From my roller-coaster life I absolutely salute anyone who can hold down an intense job and home life and photo/write every day – it’s a big ask. If you are that person, can you at least not be slim, beautiful, have a great personality, rich in every respect, and love orphan kittens? If so I may have to remove you from the gene pool.

My mind is not entirely made up about what next for Fresh New Day – I want to explore some stories in greater depth, and I have a couple of other projects I’m considering as well, some ideally a little more collaborative. Meanwhile I’m set in my routine of making at least one photo a day, and ideally, writing in the same flow.

Some days I wonder if anybody is even faintly interested in what I’ve seen in the day, much less read my thoughts. And then when you least expect it, you trip over someone who talks about your work – likes it even – and suddenly you can go another day. Thank you all for your contacts, contributions, encouragement, and support.

Manifesto
01. Every day is a fresh new day.
20. Every day say thank you.
25. Every day your light shines for others to see.

I’m feeling a bit sad tonight. After a great weekend, and an ok day at work, I come home and find some words that left me feeling empty. There’s a story here. It involves you too, now. It’s a long story and you’re now part of it, because you’re reading this posting.

When do stories ever start? When do they finish? I believe they’re all already started and they never finish – at least not while there’s a story teller, and someone to tell stories to.

This part of the story starts back in about 2003-4. Marica told me about blogs. Blogs? Woss a blog then eh? I didn’t really get it – as much as anything because most blog writers didn’t do anything for me. C.R.U.S.T.Y. Crusty. Didn’t have anything to say. Didn’t say it very well. And then one day, I found a blog written by a guy who could string two words together, and, best of all, could draw and illustrate what he had to say. Actually, it was the other way around. He drew, and wrote about his drawings. And he encouraged other people to do the same. Some of us did. I went off and did some life drawing – you know – staring at nekkid chicks and make drawings on paper. If you’ve never tried it you should have a go.

I found he was a pretty normal sounding guy with a great eye for colour and line, and through his blog we came to know his wife who’d survived a bad accident and was wheelchair bound and their son – a pretty cool kind of kid who grew up on the blog. And their dogs. And the interesting things that were kind of humdrum but fascinating in a domestic kind of way, a drawing a day kind of way. Beautiful stories about everyday matters.

On the side of his blog site he had links, and, from time to time, a bit of a review, and one day I slid down one of links to another illustrator/author’s work. This guy did these cool kind of pen and ink and water colour cartoon-y kind of illustrations, and he focussed on uplifting themes, with stories about kids with cancer and kids facing personal trauma. I became a regular reader. I didn’t tell Marica about this blog – we’ve got this kind of issue in our own home and I didn’t want to kick off any scabs unnecessarily.

Fast forward a few months and I’m inspired by the drawing and writing and I’m starting to write, draw, and make photos a bit myself. We’ve both become fans of the trauma guy’s blog, and we go to BlogTalk Downunder in Sydney. We become inspired and decide to run a blog conference – BlogHui – here in New Zealand, and, after trials and tribulations that still make us laugh whenever we have a cheese sandwich, we got it off the ground. We invited the trauma guy to speak at BlogHui, never fully believing he’d take us seriously. He – Trevor (and his wonderful wife) did. We fell in love with each other. Our lives change forever.

Turns out our new pal Trevor is not just a link – he’s friends with the first artist/writer I’d read consistently – even been to visit the guy and his wife and son in New York. They were collaborating on a book together. I’m secretly envious. No. I’m envious.

Fast forward to earlier this year – March 18. Patti – Danny’s wife, Jack’s mother, is killed in a horrible accident. Thousands of miles away from people I’ve never met, I feel numb. Shattered. I manage to catch up with Trevor online and we have a clipped exchange – sharing a few words of a story – we’re both gutted.

Today. Tonight. After a great weekend, and an ok day at work, I come home and find some words that left me feeling inspired. There’s a story here. It involves you too, now. It’s a long story and you’re a part of it now, because you’re part of the telling. Danny continues to write and draw, and today was wondering what immortality might be. He proposes we make a drawing or a cake or a dress and to share it with others who’ll be inspired to do something nice and creative of their own. And to think of Patti when you do. He notes that he has no idea what impression he’ll make on the world, or how long the ripples will last.

Danny, you might be surprised. While we only ever see some of the connections, there’s a chain, and it’s unbroken.

Manifesto
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.
39. Every day trust that there is a bigger picture. You are a part of it even if you may not know what it is.
42. Every day celebrate. Who you are. What you have achieved. Things that matter to you.

Working from home today – escaping the relentless phone and general hubbub of the office. One of the outstanding failures when it comes to design concepts of the 20th century had to be the open plan office. Generally I don’t like to bring work home – I try (mostly unsuccessfully) to keep home and work as far apart as possible. That said, it is amazing how much more productive working in your own space can be.

What’s your preferred workspace? I like task lighting. Music. Colours. Some clutter. Some beautiful things. And quiet. I genuinely don’t need people talking while I’m trying to write – I find it distracting. I want to get my office more sorted out – it’s going to be busy over the next couple of years, so I need to get a more productive environment working for me.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
16. Every day looking at the order of things gives you power.
22. Every day refine, clarify and simplify.

As a kid I loved not only Modest Mussorgsky’s compositions ‘Pictures at an exhibition‘, I loved the whole idea – walk around, consider the works, walk and reflect through to the next work, pause, consider, repeat. What more typically happens is I cruise through less like a genteel and delicate meal, and far more like speed sushi. Zoom through quick look here, read there, and gone.

