, an escape, and I loved it.

Two years in, I left, for a variety of reasons. Turns out school isn’t one of my strong suits. From that point, my art started disappearing. I could barely bring myself to touch my camera, much less use it. It dwindled down and down and down, til I went months without even pulling my camera out of the case.

It’s hard, losing a passion like that, letting a flame go out like that.

A couple nights ago, Brittany and I were having a conversation over Skype (this girl is my art!soulmate, guys, she’s brilliant), and I was telling her about how I was having a hard time just existing recently. She said I had to have a reason to get out of bed each morning that was a happy reason, not to get up and go to my dead-end job. She suggested something like the 30 day poetry challenge she had completed recently, but tailored more towards something I felt strongest with. The conversation evolved, and voila, here we are, with 28 to Create.

I’m hoping that following through with this challenge will help reignite that spark of creativity inside of me, to help find that passion again.  To give me a reason to get out of bed each morning (cause some days, that’s really hard to do). I’m hoping that everyone who participates in this has a reason too, a reason they want to complete this, to inspire their art or to challenge themselves.

Most of my work will be dealing with photography, but I may or may not slip a little design into it. Sometimes I like to think I have an eye for typography, but more often than not, I don’t. So, we’ll see, I suppose. I’ll most likely be posting my images to my tumblr account, but if you guys track the tag “28 to Create”, you’ll see things pop up.

I’m excited to see the creativity of other people popping up. The imagination that people have is absolutely amazing to me, and I can’t wait to see what people come up with for the challenges.

A+ if you read through all of that, and let the challenge begin!

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