It comes as no surprise to those of you who follow here that I’m a huge fan of Roz Stendahl and have been a long time reader of her blog, Roz Wound Up, and more recently, Roz Interim on Patreon.

Way back in November, 2020 Roz discussed how to select personal projects that are both meaningful and enjoyable that would encourage long-term exploration. She feels it’s important to develop the independence to organize a project that will be meaningful and not dictated by prompts or an instructor’s guidance.

Enter the Project on Projects: Do It Anyway December.

Roz pushed us to select a simple project based on accessible subjects that would continue through the month of December. We would build our project around three crucial items: skill, medium, and subject matter we loved.

I had been thinking of cataloging my collection of Christmas Ornaments and it seemed to fit this framework perfectly. I love serendipity!

I would paint my ornaments on watercolor paper signatures and then bind them into a book when I finished. But I have a lot… a LOT… of ornaments! I knew immediately that “Do It Anyway December” was going to turn into “Do It Anyway 2021.”

Skill – watercolor on 140lb/300gsm cold press watercolor paper signatures using standard brushes (no waterbrushes).
Medium – watercolor, ink if desired.
Subject – Christmas ornaments

I worked diligently through December but then my interest waned only to be invigorated a week or so later when I’d resume my mission. And so went the whole of 2021. I had other drawing and painting projects going on simultaneously so I was still keeping up my daily art practice without ever losing sight of my goal. I wanted my ornaments painted and scanned by early November and the book case made and bound by Thanksgiving.

I did it!

The book is approximately 8 inches square and contains four signatures with throwouts. It’s bound into a Sewn on the Spine structure using Keith Smith’s Dash & Bars stitch pattern twice on the spine. The case is covered with Asahi Scarlett book cloth and inset with a watercolor and ink splattered label.

Looks tantalizing doesn’t it. The full video will be in the next post!