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!
DAY TWELVE
I made it through surgery yesterday and while my eyeball is a MESS (it grosses me out every time I look in the mirror) and while it is painful and gritty and goopy, I woke up with a desperate desire to paint.
In fact, when the timer went off today I RESENTED it, because I just wanted to keep going.
Nothing spectacular happened (except that I’m upright, not crying, and PAINTING today).
I added some black outlines to my figure, then wiped out some of the Stabilo All Pencil. And then, I went in with gold, with the eyes getting touched first (like a prayer, honestly, that’s how it felt).
I can feel where she’s going now here on the 12th day of the 30 day project, but you never know what will happen each day, so I am trying with all my heart NOT to get attached.
Some of the folks in the discord have started a second painting because they felt finished with the first, and that’s valid, and I applaud that, but I want to keep going as I am. I’m so curious to see where we end up!
EYE UPDATE:
The doc made a barrier of burns ALL around the edge of my retina and touched up the barriers around the initial tear. I have a follow up in two weeks with strict instructions to test my vision with a thing he gave me put on my fridge. I’m to look at it daily and report any changes at all. I’m feeling very confident that this will stick, and I’m going to be okay, at least for a good long while.
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!
DAY ELEVEN
Yesterday, I spent a few hours getting my eyeballs examined, poked, prodded, and tortured and the conclusion is that my left eye is forever borked (until some miracle of medicine comes along) and my right eye isn’t as barricaded by tiny burns as he would like, so I’m heading in to get that done this morning.
The plan is to make my retina so solidly stuck to the back of my eyeball that I won’t have to worry about it anymore, and while I am dreading this (because it really fucking hurt last time), I appreciate his care for me as an artist who really needs her sight.He is taking this seriously, and so, my loves, am I.I was going to forgo this morning’s sessions but the snow ploughs are out singing the song of my people and I didn’t want to sit here feeling sorry for myself, so I banged this out.
She came through, and I think she’s going to stay. We’ll see. (OR WILL WE DUN DUN DUN! *Cacklesobs*
The whole session was done with Stabilo All Pencil. I don’t know if I’ll see you tomorrow. It depends on how today goes!
This is how it’s going so far.
If I should get lost in the snow, send a St. Bernard with hot chocolate in his rescue cask to find me, mmmmkay?
Also, please wish me luck. I’m approaching the end of my patience with the Invisibles.
Stay tuned…
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’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!
My gods.
