'31 Paintings in March' and this particular blog.

Hello. It is I, Audrey Bishop and this is my new blog about/companion for something marvellous I will be doing in March.
Last year I did a month long project called '31 Paintings in March' or '31 Paintings in 31 Days'. If you haven't caught on, I did a painting a day for a month. I'm doing it again this year. This blog will also contain a drawing for each day in February as a warm up. Last year, the project drove me insane and I won't be posting a link to it here. Here are a few things from the site:

This was the image you would have been greeted with upon entering the site:

This is me in my family's bathroom covered in face paint, pretending badly to paint myself into existance.

This was on the home page, my apparent reasons for doing this and what I expected to gain from it.

"Why?
I love painting. It is my favourite thing in the world. I have been looking for some kind of creative project for a while and whilst this is not exactly an original idea, it seems just right.
What am I expecting to gain through this?
Maybe nothing. Maybe at the end, all I will have to show for it will be a bunch of paintings and a newfound hatred for my brushes.
Maybe at the end of it, I will have had a chance to concentrate and figure out how to fix some of the flaws I see in what I do."

At the beginning of the month, I was optimistic:

March 1st, 09: 'I have never had so many ideas. They're all swimming around my head, as if it is an undersized fish-tank-y thing.' 

 But by the 2nd day, that optimism was crushed already:

March 2nd, 09: 'Actually I got pretty upset over this. I don't usually paint every day. I usually don't even paint two days in a row. The idea of painting every day for the next 29 days freaked me out, to be honest. ' 

Obviously it got better because I actually completed it, but...clearly I was going mental.

 People posted links to my website in all different places and I stole from a post that my Dad made a comment from one of his friends to go in the sidebar of my blog at the time because I loved it. It remains the best thing anyone has said about anything I have ever done (in my eyes):

'[The 31paintingsinmarch project]..is a brilliant exploration of themes that reveals an intelligent stream of consciousness through a varied and engaging gallery of work. I was captivated, amused and driven to want to return....' 

(Dad, if you read this and know who said that, do let me know.)

 This year is to be different. This year:

• I am better at painting. By like a billion.
• I have made Bekki my assistant. My unpaid assistant. She gets to wade through my magical sea of emails. But it does mean I have more help with some things. Even if I don't think I've yet told her I'm doing this AGAIN. 
• I have a boyfriend who won't let me off the hook if I do something below par. And damn him for it. 
• I will be prepared. Last year I decided to do this about 3 days before the 1st of March. This year, I decided on the 25th of January.
• I feel more inspired and have more ideas. 

• It will be better because I say so and can't think of any more reasons. 

At the end of March last year, I held an exhibition. I probably will not this year. But if you have any other ideas for anything cool I can do to celebrate at the beginning of April, tell me! 

Audrey.

Preparing for last year's exhibition at The Papered Parlour in London.