Jolie's Advice

You may remember this post about Jolie Guillebeau’s project, 100 Paintings in 100 Days. Well, Jolie’s up to Day 67 now - quite a feat.

What impresses me just as much as the heroic scale of her painting, however, is the freshness and enthusiasm that spills from her daily posts. She’d be forgiven for sounding just a touch jaded by now. But, no! It’s still full steam ahead.








If you read the comments on the first post, you'll know that Jolie volunteered to pass on the benefit of her experience to anyone else contemplating a similar enterprise.  So of course I took her up on her offer. 

Here then, in her own words, is some of the wisdom gleaned from the last two months of painting.




67 days ago, I started a crazy project. I decided to kick myself out of the quagmire of fear and perfectionism by committing publicly to doing 100 paintings in 100 days. I'd been painting for a while, but not really making much progress. I wasn't selling a lot, which meant I wasn't very motivated to paint because I was tired of just stacking more paintings in the corner of my studio. Then when I was painting, I'd spend hours and hours on something until it looked perfect - and stiff and lifeless.

This project solved both problems. I began on Day 1 with a painting for $1. Why so low? I had so many people who loved my work, but couldn't really afford an original. I wanted to acknowledge their support in some way. And honestly, $1 for a painting is better than nothing.

So on February 15, I began. And I've learned a few things along the way. Hopefully they'll help you, even if you decide not to do something this crazy.

Lesson One: Relationship is everything.

This project has challenged my painting skills, my business model and my creative muscles. But the most important benefit has been the new relationships. I've encountered so many new people, who are excited about my work and my plans. Yes, some of them are buyers, but most of them are people who are just excited about what I'm doing and want to encourage me. That matters more than sales.

Lesson Two: Organization leads to sanity.

Early on, I didn't think about all the "extra" time; I was just focused on painting time. But I quickly realized that setting up the e-mail, shipping and administrative details were going to take much more time that I expected. So I made a spreadsheet. That spreadsheet has saved my life and my sanity so many times. Do whatever you need to do to get the process out of your head and on to paper, so that when you wake at 4am with an idea, you can write it down and go back to sleep.

Lesson Three: Double check everything.

Day 21 was a disaster. I had a lot of new subscribers that week, and Sunday had been especially busy, so when I set up the email for Day 21, I forgot to double check the image. It was the wrong one. The story and the painting didn't match; it was a painting that had already sold, and I spent several minutes curled in a ball on the floor of my studio certain that I was a failure and this was the beginning of the end. But I pulled it out, people were gracious, and I learned that everyone really wants you to succeed. They're rooting for you, so...

Lesson Four: Don't be afraid.

Just get started. If you're thinking about a project like this, begin today. Make a commitment, begin, take action. I'm rooting for you. If you're wondering about anything I haven't covered here, I'd be happy to answer other questions in the comments or via e-mail. Stop thinking, stop worrying, stop listening to your gremlins, and do something wonderful.