Prologue: The Big Idea

So it's the very beginning of 2023 and I'm going to paint a self-portrait for the first time in years. Maybe a decade? And I'm going to do it in twelve parts on big bits of paper and it probably won't look like a self-portrait and I'm going to give it a fancy name. I'm going to tie it in with the four seasons because my time blindness is so bad that a season is pretty much my smallest unit of time. Also I'm going to make a website to house it because Instagram gives me a migraine and Twitter activates my fight-or-flight instinct. I'm too young for Facebook and too old for TikTok and I hate the way that they all want me to simplify and market myself. I want to paint an anti-Selfie.

I'll also be recording the process with Saturday updates here in the Sellisternian section of my website. Why do I want to record the process? Well I'll discuss that in the updates! I'm giving myself a strict schedule for them but a loose template, a balance of routine and freedom that I personally need. With that in mind, I aim to have the paintings themselves finished by the start of May. If I break my finger or something and need to push that back I won't cry about it, though. Though I might cry from the broken finger.

OK, the nitty-gritty and the paintings themselves! I'll work across twelve full Imperial sheets of heavy watercolour paper with each of the four seasons getting three paintings. I'll be using the watercolour and mixed media techniques from my 2022 Inhabitants series, though I already have an idea on how I would like to add an element of the acrylic landscapes I was recently working on.

Obviously none of this is set in stone. If I feel the project evolving elsewhere then that's where I'll go but I'm confident that there's already enough challenge and possibility here to keep me busy. I'm especially excited at the possibility of working bigger than before. Inhabitants pieces were painted on A2 paper and Sellisternian pieces will be almost twice the size, as well as being one idea across twelve sheets.

Scaling up will be fun but with change there's always a danger of friction. If nothing else my limp gamer arms may struggle to reach across the paper. I'll need to arrange my workspace so that I can maneuver the paintings without instantly knocking over water jars and coffee cups. I'll need to keep my elbows out of wet paint while putting in details. I'll need a way of quickly displaying in-progress pieces so that I can step back and make sure I actually like what I'm doing. Good thing I did a dry run!

Right, that's all the typing that I have in me for now. Tomorrow I paint! Or at least do the preparatory sketches so that I may go on to paint. When the first update is up I'll link it below and you can head straight there. And if it's not...wow. You're here early, thanks!