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!
I was up INCREDIBLY LATE (or early, depending on your perspective). Something was definitely IN THE AIR between Full Moon, the doc appointment I had yesterday, some uncomfortable truth telling about a controversial subject from my perspective that led to a very long thread that I had to moderate because it was getting hot in there.
Then a friend reached out in crisis, and I was *so glad* that I *was* awake.
By the time I finally curled up in the nest with a set of VERY CONFUSED furbabes (they are used to a much earlier bed time), it was FOUR A.M. FOUR! AY! EM!
Which reminds me of this talk by one of my favourite Slam Poets, Rives.
What IS it about 4 in the morning?!
Anyway, it was all what was meant to be and the moon kept me company through it all.
Today’s painting session reflects *waves at all of that*. I wanted to make some calm in the chaos and the best way I could figure to do that was to grab a fine tip Uniposca paint pen and outline some of the shapes I found in the layers I’d done in days 1-5.
It was RESTFUL, y’all. It was PEACEFUL. It was just what I needed.
No big revelations today, which is great. I’m having the kind of day where I do not want to learn anything new or be hit with any kind of eureka. I just want to putter and breathe and be.
One of my students slapped down a bunch of black gesso to her piece and shared that in the Discord, and I gotta tell you. I live for those moments. That’s the kind of tantrum I am HERE FOR. She felt liberated and the rest of us felt emboldened.
I just want to acknowledge the power of that kind of sharing today.
What about you? Are you doing this with a friend or ten? Are you a “Shower” or a “Grower” (giggles), but which I mean, do you like to show off what you’re doing layer by layer, day by day? Or do you prefer to let things grow day by day without showing anyone?
Please remember that this process is yours to tweak!
Sending love (and naps if they’re needed!).
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!