Ambitious 100 Day Project Encourages the Playful Side of Cut Paper Collage

The idea of “play” is impor­tant in an artis­tic prac­tice. Hav­ing the time to fol­low cre­ative whims—to try things that both suc­ceed and fail—will help you devel­op your visu­al lan­guage and hone your process. Julie Hamil­ton uses her Insta­gram to do this as she doc­u­ments her cut-paper col­lages. Using bits of col­or and bold shapes, she has a myr­i­ad of indi­vid­ual ele­ments that are then arranged into com­po­si­tions that are rem­i­nis­cent of still lifes.

Julie reg­u­lar­ly par­tic­i­pates in 100 day projects, in which she explores a con­cept or theme over the course of about three months; she’s in the midst of one now and over two-thirds of the way done. “This year is about paint­ed papers and col­lage,” she explained. “Start­ing small and work­ing towards big. Dif­fer­ent col­or sto­ries. Big­ger shapes. More tex­ture. Always a bit of explo­ration and learning.”