How to find a project to work on?

Try with a site builder. They are usually very easy to just build on and focus on design. Wordpress is a great tool too

I would say try making up a fake business or a fake non-profit and create something for them. Much like the teachers did here for the Smells like Bakin' website. You could even download some free templates and try to figure out their code and figure our how they did the things they've done in their design.

I would recommend picking up a side project. You could start a blog or a forum. I'd say try to find something you enjoy doing, like playing Magic the Gathering or the Avengers, and make some kind of website for it. The way I got better at design was by making things for the multiple projects I have going on: my personal blog, the non-profit I'm associated with, a business whose owner I know quite well, and an entertainment forum I've been trying to launch.

tl;dr Find some work near you and if you can't, make work up. =P

Good luck.

I think you can create some imaginary websites. After all, projects on Treehouse like smells like bakin' or Tshirts4Mike are all imaginary right? These imaginary websites then can go on your portfolio, getting you some clients in the future. If you think writing and finding images will take too much time, you can just go to the website that you like or websites of local businesses/restaurants. Then you just design their websites as if you are hired to do it. Copy images/text from their website etc. This is not illegal, because you are just practicing.

Also, I'd code it from scratch. It's more fun that way.