Mid-February Check-in
Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I’m recovering from a cold I caught this week, so this weekend has been set aside for rest. I’ve had a busy few weeks and a lot coming up in the rest of the month, so I want to be well-rested and healthy. I’m flying to Pennsylvania next week to visit family and support a fellow Swarthmore alum in her installation art piece that she’s presenting on the 24th and 25th. I’m looking forward to the trip, but there are a few things that I need to wrap up before I leave.
What I’ve been working on
I started working on the large collaborative piece for my summer group show. Our timeline was shifted because one of the artists is moving to Switzerland in early spring, so she needs to finish her portion of her piece before she moves. Since I paint the first layer of the artwork, setting the color palette and movement of the piece, I need to finish my part before the end of the month. I’ve got a decent start, but I will be spending the next few days before I leave for Pennsylvania solely working on this painting.
I’ve continued to make progress on Morning Swim. The values of the painting aren’t quite right, so I plan on continuing to work on it when I return from my trip from Pennsylvania.
I also started a larger version of this study of a morning sunrise in Port Angeles that I saw during my trip to Olympic National Park last year. I’ve only worked on the first layer, blocking out the shapes and setting the dark tones. It’ll have to take a back seat for a while, but it’s another painting that I’m looking forward to working on.
Outings
Last week, I attended the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s fundraising gala, which was a nice celebration for all the work the public hospital does for the community and to showcase the Hearts in San Francisco artworks. I was able to meet the other artists who painted a heart for the fundraiser as well as the hospital doctors and staff and the various supporters of the hospital. It was a fun event and made my artwork feel very meaningful because I was able to see the ways the fundraiser supported the patients of the hospital. It’s one of the wonderful ways to see the positive impact art can have.
I helped organize another professional development event with genARTS this past week. We held an artist statement and resume writing workshop to support emerging artists working towards a career in the arts. We are holding two more workshops before the summer, so I’ve dedicated a lot of my time volunteering with this organization doing administration work to ensure all the events run as smoothly as possible. Volunteering with this organization has made me feel more connected to my local arts community, but I am thinking more about re-prioritizing creating art since I feel like I haven’t been able to spend as much time in the studio as I want to.
Those are the major updates from the last two weeks. I continue to learn about myself and the kind of work I enjoy. During this recovery time, I’ve been reflecting on what I enjoy most about working for myself and being an artist. I really value quiet time working alone and setting my own timelines, while also meeting people to talk about art. This has helped me better refine the opportunities I pursue and what type of work I focus on, with the goal that I enjoy how I spend most of my days. I’m going to try to keep this in mind as I continue to move throughout the year and as my workload fluctuates.
Thanks for following along my updates; your support is meaningful and really helps motivate me!
End of January Check-in
Hello! Happy last day of January! The better part of the last week and a half has been consumed by moving, which I forgot to mention in my last update. I just moved down the road, but I had forgotten how much work and time moving takes. We’re on the tail end of it and finally settling into our new place, and I’ve been able to get back to the studio to work on my paintings. I’m a little behind on administrative and computer work, but I’m hoping to get back on track in the next few days.
What I’ve been working on:
I’ve made significant progress on the painting from my time at the Cuttyhunk Artist Residency, which I’ve decided to title Morning Swim. Painting water is always challenging, but I feel like taking a break to move helped me see the painting with different eyes when I came back to it.
For my upcoming group show in the summer, the two other artists and I met to see how our test collaborative piece came out. We shared feedback with each other on what was working and what wasn’t, so now we’re ready to work on the actual collaborative piece that will be featured in the show. We cut out a unique shape for the artwork, and I’m responsible for the first layer of the artwork, so I’ll be starting that next week.
One of my goals this year is to have my own solo show. It’s a really big stretch goal because there are a lot of factors outside of my control for this to be able to happen. I have found a community art space in San Jose that seems like they’d be able to provide the space for a solo show, and I’m working on a proposal to send them. Since it’s a community space vs. a gallery or museum, I’d be responsible for putting together the entire show, planning programming, and getting the word out. It feels daunting, but the first step is sending out a proposal to see what they say!
