Poppies, Pansies & 100 Days of Floral Art

A glimpse into my daily art practice and how tiny blooms became part of a much bigger creative journey.

Every year, thousands of artists take part in the 100 Day Project — a creative challenge to make something every day for 100 days. I’ve attempted it for six or seven years now. I never follow the traditional rules perfectly — I don’t create 100 pieces in 100 consecutive days — but I do complete 100 pieces of art in a year.

For me, the heart of the challenge isn’t perfection or discipline. It’s about showing up for creativity — when it feels right, when inspiration sparks, and when flowers begin to bloom on paper almost without thinking.

The Hundred Day Practice — My Way

I didn’t start off finishing 100 pieces. In my first year, I made it to 20 days. The next — maybe 30. Then I realised I didn’t have to paint every day to still honour the practice. So instead of “100 days in a row,” I switched to 100 artworks in a year.

Some weekends I’d paint five pieces. Other times, weeks would pass without lifting a brush. And that’s okay — because the point was never pressure. It was joy, curiosity, and building a creative archive to draw from for years to come.

“I stopped counting days and started counting pieces — 100 artworks made with joy, not pressure.”

Why Flowers?

I always return to flowers. They’re my language, my rhythm. There are endless varieties — shapes, colours, personalities — and I never get bored.

Sometimes I paint full floral bouquets. Sometimes wild abstract petals. Sometimes still-life vases. But they always bloom — whether through acrylic paint, markers, ink or pastel.

Poppies, Pansies & Peonies — Where They Began

These three flowers each entered my 100-piece practice in their own way.

Poppies and pansies came from an A–Z of Flowers challenge. P was for Poppies, then Pansies. I drew them in markers and ink — loose, colourful, imperfect.

Peonies came earlier — softer, romantic florals I painted while experimenting with Mother’s Day artwork. Big layered petals, rose-like but more dramatic. To me, they’re roses on steroids.

“Poppies are quirky — spindly stems, prickly buds, and then suddenly — crumpled paper petals unfolding into something delicate and impossible.”

What These Flowers Mean to Me

Poppies feel alive — unpredictable, fragile, here for a moment before the wind steals them.
Pansies sit low to the ground — perfect little faces, velvet petals, almost too beautiful to be real.
Peonies are pure drama — tight buds exploding into full, romantic blooms, like roses turned up to full volume.

They all remind me that beauty doesn’t last forever — but it’s worth celebrating in the moment.

What Daily Art Taught Me

Painting every day (or aiming for 100 pieces) has changed the way I work.

I used to plan and sketch everything. Now I paint more intuitively — I pick up whatever colour calls to me, let the paint flow, embrace mistakes.

It’s taught me:

• Freedom over perfection
• Happy accidents become new techniques
• Brushstrokes are like handwriting — muscle memory, practice, rhythm
• Texture, mark-making, overlapping layers — these things make a piece feel alive

“It’s not about perfect florals — it’s about intuition, play, and letting the paint say what it wants to say.”

From Sketchbook to Collection

This practice has created a huge archive of floral art — watercolour petals, acrylic bouquets, marker drawings, loose sketches on scrap paper.

Not all of it is scanned, edited or shown to the world. Some pieces sit for two or five years before they become something — an art print, greeting card, tea towel, fabric design, bookmark or scarf.

And that’s the magic of it — when a collection begins, I don’t feel pressure. I open my folders, sift through the proteas, poppies, pansies, peonies, and let the pieces speak.

If You Want to Start Your Own 100-Day Practice…

Don’t worry about perfection, and don’t worry about rules. Here’s what I’d say:

• Set soft boundaries — flowers, birds, colour palettes, textures
• Stick to one medium if you can (watercolour, acrylic, marker) — you’ll improve faster
• Keep your paper or canvas size the same — it helps you develop a rhythm
• Number every piece (1/100, 2/100) — it becomes a visual diary of growth
• And if it takes you 200 days or 2 years to make 100 pieces — that’s okay

“Think of it as 100 pieces — not 100 perfect days. Joy first. Pressure never.”

A Final Note

The floral art in this email — the poppies, pansies and peonies — began in sketchbooks and quiet mornings during those personal 100-day projects.

They started as simple daily practice — and now live on prints, tea towels, cards and keepsakes for flower lovers around the world.

If you’d like to see where those sketches bloomed into finished pieces —
you can explore the floral art collection here → https://www.kirstenkatz.com/collections/floral-wall-art-prints