Tonight, the Six@66 exhibition opening, was different again. The photo here with the photographers milling nervously fine tuning the catering, the drinks ready for serving (my job), and a sense of waiting in the air – this scene did not last for long. Soon the first guests arrived, and then more, and more, and more. It was so crowded it was almost impossible to see the walls, let alone the works. A terrific success. Everything you do is a self portrait.

Congratulations and thank you to all.

Manifesto
10. Every day connect with somebody.
11. Every day do something for someone else.
49. Every day is a good day.

Manifesto
04. Every day is an opportunity to cultivate the promise of the future.
29. Every day eat, drink, rest, work, exercise, play, love, create for your own good. And the good of others.
50. Every day has an ending.

It’s a first for me. Or perhaps not a first, but I can’t remember ever before being told that a) you’re busy writing and working, b) your work and time is valuable too, c) come and eat early and then go home and get to work.

So, after a great vegetarian curry, a beer, and a last minute crisis because I left my jacket behind, I’m back home and working – creating in this glow of the warmth, love, and collaboration. Advice to readers: please feel free to reach out to starving artists (who might be well fed but need some of your energy) and mount a rescue bid. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Manifesto
11. Every day do something for someone else.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.
20. Every day say thank you.

Far back, far back in our dark soul the horse prances … The horse, the horse! The symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action … — D.H. Lawrence

Usual story – walk at lunch time. Nothing special, just a walk. Tweak the muscles, fresh air, defrag the brain ready for the afternoon… I suddenly spot – not the words – but the combination of the circle and the triangle. Humans have passed here. In the caves of our past we daubed or scratched simple symbols that have become essential marks of ourselves. Signatures of humanity. The circle. Triangle. And there at the end, the square. Add a spiral and wriggle line and that is pretty much the sum of the graphic core from humanity.

I thought the reference to the ghost horse was mysterious – I wondered what the motivation and meaning behind it was. I like the idea very much – I wonder what the previous and future story is. Somewhere, out there, there’s a ghost horse.

Manifesto
39. Every day trust that there is a bigger picture. You are a part of it even if you may not know what it is.
41. Every day use your mind. It is the greatest technology ever created.
46. Every day you can change your thoughts.

A human being is only interesting if he’s in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it. — Barbra Streisand

Concealed in the mists on the other side of the valley is a huge hill. I’m not entirely sure how high the hill would show in this image, I would guess at least half way up the roiling grey mists. I’m sure that Cathy and Heathcliff would feel entirely at home here.

Although I’m entirely motivated by coral beaches and coconut palms, there’s a part of me that just loves the mist covered landscapes. It’s more than the fact that I can work indoors without feeling guilty, it’s that I believe that the stories I’ve loved as a kid – books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, Robert E. Howard, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – were either written surrounded by mists, or the authors were able to summon up ‘internal mist’ in order to write.

Part of the adventure of of engaging in an exercise like Fresh New Day is summoning up the internal mists, part of it is trusting yourself to be able to plunge through to the truth within.

Manifesto
22. Every day refine, clarify and simplify.
23. Every day retain your personal power. It belongs to you. No one else.
26. Every day take action. Every small step counts.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh,” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw, “I just wanted to be sure of you.””
– Winnie the Pooh

It’s been 100 days. We’ve made it to the triple digits.

For 100 days Lynsey and I have taken photographs, chosen one to share with all of you and written a reflection based on that photo. The writing part was meant to take a maximum of 30 minutes – Yeah Right! Taking a photo every day should be no problem – in theory yes this is true, in reality it can be difficult because you are generally always having to look at the same subject matter. Our ability to “see” has really been challenged. I have been amazed at what has come out of this first 100 days and I can’t wait to see how the next 100 days unfold. We are creating a garden of delights, born of us, and every day we are discovering more about ourselves and our life as we go about living it.

These 100 days have certainly had their ups and downs. Living what you believe is not always easy – sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring against you and it probably is. Doing what we want to be doing is also not always easy. Lynsey and I have certainly been tested over these past 100 days – over and over again in actual fact. We have both fallen asleep at the computer in our attempt to publish before midnight each day. We have set ourselves high expectations and we have been determined to meet them – even exceed them. We are putting pressure on ourselves but we are doing so willingly because this matters to us. Fresh New Day matters to us a great deal.

For me it has been so different doing this project with someone else. I have tried to do it alone and somehow it wasn’t the same. This time Lynsey and I can support one another. Some days Lynsey carries me on his shoulders and other days it is the other way around. Both of us are always looking everywhere all the time and invariably one of us is waiting for the other while a photo is being taken of something that has caught our eye. We are both inseparable from our cameras now.

Seeing each new day in different ways, even when we are doing all the same things, isn’t always easy either. I find I have to focus quite hard some days to find the positives and the beauty of what is. Even with my camera in hand some days I struggle to see what is right in front of me – the extraordinary in the ordinary. But by working on Fresh New Day it has made a difference to me on so many levels – the effort has definitely been worth it.

Receiving feedback from all of you has had a profound impact on me. Every day we receive messages reinforcing that what we are doing is making a difference to others and that makes my heart burst with joy. I also love it when we get to meet people in person who visit our site. The other night when we were out we were chatting with a woman and it suddenly dawned on her who we were – “Oh, so you’re Fresh New Day. I love your work,” she said excitedly.

So, 100 days have passed. Now on to the next 100!

Thank you one and all for sharing this journey with us and please don’t forget to keep in touch. We love hearing from you.

Manifesto
01. Every day is a fresh new day.
17. Every day look through a new lens.
45. Every day you are a different person.