By Maria Bee
Design and Illustration Portfolio
MariaBee_16x9Thumbnails_MemoryColors.jpg

100 Days of Memory Colors

Inspired by The 100 Day Project, I began a daily art quest, 100 Days of Memory Colors.

Color can evoke memory and memory, color. For 100+ days, I mixed a color to accompany a memory or remembered object, then told the story of that memory.

This project was featured in the Uppercase Magazine newsletter.

View fullsize 103 - When I was a teenager, my mom and I would often play “double“ Sorry together late at night. The game works the same but with two sets of pieces each, so you can move any of your pieces, either color, on your turn. This makes for eve
View fullsize 102 - I remember feeling very conflicted about wooly worms as a kid. They often ended up hanging out on the edges of our front storm door, sneaking inside every so often. On the one hand they are fuzzy and the cutest of the worms, but I could never t
View fullsize 101 - When people ask me about California, I usually at some point rave about how glorious the weather is—so much sunshine! I didn’t realize until recently that I actually miss rain quite a bit. It’s not like I want it all the time&
View fullsize 100 - This color isn’t exciting at first glance, but it’s a very special memory. Sophomore year of high school, there was this guy I had a big crush on who would hang out by my locker between two particular classes every day. One day I wa
View fullsize 099 - I was two and a half when my little brother was born. This day is one of my oldest memories, and I think I remember it so clearly because I knew what a big deal it was. I stayed overnight with my grandma and uncle while my parents were at the h
View fullsize 098 - As a kid, my room had a few of those glow-in-the dark plastic stars stuck to the ceiling (with hardcore sticky tack that lasted for over a decade). Through the years, my eyes traced them over and over again, wandering when I couldn’t slee
View fullsize 097 - In high school I started borrowing CDs from the library to supplement my very limited music exposure. The first Beatles album I borrowed was the soundtrack from the Cirque de Soleil “LOVE” show. I had no idea at first it wasn’
View fullsize 096 - My high school Academic Team was notorious for very strange team uniforms (picture quiz bowl after school in full-on lab coats). My junior and senior years, we had button-up gray mechanics shirts embroidered with our name, complemented by the w
View fullsize 095 - My family went to the local county fair every summer to visit my grandma at her fudge booth, look at animals, and ride a few rides. But none of those were my favorite thing to do there…my very favorite was a carnival game where you had t
View fullsize 094 - The first thing I remember buying with my very own money was a teddy bear figurine with a purple bow in its hair and a tiny purple jewel on its chest. I saw it at a shop out with my mom and begged her for it, so she made a deal with me that if
View fullsize 093 - Growing up, we were regulars at Grammas’, the local pizza place. My order was garlic bread with cheese (open face) with fries, usually spilt with my brother. We always asked for packets of ranch dressing with our fries (if you know me, yo
View fullsize 092 - My grandma was famous at the county fair and in local craft show circles for her homemade fudge. She had the recipes and process memorized, but had never been able to teach anyone how to replicate it exactly. One summer she took me on as a fudg
View fullsize 091 - Six years ago I took a road trip to Lexington with my cousin to go to a reading and signing with Neil Gaiman. He is my favorite author and just an amazingly clever and compassionate human being. After the reading we filed out to wait in a very
View fullsize 090 - My junior high music teacher (a very strange woman indeed) convinced me to join the school band. She recruited me to play the bells—not actually bells, more like a metal xylophone hit with small sticks—because I played the pian
View fullsize 089 - I was terrified of storms as a kid—in Ohio, thunderstorms often mean scary red and purple blotches on the weather radar warning of tornadoes. Turns out it was only after I’d mostly gotten over my fear that we had a close encounter.
View fullsize 088 - I was fascinated with rubber stamping after going to Stampin’ Up parties/demos thrown by my mom’s friend Janet. She became my encouraging & generous stamping, card-making, and scrapbooking mentor, always opening her well-stocked
View fullsize 087 - Birthdays as a kid were officially designated Dad days, a special outing with him wherever I wanted to go. Kid’s choice on everything from breakfast to a full day of activities. My brother usually went turkey hunting as part of his, but I
View fullsize 086 - One of my favorite childhood snacks was bread and butter—always one slice of de-crusted white bread spread with Country Crock and folded in half. It was also a go-to breakfast, and I was so crazy about it at one point that I wanted it for

"Thus are our memories compressed, integrated into sparkling jewels to be embedded in the limited space of our minds."
- Ken Liu, "An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition"