The Backyard Birds Collection: a thirty in thirty adventure

Well, the month of last September was a bit of a doozy!

30 days

29 backyard birds

240 hours of drawing time

180 cups of coffee

I found the inspiration of completing a 30 in 30 way back in 2019 from the amazing artist Aimee Hoover (check her work out here, it’s gorgeous!) and while last year’s effort was a bit of a flop, I found incredible joy and __ in this year’s completion.

But I only completed 29 of the 30 backyard birds. Each bird took on average 9 hours of drawing time, as well as time for photography, editing and social media sharing. Once I got to the end of September I had found my limit, I hit it pretty hard, and I was impressed with that accomplishment, even I was missing a bird. Done is better than perfect, and there’s a lot to be said about burn out. Towards the end of this series I was on the edge of that dangerous precipice, requiring a rest, some exercise and a bit of a holiday.

I learned a lot throughout the process of creating everyday; I pushed my limits and my abilities and in doing so, grew as an artist.

Preparation is key.

In August I worked incredibly hard to ensure there were few hiccups during September, so I could focus on the work. My partner pre-cooked and froze a heap of dinners for me, so I could simply microwave them and keep going; just taking away that simple thought process of “What do I want to eat for dinner?” helped quite a bit. Pre-sketching out each bird was also a huge job, and I’m SO happy I did that way back in August! Not only does it take a lot of time, but by choosing my birds and sketching them out beforehand I also cut down one more choice I had to make that day, freeing my mind for the work ahead.

get as much done in the morning, but sometimes life does get in the way.

There were many many days where I had stayed up past midnight the night before trying so desperately to finish a bird, and I just couldn’t make it out of bed before 8am that next morning, as much as I tried to. There were many days as well, where I had to get up early anyways to finish the previous day’s bird before I could start that days; on those days I would average around 12 hours of drawing time and my eyes would be burning towards the end of it.

yes, Taking time off is okay.

There’s a reason why I was only able to complete 29 birds within that timeframe, because I had the audacity to take some time off. I went out for dinner with family, I went out to do some shopping, I even had the audacity to take an entire day off to lay on the couch and watch bad TV! I learned a lot about burn out last year, and I’ll do everything in my power to never walk down that bleak patch again.

Just because I don’t like the artwork, it doesn’t mean other people won’t.

There a couple of birds that completely surprised me, I absolutely loathed them (that faded quickly, but when you stare at the same image for 10 hours straight you see a lot of flaws really quickly) but while I disliked them, when I shared them the next day they were the most popular birds on Instagram! And vice versa, there are some birds that I absolutely adore (one of which I may yet keep for myself) but no one else seemed to like quite as much. So, share your work!

If you’re an artist and also thinking about completing a thirty in thirty, I would highly encourage you to do so. Creating a ritual of going into the studio, knowing that you’re going to create something worthwhile is a huge confidence boost, and doing so every day for 30 days creates a habit. When the the series was completed and it was time to put the pencils down to focus on the website/marketing side of things, it felt oh-so strange!