First of all, I woke up this morning thinking, “Well, better get to painting!” then I remembered that I was done, finished, complete and I had zero paintings left to do with this particular challenge.  I felt a rush of relief, then sadness and then confusion.  This project had infused itself into my life and I’m pretty sure there are elements of it that I will never rid myself of.

I learned so much this past year.  Yes, I learned technical aspects of art, TONS of art history, was introduced to new materials, styles and movements.  I’ve painted paintings I would’ve never thought of or wanted to paint (I said YES!).  I’ve painted some of my best work and some of my not so great work.  I accepted failure graciously and also moved on instead of lingering on that failure.

One of the biggest things I realized was how much I enjoy just the process of “doing”.  This challenge forced me to just “do” and not worry about the result.  And boy wouldn’t it be great to live the rest of my life like that?  Live for just now and not worry about the past or present.  Well, this project was an exercise in that for sure.  I had gotten the question, “How are you doing this?” from so many people and the only answer I could give was, “I just do it.”

This project started out as a personal challenge.  I never imagined how many people it would inspire and

affect.  I am so glad it did and I am so happy I decided to share it, declare it to all my friends.  I think that in doing so it gave me the motivation and a slight amount of pressure to make sure I did it every single day.

I also made new friends through this challenge.  People who followed and commented on my blog, relatives of some of the artists that I paid tribute to (writing me to tell me that they appreciated my tribute to their grandfather, uncles, grandmothers etc.) and even some artists themselves like Gerard Sendrey, Pierre Silvin, Sophie Orlicki, Anne Billon (Ruzena), John “CRASH” Matos and Matt Sesow.  Gerard Sendrey writes me regularly and we have become friends.  He and his son Pierre Silvin have both sent me their own personal artwork in thanks to my tribute.  Gerard has also written an article about my project/art in a French publication that will be published in a few days!  I was also interviewed by Scott Lefebvre who is a writer and maintains his own blog where he interviews interesting people.

So like I said, so much has come from this idea that I had for this insane project.

I am going to continue to paint (of course!) and I have many ideas for series of paintings.  I’ll be putting all this experience into larger pieces and I’m going to continue to promote my own art and live my life in the mind frame that I’ve adopted while engaging in this challenge.  My experience has grown and so have I as a person.

I hope I don’t sound too bold when I say that I am damned proud of myself but I also cannot believe that I actually did it.  I hope that this project has inspired you and that people keep on discovering it and it continues to inspire people to challenge themselves, enjoy the process of creating and just “do”.

Keep creating, start creating in whatever shape, form, sound or action you feel.  Don’t worry about people liking it, it being a masterpiece or making money.  Do it because it makes you happy and you are learning something from it.

I want to end this blog with some kind words I received (or people posted about my project).

My friend Rohan had this to say…(He expressed my project in a way that I couldn’t have…and of course it made me cry)

I’m not one to promote other people’s stuff too often on Facebook, but today I would like to profess my sincere admiration for Linda Cleary. When I first met her, now 8 or so years ago I was

immediately impressed by her unashamed, unpretentious, and very hard-working creativity. She has always been writing books, painting pictures, making music and acting the whole time I have known her, and unlike so many other folks I know, almost every project is followed through and finished. Those who know me personally will be aware how prolific (and unedited) I am, but Linda puts me to shame. Last year, on Jan 1st, she embarked on a massive, and deeply un-egotistical project – to paint a painting per day, for a year, each one a sincere homage, either stylistically, emotionally, or conceptually, to an artist she admires, some famous, some personal friends, some just worthy of her admiration; a different artist each day for a year. Believe me, having watched the project progress, this is not an exercise in “look what I can do” so much as a genuine pilgrimage through the styles and visions she admires and have influenced her along the way. As the project progressed her blog began

to attract interest, and in some cases, artists she had paid homage to to got personally in touch to express appreciation (and send her pressies). All of this with no intention of making money or becoming famous. Just because that is one of many things that art is about. Yesterday she posted her final, 365th painting of the series. So today I applaud Linda Cleary, and recommend you go and take a look at her Day of the Artist.

My friend Clay posted this:

Today is the last day of my very good friend Linda Cleary’s incredible project. She has created a painting every day, each honoring a different artist, for the past year. When she first told me of her plans to do it, I didn’t believe there was any way a person could be so committed to pull that off. Today however, will be her 365th installment in the series. I highly encourage you to check out some of the work on her facebook page and at dayoftheartist.com, where she also includes a short bio of each artist for each day. I’m so incredibly proud of her and she inspires me so much every day. I’m also crazy excited to say that I will be partnering with her for next year’s project. More info on that soon, but wish us luck. In the meantime, check out her stuff and tell her how awesome / insane she is pulling this whole thing off.

I am honored and humbled for those posts!  SO many of you have written me, commented and told me in

person how inspiring this project was to you and every word means so much.  Thank you to you all for your support, encouragement and inspiration.  I love you all!

P.S.  I could keep writing and writing about every single thing I learned from this project, but I’m saving that for my doctoral thesis.  Does that even make sense?  Sorry, I don’t have a Ph. D. 😉

Best,

Linda