Exploring Eclipse Inspiration: Days 33-63 of 100 Days of Creative Flow

Don’t you love to see what the finished product looks like? Me, too! Here is a peek into volume one of my 100 Days of Flow project.

My Daily Creative Process

As I continued my 100 Days of Flow journey, days 33-63 brought new sources of inspiration and opportunities to adapt ideas in unique ways. The SDG 100 Day Playbook served as my guide, with its inspirational words, definitions, quotes, and my own journal artwork providing creative sparks.

The Total Solar Eclipse

One of the highlights during this period was the total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024. The dramatic dimming of the daylight and the sun’s corona surrounding the moon’s silhouette made for an awe-inspiring celestial event. I was drawn to capture the experience through my daily creative practice.

Exploring Darkness and Light

For my first eclipse-inspired piece, I used rich black Ecoline watercolor to depict the moon’s shadow combined with brilliant gold gouache to represent the sun’s crown. The stark contrast and fluid effects I achieved spoke to the remarkable merger of darkness and light during the eclipse.

My process involved a variety of ways of exploring the interaction of watercolor and gouache on the pages. Some areas I left untouched, allowing the deep black to represent the total eclipse. This exploration of black and gold created responses of both delight and dismay in the comments on Instagram. 

I continue to repeat that this is my personal practice and the main focus is to help me create freely and generate an abundance of ideas. In the video linked below, you will hear my thoughts about how I created each page. The section on how I used the Playbook as a springboard might help you in your practice.

Key Learnings on Finding and Adapting Ideas:

• The SDG 100 Day Playbook aided me in making new conceptual connections between the inspirational words and my artwork.
• Nature’s cycles and phenomenon offer excellent creative prompts to work from.
• Stepping outside my usual color palettes challenged me and prevented creative stagnation.
• Adapting ideas from the playbook allowed me to breathe new life into existing concepts and artwork.
• Using contrasting materials like the black and gold made for striking visual impact.

The eclipse may have been a fleeting event, but its influence will be long-lasting in terms of the fresh perspectives and techniques it sparked during this exploration of my daily creative practice. I’m eager to see what new muses emerge as I venture forth!

The SDG 100 Day Playbook

The list of 100 inspirational words, definitions, sample quotes, and the artwork from my personal journal are included in the SDG 100 Day Playbook, available for purchase here.