I recorded my One BADASS Art Journal lesson this morning.
One hour. Fingers, acrylics, pastels, gel pens, distress markers … and faces emerged. It surprised me because I don’t know how to make portraits and usually end up with botanicals. But today, the page expressed a desire to embody community. I didn’t add distinct features mostly because I didn’t know how to … making carefully-rendered eyes, defined noses, arched eyebrows would take away from the moment and enter the realm of perfection.
Instead, I have soft suggestions. Blurred boundaries. Color and shape and feeling.
Because the moment I start trying to make them “look right,” I lose what I came here for.
An original fingerpainting that surprised me just as much as it empowered me
These aren’t a study in portraiture—they’re a reflection of how we own our strength, values, and voice without apology.
The 2026 theme is EMBODY your inner badass, and I’ve been sitting with what that actually means. I don’t want it to be a slogan. I wanted to feel it as a stance in my body.
To me, embodying your inner badass isn’t about swagger or perfection. It’s choosing integrity over approval. Courage over comfort. Presence over performance.
It’s trusting yourself enough to set clean boundaries, speak plainly, and act in alignment even when it’s inconvenient.
It looks like:
Honoring your needs
Saying no without guilt
Making small, brave moves that feel true in your body
Step by step, it’s the practice of living from your center so your actions ripple outward with steadiness and heart.
I kept thinking about this while I painted.
The restraint I had to practice—not fixing, not perfecting, not making these faces “better.” Just letting them be imperfect witnesses to whatever was moving through me in that hour.
That is embodiment. That is the practice.
And yes, it felt right. And that’s all that matters.
The workshop opens February 2, 2026. Early bird pricing (20% off with code SOBAD10) runs through January 31. If you've been thinking about it, I’d love for you to join.
I’ll be sending details to the full newsletter list next week, but I wanted you to see this first—the messy, honest version before it heads out for public consumption.
Thanks for being here.
—Mansi