Outings
genARTS, the volunteer organization that I’m a co-chair of, had its Creative Career Panel at Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) this past Wednesday. I’ve been working hard with the rest of the organization to plan this Career Panel over the last few months, and it was great to see so many people come out to learn more about how to make a career in the arts. This Career Panel is the first event of a four event programming series that I helped win grant funding from the City of San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The next event will be a workshop for artist statement and artist resume/CV writing held on February 12th. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve been learning a lot about event planning and working with various arts organizations in San Jose through this process.
So there are a lot of activities on my end, and I’m reminding myself that it’s okay to be busy but not overwhelmed. The beginning of the year has a lot of planning and future thinking involved, but I’m starting to transition into being more present in what is happening right now. I’ll be sending out my public facing newsletter soon (which you can sign up for here) with updates on new available paintings as well as commission sign ups. Thanks for following along in the behind the scenes of my artist life; I appreciate all of you!
Mid-January Check-in
The beginning of the year has already been quite busy and eventful. I did get to spend a restful holiday taking a break from work and spent a lot of time with friends and family, and now things are in full swing. I’ve just come back from a family long weekend vacation in Las Vegas, and am preparing to move apartments. Art wise, I’ve applied to a few opportunities to show my work and some residencies. Additionally, I’ve been spending quality time in the studio painting working on a couple of different projects, so it feels like a time of expansion.
What I’ve been working on:
I am ~done~ painting the six paintings in the Ocean Arrangement series I started in December 2023. They’re all signed, and I’ve painted all of the edges, which I think adds to a finished look. Once all the paintings are dry, I’ll varnish them, wire hang them, and then the series will be officially complete!
I started a new series of sunrise and sunset paintings on smaller canvases. I’m hoping to paint around 12 paintings in this collection; I just varnished two paintings and five others are in various states of progress.
I started a new painting from my time at the Cuttyhunk Artist Residency. The reference photo was taken by one of my fellow residents during one of their morning swims at sunrise. It’s a lovely wave painting with sailboats and Martha’s vineyard in the background. It’s been a pretty challenging painting for me, so I’ve been taking breaks from it to paint my smaller sunrise/sunset paintings.
Now that it’s 2025, I have to really focus on finishing the large 3’x4’ wave painting that I started last year. I’ve taken a bit of a break from the painting because it’s been a bit challenging to get the motion and light of the waves right. The group show that I hope to have this painting in will open in June/July, so I have some time!
Outings
I had a chance to see my SF General Hospital Foundation Heart artwork in person at the Ferry Building in SF for its official unveiling with all 22 hearts. It was really nice to hear how the fundraising from the Hearts in SF project helps the SF General Hospital and the communities and people the hospital serves. I also learned that my heart has been already auctioned off, so it’s already been making a difference!
And that’s my update for this week. I’m working on quite a number of different paintings, but it hasn’t been too overwhelming because there aren’t any pressing deadlines. I feel like I’m in a moment where I have a lot of different ideas and paintings I want to start, so I’m just taking advantage of that energy. I think soon, once I have more time not interrupted with travel and moving, I’ll start to focus on one or two paintings at a time to make more significant progress on one project instead of bouncing around different ideas. And I’ll know that I can always come back to projects that I’ve already started. I hope you all have had a great start to the year! As always, thank you for following along!
2025 Art Career Goal Setting
Happy New Year everyone! I’m starting 2025 refreshed and excited to share what I want to accomplish in 2025. I spent time reflecting on what I wanted my days and months to look like while continuing to grow my art business. I’ve settled on these four goals:
Paint 60 paintings
Paint outdoors more often
Apply to 30 art calls
Participate in 3-5 in person events
Last year, I finished 47 paintings, so I think 60 paintings is a good number to strive for. I also started to paint outdoors more often last year, and I want to continue that practice by setting intentions to bring my paints outdoors. I have a personal resolution to travel more and take more weekend trips to places in California. I’ve now lived in this state for over four years but I feel like there’s so much more to see and explore. Weekend trips will give me the chance to travel to places that are still within driving distance from home that are further away. And the best way to record the memories will be painting those places!
