Welcome, lovely humans, to The Painted Presence Project, where I plan to paint in silence for ten minutes a day for thirty days, all on the same 11 x 15 inch piece of watercolour paper. While this studio diary will only include images, there are full length videos available on Patreon!
This morning, I noticed some serious eye wonk, but blessedly, it’s NOT MY EYES THAT ARE THE PROBLEM. *cackles* No, it’s hers. One of her eyes is way too far away from the bridge of her nose, and I’m really not sure what to do about that, so I’m leaving it as is for now. If it continues to bug me, I’ll do something about it. Maybe a bit of collage there and then a new eye that’s better placed. Who knows. I’m definitely operating on a “need to know basis” and right now, I don’t need to know. 
I touched down with a bit of tending today. Whites of the eyes, highlights on the nose and mouth. Shading. I made heavy use of my beloved Pitt Pens in Dark Sepia, Cinnamon, and Indian Red.
The black gesso I applied to the portal I’m seeing between her face and hair is a brand I’ve only just started using since Liquitex costs an arm and a leg to get shipped to me. It’s not the best black gesso I’ve ever used, but it does the job. No brand name mention because I can’t give a glowing review.
I am no longer regretting the modelling paste embellishments. I think if I keep adding little details here and there they will come to life. Shading, highlights, a bit of sparkle. We’ll see.
I’ve got twelve days left, and a lot can happen in twelve days PLUS if I’m not finished with her on day 30, there’s nothing stopping me from continuing on!
Personal Update:
My eye is better. My spirits are okay. Cloudflare is messing up all kinds of websites, so if you’re noticing you can’t log in or access things, it’s not you. It’s them. They’re already working on it.
I’ll be opting out of the news today. I’m on a need to know basis and there’s nothing I need to know right now except I’m okay, my kids are okay, my furbabes are okay, my friends are okay.
Coffee is on. Want some?
xo
Effy
P.S. Folks who are in my classes over on Into The Wild (my teaching network) or Patreon are getting video content every day throughout the course of this challenge. Folks who are subscribed to my YouTube channel will be getting video updates weekly or so. There may be stuff going up on TikTok. There will definitely be posts going up on Instagram.
Of course, this spot right here will ALSO serve as my studio diary, so I hope you’ll bookmark the site, and hey! EVEN BETTER! I hope you’ll sign up for the e-list, which I’ll use to let you know when a new post goes live. If you want the project PDF, here you go!