Welcome, lovely humans, to The Painted Presence Project, where I plan to paint in silence for ten minutes a day for thirty days 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!
DAY THREE
Today, I came to the painty table with a desire to push back some of the white on the page with a glaze, so I pulled out my favourite colour to glaze with and went for it.
Once the pthalo turquois was on there, I pulled out the black gesso to push things back even further.
And then I went at it with a baby wipe to lift some of the black gesso off the piece so some of what I lost could be reclaimed.
Calming things down and making new space to work on next time feels like something I’m going to do a lot of throughout the course of this thirty days. When I come to the table and see a lot of chaos, however pretty it might be, my first instinct is make some kind of order out of it. It’ll be interesting to see what my first instinct is when I face this subdued, muted piece tomorrow!
I do find myself thinking about where this is going to go, but I’m making a note of those thoughts as they happen and then I shoo them off because that’s not helpful right now. Thinking about where it might go feels like pushing the painting to become what I want it to become, and that’s not really the point of this practice. I want to stay receptive for at least the first 20 days before I start trying to nudge things into some kind of theme.
Usually, when I paint, I want to get to the point really quickly, the point being the focal image. That makes sense as an art journaling teacher who comes in with a plan and wants to execute it so she can get the tutorial into the hands of her students on time. That doesn’t work for this practice, though.
I have to keep reminding myself that we’re NOT TRYING TO FINISH ANYTHING here. Yes, there’s a ten minute timer, but we’re NOT actually in a hurry. There is no actual deadline. Each day’s session is not about moving the painting forward. It’s about being with what’s there, with what’s within, and what wants to arise.
I’m also noticing that my brain is very eager to assign meaning. “This colour must mean this” or “that symbol seems to be speaking to this” and that makes sense because I am, at the end of the day, an art witch, and every painting is a spell. Decided what things mean creates an opportunity to call in more of it or, if I’m not loving what something means, I have an opportunity to push it back.
I don’t want to do this at this point in the practice. I want to be entirely desire led. I don’t want to stop to consider what things mean. That can come later, if at all.
For now, I want to treat this a little like I’m collecting words so I can write a poem later as though each day’s session is me cutting words out of books and magazines and tossing them in a box.
I’m not writing the poem yet. I’m collecting the words I might use later.
I don’t need to know what that gold circle means or where it might fit in the final painting. I’m just collecting things right now, and when I LET myself do that, this is a really peaceful and meditative process.
How’s it going for you? What are you noticing about what comes up while you paint? Are you freaking out about the holy mess of it all? Are you patient and trusting? Are you noticing the quality of the silence as you hang out in it? Are you noticing the impact of these brief moments of silence on you?
See you tomorrow.
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!