I found that applying to art calls were really beneficial in getting my artwork in new places and opened up a lot of new opportunities. I’ve increased my goal from 10 art calls to 30 art calls in 2025. Even though I applied to 44 art calls last year, I wasn’t highly selective of the opportunities that I applied to. I think quantity over quality worked for me last year because it gave me the chance to explore what kinds of opportunities are out there while also getting used to the sting of rejection and learning what I was a better fit for (I was accepted into 10 of the art calls I applied to!). This year, I’m going to be a bit more discerning in determining which art calls are a better fit for me and my artwork, which is why my goal is a little lower than the number of art calls I applied to last year.
My last goal is to participate in 3-5 in person events this year. Sharing my artwork with people is my favorite thing about being an artist, and I felt like the number of events I participated in last year was a good amount for me. So I’m keeping this goal the same as last year and look forward to being able to share my artwork at my studio and other events!
One last intention I had while setting my goals for this year is that I want to leave some space for unexpected opportunities and experiences that come my way. Last year showed me that there are plenty of things that come my way that I didn’t plan for in my goal setting. It turns out, when you apply to so many opportunities, you do get accepted into some of them, so I should leave some space open for me to actually be able to enjoy the experiences. Last year I was able to spend a week at my first artist residency that has continued to provide me with inspiration months later. But I also remember feeling quite stressed about the timing because I had planned a couple of long trips with friends and family during the same time period along with a couple of studio visits for an upcoming exhibition. So I want to remind myself that it’s good to have empty days on the calendar to leave room for the unexpected.
So I hope you have had some time to reflect on your past year and have made your own resolutions and goals with me. Here’s to a new year and I’m looking forward to sharing with you all that comes! Thanks for supporting me on my journey!
2024 End of Year Review
I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season with friends, family, and loved ones. Since the end of the year is in a few days, I wanted to share a review of my year and follow up with how I did with the goals I had set in January. I think that it’s important to reflect back on how the year went because it provides a greater time scale that allows me to fully realize what I’ve been able to accomplish. Even the (mostly) biweekly schedule of checking in helps reveal what I’m putting my time towards, but the shorter time scales make it hard to see progress. I often find myself feeling that I’m accomplishing very little day by day, but once I change my perspective, it’s easier to see how the work accumulates. So to start out, I’ll take a look at my 2024 goals.
Goals
Paint 60 paintings. I ended up completing 47 paintings this year (not including the 100 daily watercolor paintings I made as part of the #100daychallenge). I’m quite proud of myself for being able to complete so many paintings in the year, and I think 60 paintings a year is a good number to strive for each year.
Release 3 collections. I only officially released one collection this year, during the first half of the year. I’ve moved away from releasing a number of thematically similar paintings at a time because I’ve learned that I like to bounce around from different concepts for my paintings. When I move around from different types of paintings, it ends up taking a while to build a cohesive collection. The “Ocean Arrangements” series is a perfect example of this because it’s taken me a whole year to finish the six paintings that make up the series. By letting go of releasing collections, I’ve alleviated the stress I was putting on myself to work in a way that wasn’t natural for me. But it was initially a good way of thinking for me to be inspired and work on my painting skills.
Apply to 10 art calls/opportunities. I overachieved on this goal and applied to 44 art calls this year, varying from museum and gallery group shows, grants, residencies, fellowships, public art projects, commissions, and other art related opportunities. I was accepted by 9 of them, and I’m so grateful for the opportunities applying to these art calls has opened up.
Participate in 3-5 in person events. I ended up showing my artwork in person over five distinct type of events across multiple weekends:
* Two weekends of Silicon Valley Open Studios
* Live painting demonstration at Filoli Historic Gardens
* Live mural painting demonstration
* San Francisco Open Studios
* I opened up my studio at Alameda Artworks for four “Second Saturdays” events.
