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’m so all about light today.
I watched Frankenstein last night and I may never recover. I had a beautiful experience with studying the novel FORTY SOMETHING YEARS AGO, but this hit different for me, and there are no words for how deeply seen this movie makes me feel, and how beautifully these characters (yes, all of them) reveal something about myself to myself. Now, let me tell you that it’s FRUSTRATING beyond belief to be an ACTUAL POET and not have the words…
…So I laid down some darkness and then I played with light because what the heck else can I do when I’m this discombobulated??
Speaking of light, there are tiny flashes of light happening in the lower realm of my eyeball, and that could be no beuno. I’m seeing the surgeon today to see if all is well or if the detachment was not quite contained.
Please wish me luck?
I’ll update 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!
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!
It’s Sunday, and SHE WENT. I was just not ready to start “focusing” and so I pulled out some shiny stuff and played with it with my fingers.
I have a few tubes of Pebeo DYNA paints that have been sitting in a drawer for years now (I KNOW YOU CAN RELATE! *LOL*) and I caught a glimpse of them while was looking around a little wildly for the answer to the question WHAT NOW.
I loved the violet blue (translation: pink) and I could have stayed with that all damed day because it felt like it was hitting me right in my heart chakra.
But then, oh, then…the yellow green.
My gods.
I woke up to snow after a bit of a disappointing evening that made me wonder if my person is even here in this city. It seems that every time I put myself “out there”, I find well.
Obnoxious drunks. People pretending not to have partners. Anti-vaxx and Maple Maga. Or they are so old as to make wonder if they want a partner or a geriatric nurse.
Disheartening.
But these colours?
Heartening.
I finished with the Indian Yellow and fluorescent magenta as if to say “the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful” and left it at that.
I’m curious where she’ll take me tomorrow, and yes, we’ve established that she’s *definitely* a she.
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!
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!
It’s SATURDAY so I got a slow start today, but I knew, as soon as I looked at what I had before me, that it was time for a figure, but before I could do that, I wanted to push all of the (gorgeous) chaos back before I put her in there.
I started with Quinacridone Nikel Azo Gold fluid acrylic, which I used as a glaze. The way that looked over the white paint made me ridiculously happy, but I wanted to push back even more so I grabbed the Iridescent Fine Gold fluid acrylic and brayered that on.
At this pointed, I wanted to lick it. OM NOM NOM. Right? What is it about Iridescent Fine Gold that has me so thoroughly obsessed??
I used a Stabilo All pencil to sketch in the figure, and as soon as she put her arm out the way she did, I knew a bird had to happen.
These are common focal images in my paintings, and I welcomed them. It was almost as though an old friend showed up to reassure me that this was going somewhere, not to worry, and that I could relax.
She may stay. She may go. I’m open to either outcome, and I think that’s important because there are 22 more days left in this project, and getting attached to any one thing is not going to get me anywhere I want to be.
I think of this as a portal. I’m not in charge of what comes through. I’m not in charge of what takes its leave. I just *work* here.
How about you? How’s your process going? What are you doing when you feel resistance? What are you doing when you’re in the flow and that timer goes off and you want to toss your phone out the window and keep painting?
I hope you have a glorious weekend.
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!
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 in mood for something decorative this morning so I pulled out a jar of heavy bodied Titanium White and a stencil and I went to town.
Then I pulled out a jar of Turquoise soft body acrylic and made some marks with that.
My brain was blessedly quiet this morning, AND I forgot to set my alarm so there was a little moment of panic at the end there when I realized that I had probably already crossed the finish line. I caught it before it went on very long, though. Apparently, my internal clock is only off by about 3 minutes. 🙂
I’ve got a speed painting of all seven days for you this morning, too. It was really fun to put this together, and I hope you enjoy it!
I’m tempted at this point to start thinking about focal images and what this wants to be but it’s REALLY EARLY DAYS YET. For all I know I’ll push it ALL back at some point over the next 23 days, so I’m resisting that. I’m already reminding myself regularly that the goal here is NOT a finished painting. The point IS the process, so I don’t have to worry about how close I am to done. I could keep going all year if I wanted to, right? RIght.
I DON’T want to, but I could, and that’s liberating.
Desire. Delight. Whimsy.
Whatever wants to come through. That’s the goal.
See you tomorrow.
xo Effy
Here’s a gallery of all seven days so far.
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!
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!
My gods.
