I picked up Julia Cameron's book 'The Sound of Paper' a few years ago, when I was reading through 'The Artist's Way' for the first time. I didn't read it at the time; the short essays weren't for me (and I believe in reading a book of the moment instead of forcing myself to read one), so it was shelved, lost, packed, spilled on, and finally thrown behind a shelving unit in the basement.

Kelly Rae has a list of soul reads on her blog, and this book happens to be one of them. Reading her blog one day, I saw it and remembered I had a copy somewhere. Reading through the essays now is like visiting an old friend, and my understanding of Cameron has changed since reading her autobiography.

Instead of seeing her as this big, untouchable writer, I see her as an older friend I may run into one day. She was born and grew up in a town near here, one I visit frequently and actually worked in for years. When I pass the theater, I remember her talking about going there with friends. The high school she attended is still there (and a few friends of mine went there). She is a girl just like me, who came from where I am, and shows me I can make it, too.

Anyway, last night, one of the exercises told you to grab a sketchbook and track the progress of a project. And I thought – I have an art journal...isn't that the same thing? But since I see my journals as a project sometimes, I thought, what about my blog? I need to stop thinking I have to have something important to say in order to post here and use it to keep track and record my own thoughts.

So here is a painting I'm working on. This is the second stage.

A girl has to go on it – because I want to put one there! – so I sketched a girl in my journal and decided to color her watercolor style. Which was hard, because I only have fluid acrylics. A lot of water was used, but since I didn't gesso the page beforehand, it works!

I'll show you the final page tomorrow, because it has something important on it. ;) More on that tomorrow, though!