I’ve really enjoyed participating in various events because it’s the best way for me to meet other artists and art enthusiasts to talk about what inspires them. It’s been a great way to build community and it helps motivate me to keep creating in times where I feel stuck or directionless. Creating artwork is a solitary endeavor, and I think that being able to work in solitude is a key factor in being an artist, but it’s always helpful to have a creative community around you to introduce you to new ideas that continue to fuel the creativity.Post 2 YouTube videos a month. I was very consistent with creating YouTube videos for the first half of the year and then I completely fell off the wagon. I ended up with 13 videos, exactly one more than half of my goal, but stopped creating videos starting the second half of July. Part of my failure stemmed from missing the second video in July, and once July passed, my summer became busy with commissions and travel that I let go of the goal. I think I’m going to take a pause on YouTube for now because I want to focus on other things, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t go back to it in the future!
When setting my goals at the beginning of the year, I clearly had intention for where I wanted my art career to go, but I think I did a decent job of giving myself space for other things to happen naturally because I couldn’t predict all of the things that would happen this year. So here are some specific, non-goal related accomplishments that I wanted to share and celebrate:
I found a studio space outside of my home at Alameda Artworks. This really enabled me to create a dedicated space for my work and has given me a really supportive creative network.
I painted my first public artwork of a utility box mural as a commission for the City of San Jose.
I co-curated my first museum show.
I painted a commission for my alma mater, Swarthmore College, for their 2025 Calendar.
I attended my first artist residency at the Cuttyhunk Island Residency
I painted another piece of public art on a heart sculpture for the annual San Francisco General Hospital Foundation Heart in San Francisco fundraiser.
I’m having some beginning thoughts on goals for next year. One of them includes doing less things for the first time. This year has been a year of many firsts: first mural, first time showing my artwork in Silicon Valley Open Studios, first live painting demonstrations, and more. It’s been a great way to learn, but I’ve felt exhausted figuring out how to do things for the first time. By definition, I probably won’t be doing many things for the first time next year, since I’ll be trying to do a lot of the things I did this year again next year, but I’ll also probably try fewer new things. I have a better sense of what I enjoy doing, so I think I can be better focused. I also will hold onto the value of leaving space for serendipitous opportunities.
So I think it’s a wrap on 2024! I look forward to continuing to share my goals and updates in the new year. Thanks for being with me on my journey!
Beginning of December Check-in
Hi everyone! I’m coming back from a restful weekend along the coast of Point Reyes and have been reflecting on what I’ve worked on and accomplished this year. So I think my next check-in will be some sort of year end review on the artwork I’ve created, the projects I worked on, how I did in terms of the goals I set at the beginning of the year, and how I felt the year went overall. But for today, I’m going to share my normal update of what I’ve been working on.
What I’m working on:
I think I’m finished with my last close-up seashell painting. I haven’t titled half of the paintings in this series, so that’s probably something I should think about as I wrap up the series.
I started working on an ocean wave painting that I started much earlier in the year. I think I may have started it in the summer. It’s the largest painting I’ve worked to date, 3’x4’, with a new subject, so it’s been a bit challenging. I think that this painting is going to be part of the group exhibit that I’ve been invited to do with two other artist friends at The New Museum Los Gatos that will be showing starting next June. The three of us decided to create a collaborative piece for the exhibit, and we’re currently working on a test piece to try out some ideas. It’s been a really interesting process so far, and I’m learning a lot about their creative processes from this project.
My current work set up is that I work really large in the studio and then work small at home. My Cuttyhunk Island oyster pond painting has inspired me to work on some smaller pieces that focus on the interesting things that clouds do during sunrises and sunsets. They’re like little studies that have been a lot of fun to work on.
I’m doing a pretty good job of working on a smaller number of things at the same time. I feel like I’m painting more than I have been able to in November because I feel less overwhelmed and focused. I do have a number of various art calls and applications to work on before the end of the year for opportunities in 2025, so I’ll have to set aside more computer work time this week. I also have my final event of the year this weekend as my studio is hosting a holiday fair on Saturday. I’ve been glad to have an event once a month at my studio because it forces me to keep my studio space clean and tidy, and I like being able to share my artwork with the people who come by.
