Canvas #1: 30 Canvases in 30 Days

I signed up for a "30 Canvases in 30 Days" challenge a tiny bit late, so this is my first canvas . . . which I am linking to the page where everyone else is posting a 4th canvas. 

Today was my first day without guests since December 22, so I hunkered down in my horrifying painting clothes and had a ball.  Seriously, I felt almost drunk with the joy and the lightheartedness and the freedom.  No Christmas commission panic!  No deadline dread!  No restrictions of any kind!  Just paint!  While paint dried, I also dashed in and out of the kitchen making homemade poppy seed buns and lentil meatballs with my son.  I'm almost never that organized, so I had to document it.  It will make me feel better on days when my husband arrives home to find me in the fetal position with a Post-It Note stuck to my forehead that says, "Please order pizza."

First coat(s) of paint: 

 Walnut spray!

How about some stencil action?

And maybe a stamp?

Although I loved the background, I knew I wanted to paint Shakespeare, so I wanted a neutral glaze for an aging effect.

Shakespeare in gesso.

Hrms.  Shakespeare looks a little feminine.

Oooh!  I know!  Shakespeare's sister!  In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf names her Judith!

Once I realized I was painting Judith, I got so entranced that I more or less - or entirely - forgot to take pictures.  Here is Judith, the sister imagined by Virginia Woolf, who is just as bright as Shakespeare and just as interested in the world around her, except that every time she tries to read Ovid, her parents come in and say, "Judith, mend the socks" or some such.  I painted "Judith" with green, but the rest is in yellow: Judith, mend the socks now.

I believe that shall be the title.

And that's Day 1!