25/100 for #The100DayProject with Lindsay Jean Thomson

Day 25. You Deserve a Shell!

I painted her with watercolors made from the earth pigments I gathered in the riverbed and forest during our hike upstate in 2021. I fished some of them out one by one from a cold mountain river while balancing on a slippery rock. We went there during my birthday week and spent a few days basking in the solemn quiet of the woods.

I hesitated to add a third shell coming out of her vulva. She felt empty without it. But I was worried about what people might think. Then I said - fuck it, she deserves a shell! And as soon as I painted it, she felt complete.

This project is taking me places. It’s testing me on how free I am with my art.

I love her. And by her, I mean myself, because she is my self-portrait from today.

I’m turning 40 in three days.