That’s all for now for my update. I hope you and your families are doing well and keeping warm this winter!
End of November Check-in
It’s hard to believe that it’ll be December in a little over a week. I’m slowly getting back into the rhythm of going into the studio regularly, but it’s still been a bit challenging. I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather or the short days, but I’ve been working from home a lot recently.
What I’m working on:
I am pretty much finished with my painting of the Cuttyhunk Island oyster ponds. I think this painting has been a signal to transition my focus of my paintings from minute details to broader landscapes and dynamic skies. It inspired me to look through all of the photos on my phone and collect the ones of skies with interesting clouds, colors, and shapes. I’m planning on painting a collection of smaller framed works that focus on dynamic shapes and colors based on the sky, so hopefully more will come soon on this project!
I’m making progress on my last close-up seashell painting. I need to work on the highlights and shadows, but overall, I think it’s pretty much there!
Since I’ve been working from home a lot, I painted another abstract watercolor painting on one of the two remaining aqua board panels I had ordered for the project. It’s a nice way to think about color and work on something different from the oil paintings I typically do. I was able to finish the painting this week, so I just have to varnish and frame it.
Overall, I’m trying to work on fewer projects at a time. I’ve been reading Slow Productivity by Cal Newport and the first principle is “Do fewer things”. So I’m trying to put that into practice by actively working on fewer projects. I have a lot of ideas and unfinished things I want to work on, but I’m trying to remind myself that I can get to the other projects once I finish the ones that I’ve decided to work on now. Focusing on fewer things has alleviated some mental and logistical burden that I usually feel when I’m trying to accomplish too many things at once.
One more thing that I wanted to share this week is that I can officially share my commissioned painting for Swarthmore College’s 2025 calendar. I was commissioned this painting over the summer, and last week the calendars have been officially mailed out. It’s really exciting to see my artwork in print and to know that so many people will be able to see my work. It was also really neat to see a couple of my alum friends’ artworks featured in the calendar. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to create a painting for my school’s calendar and share a meaningful place to me through art.
Beginning of November Check-in
In the last two weeks, I've begun to settle back into my regular schedule of going into the studio to paint. With all of my time out of the studio, I’ve had some difficulty finding motivation to paint again and being able to stay focused for long periods of time, so I started a new painting with little expectations and it’s helped me find my rhythm again.
What I’m working on:
I finished painting my Heart Sculpture for the SF General Hospital Foundation’s 2025 Hearts in San Francisco Project and it’s been picked up and out of my studio! You can see the finished sculpture here: https://www.margaretluoart.com/portfolio/public-artwork I’m excited to see where they put my heart in the city!
The new painting I started is of the oyster ponds on Cuttyhunk Island. I decided to make time for this painting and it’s already almost complete. I have a couple of final details and touch-ups to add, but it’s turning out really nicely.
Now that I’m feeling a bit better about painting, I’m going to work on the last painting of the series of close-up seashell paintings. I’m still hoping to finish this collection by the end of the year!
I’m in a museum group show at NUMU next year with two of my artist friends, and we’re in the inspiration collection and testing phase of a collaborative artwork. One of our inspiration gathering projects is to take polaroid photos of things that inspire us. It’s been a fun exercise and we’re testing out a miniature version of our collaborative artwork!
I also updated my website, which was long overdue. If you want to check it out, you can here: https://www.margaretluoart.com/ Let me know what you think and definitely let me know if there are any glaring issues!
Outings
Last Friday I visited my friend Yuting Wang’s opening reception for an exhibition she put together at her studio’s exhibiting space. Yuting is a watercolor figure painter, but in her exhibition she included some installation artwork that she’s been working on this year. It was really inspiring to see the different aspects of her creative practice while also learning how she organized and put together this show. It can be quite hard to find places to exhibit and present your work, so it was great to see how Yuting created an opportunity for herself to show her new artwork in an exhibit that she curated with antoher artist. It gave me some inspiration and motivation to think about ways I can exhibit my artwork, so I’ve been brainstorming how I will release my collection of close-up seashell paintings when the collection is complete. So hopefully more to come about this!
