There’s been a bit of an intentional pivot in the way I talk about my process here and on my socials, because I noticed that I was getting swept up in the “omgdoom” of it all (which, fair, right? Because omgdoom is VALID right now). I’ve refocused on wanting everything I share to be of *use* to you, in service to your creative practice. And I love that. I do. And I’m going to keep doing that because it’s working for me.
BUT NOT TODAY.
I woke up out of a dead sleep at 2:47 in the morning and then again at 5:30, and I have been VIBRATING since, and I don’t mean that in a metaphorical “Oh, I’m a little antsy” way, either. I mean shaking hands, heart pounding out of my chest, breath ragged and hard to control. VIBRATING.
And it turns out I’m not alone, because my socmed feeds are full of the same tale of woe from folks all over the world, which I was grateful to hear because while I hate that for ALL of us, I am settled somewhat by knowing that I’m not alone. There is definitely a disturbance in the force today (I mean, more than the usual *waves at all of the disturbances), and there’s nothing to do but nod at it and get on with my day.
When I tell you that I practically *flew* to the painty table today, I mean I FLEW like my HAIR WAS ON FIRE because that ten minute’s of silence has become medicinal and necessary. We’re 22 days in, and I’m beginning to recognize the Pavlovian nature of this thing (if you don’t know about Pavlov’s dog, just know that what I mean is that this practice has conditioned me to associate the ten minutes of silence with a sense of utter quiet and peace).
I light that stick of incense (Nag Champa), touch it the wick of my candle, wave the smoke around like a prayer, and boom. Settled.
Phew.
How about you? Are you starting to feel the impact of showing up day after day?
***
Nothing earth shattering happened with the painting process today (thank the gods).
I used some Dark Sepia Pitt Pen to deepen things even further around the eyes and the hair/face.
Then I glazed over the gold leaves with a Permanent Olive Pitt Pen because green over gold makes my heart happy.
Her hair was calling to be worked on as well, and I was aware as I got into it that there wasn’t going to be enough time to do all of it the way I wanted to. There was a smidgeon of resistance, but I took a deep breath and dove in anyway.
It was SO WEIRD to leave half her hair undone like that. The innards get so funny about these things, right?
OH NO NOT HALF DONE HAIR! WHATEVER WILL THE NEIGHBOURS THINK?!
*Giggles*
I am amused. And in search of more coffee, because an ungodly early morning calls for more caffeine.
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!