Nickola McCoy-Snell is hardly one to shirk a challenge.
Her latest project, 100 in 100 for 100, involves creating a painting every day for 100 days – and then selling them for $100. Of that, $25 will go to the Sunrise Adult Centre.
The idea, she tells Weekender, has been done elsewherem but as far as she’s aware this is a first for a Cayman artist.
“I decided that I definitely wanted to take on the project in late 2010.
However, if I was going to try it, I wanted it to be more than just a marathon painting exercise and decided it would be an opportunity best allied to some kind of fundraising venture for a worthy cause.
“I knew that if I was to stand any chance of persevering with the commitment I needed to give myself a goal, a specific purpose, and when I started the workshops with the Sunrise Adult Centre on Monday mornings the sense of urgency was suddenly there.”
Gentle scepticism
But how is it even possible to create that volume of work?
“My husband posed the self same question and it was partly his gentle scepticism that made me determined to do it. Maybe that was a little reverse psychology on his part, I don’t know. I like to believe that anything is possible and completing 100 paintings in 100 days when you have a purpose and a worthy cause to fight for should be no exception.
“Not to mention that I am a driven person and most people who know me and my art understand that I prefer to work quickly. The physical side is not so tiring as the creative aspect might possibly become,” Nickola says.
The project began on 10 June and all are available for viewing on the arteccentrix Facebook page.
“We do have to say a big thank you to the folks who have bought pieces already. People in Cayman and overseas have responded in an amazing way and although we can’t list their names here, each buyer is mentioned alongside the paintings they have bought in the Facebook gallery. I should also mention that one kind donor even went out and bought me some more canvases to help keep me going – that was a lovely surprise and a wonderful act of kindness.”
Creative spark
Finding inspiration for the paintings, she says, is dependent on daily occurrences and “whatever flashes of the creative spark” enter her head.
“So each day is different and this will no doubt be reflected in the end results. I am working on a much smaller scale, so it’s a different discipline from the kind of work I am best known for. Having said that, neither am I working on pieces of any particular or consistent size so some larger pieces will probably pop up over the course of the challenge.”
Many of the pieces will also be available later as prints.
Arteccentrix moved to Dorcy Drive recently and Nickola has a solo show running throughout June, with 10 per cent of sales also going to the same charity.
“It’s not only my first solo in a long time, I also feel it is the first body of work I have produced in a long time that is totally ‘mine’. The first time in a long time that I have really had the room and space to create exactly what I wanted to with nobody to please but my own internal artist’s voice and critic,” she sayss.
And she means it – 100 per cent.
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