I went on a really long hike this past weekend in a county park that had a trail with redwoods to take in the fall weather and to also take polaroid photos for my group show. The picture turned out great and the woods are adding a different perspective of inspiration for the show. I’ve taken photos during my trips of the ocean and tides and of the desert, so I feel like I’m getting a large range of visuals that will hopefully help us create something interesting!
That’s all for now! With the cooler weather and shorter days, I do feel like I’m slowing down a bit for the year. My studio is having an open studios event this weekend, so I’ll be spending tomorrow cleaning up my studio. Overall, I’m enjoying the slower pace and trying to rest a bit more. I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for following along!
End of October Check-in
It’s been two months since my last update, so this check-in is long overdue. I’m back home in the Bay Area and trying to settle into a regular schedule after two months of on and off traveling, with the SF Open Studios event thrown in between. I’ll share some highlights from the last two months.
I started out with a slightly longer than a week-long artist residency on Cuttyhunk Island during the first week of September. I was really inspired by my time at the residency by talking to the other residents, the residency staff, and taking in the last days of summer on the island. I created a small number of plein air paintings with water-soluble oil paints, a new medium for me. I also took hundreds of photos of the island, beaches, oyster ponds, and sunsets, so I have a couple of paintings that I want to start working on once I get back into the studio.
Right after my residency, I traveled to Olympic National Park for a 10 day trip with friends. We did a lot of hiking and catching up. We hiked through forests, up on mountain ridges, and to beaches. Even though we did a lot of physical activity on this trip, the trip felt very restful.
The weekend after my return from Olympic National Park, I participated in Weekend 2 of San Francisco’s Open Studios. Honestly, I felt pretty tired before the weekend even started from all of my traveling, so I didn’t feel very enthusiastic about driving up to the city and participating in the event. I think I made the most of the energy levels that I had, but I think this may be my last year participating in the San Francisco Open Studio event. Now that I have a studio space in San Jose, I think it makes more sense to conserve my energy by keeping my studio visits local to my studio space.
Shortly after Open Studios, I traveled to Sedona, AZ with some family for a little less than a week. It was a big contrast weather wise, coming from cool, fall weather in Olympic National Park in Washington to a desert with a heat wave with 90-100 degree weather in Arizona. We visited both the Petrified Forest National Park and the Grand Canyon during our trip. All of the landscapes we saw from Phoenix to Sedona to each of the National Parks were so unique, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to take another trip back to Sedona in the future.
And then to wrap up all my travel, less than a week after my trip to Sedona, I traveled to the east coast for a wedding and to see family. It was good to spend time with family and enjoy a week of unseasonably warm weather for fall on the east coast.
I don’t have any other travel plans for the rest of the year, and I’m looking forward to spending quality time in the studio to work on a bunch of ideas I got over the last two months. Since I’ve been gone for a while, I also have to reorient myself on what I was working on before I left, because I know that I’m in the middle of a couple of projects.
What I’m working on:
I was awarded a commission from the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation to paint a Heart Sculpture for their 2024 Hearts in San Francisco Project. I was able to start painting the sculpture after my Sedona trip, but I need to wrap it up in the next few weeks. I’ve been sharing a few updates on my Instagram stories, and it’s coming along well.
I’m still not finished with my close-up seashell paintings, so I want to wrap up this collection before the end of the year. I’ll get back to working on these paintings once I finish painting my Heart Sculpture, and then hopefully I’ll be able to share all the paintings before the end of the year.
Now that we’ve entered fall, I want to get out to do some more plein air painting with the cloudy weather on the coast. I’ve prepared a number of panels for plein air painting, so now I just need to find the time to get out there and paint.
I also have a specific scene of Cuttyhunk Island that I want to paint in the studio. I was able to paint a small plein air version of the painting, and I want to see it on a larger scale. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to start that painting, but it’s on the back of my mind. Hopefully, by writing it here, it’ll encourage me to find time to work on it.
I think that’s it for my long overdue update. Today’s my first day back home, so I’ve been trying to organize myself and get myself into the right mindset to get back into the studio. I haven’t been able to paint much over the past month, so it feels a bit daunting to get back into the studio, but the deadline for the Hearts of San Francisco project is a good motivator. I’ll be back in the studio tomorrow and will hopefully have a lot of good quiet time in there to work. I hope you all are staying safe and doing well. Thanks for following along and reading through until the end!
End of August Check-in
It’s already the end of the month, and my two months of travel are quickly approaching. I’ve been trying to wrap up a couple of paintings in the studio before I leave for my residency and then Olympic National Park shortly after. Then I’ll hopefully have things in order for when I return at the end of September for SF Open Studios. I’ll be showing my work at Miro Studios on September 28th and 29th. And then right after that, I’ll be traveling to Sedona with my family and then visiting the East Coast during the first half of October. So I’m about to kick off two months of travel very soon!
What I’m working on:
I finished my commissioned Swarthmore Calendar painting and it’s currently with my photographer. I’ll be sending over a digital copy of the painting soon!
I’m rotating between three of the seashell paintings in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series. I feel like I’m almost done with the collection. I put all the paintings next to each other and I’m touching up a few of the paintings while I finish the sixth painting to make sure they all fit with each other. I feel like I’ve fully explored this subject for now and I’m ready to work on a different kind of painting or series. I’m not sure when I’ll officially release the collection of paintings, but I’m working to make that happen this year!
I finished the fourth abstract watercolor painting last week. I haven’t started another one because I wanted to focus on my oil paintings, so I probably will only have the four paintings ready for SF Open Studios. I spent some time researching how to finish and seal the watercolor paintings, because the process is a bit different with a water-based medium compared to oil paintings. I tested a couple of things I found researching how to varnish watercolor paintings on a couple of watercolor paintings on paper I did for The 100 Day Project that worked well. I’m just waiting for a couple of cooler weather days because the process does require me to spray some UV varnish, which I do outdoors and the temperature does affect the drying process.
I’m also preparing some thrifted frames for a few plein air paintings I did this month. I’ve been testing out different types of framing for some panels I painted during plein air sessions. I’ve had to sand down the thrifted frames because they’re in different states of repair and have tested out finishing them with oil or staining. I’m hoping to have a few of these framed paintings ready for SF Open Studios. I also am bringing both panels and oil painting paper with me to my artist residency, and it’s nice to know that I have the possibility of framing my paintings from my residency when I come back.
I think that’s all that I’ve been working on for now. I haven’t prioritized creating videos for my YouTube channel, even though I have a lot of videos that I want to create and share. I’m scheduling some time this week to focus on that, so hopefully I’ll have more videos up on my channel coming soon. I’ve also procrastinated a bit on a couple of applications for other artist opportunities, so I’ve set aside some time for that this week as well, since many of the deadlines are while I’m at my residency. I want to finish that work before I leave, so I can focus all my time and energy being present at the residency.
That’s all for now! Thanks for following along. If you have any recommendations for Olympic National Park or Sedona, please let me know!
Beginning of August Check-in
I have a reminder set on my phone to write up my bi-weekly check-in, and for the last few months, I’ve always been surprised when the reminder pops up on my phone because I don’t realize that two weeks have passed. I’ve been saying this a lot recently, but it’s been a busy time in the studio. I’m hoping to slow down a bit in August and really focus on painting before I do a bunch of travel in September and October. My artist residency at Cuttyhunk Island starts at the beginning of September and is a little over a week long. And then I’m off to Olympic National Park in Washington for 10 days, and I’m back at the end of September for SF Open Studios. So I’m hoping to not do too much in August beyond painting in the studio and preparing for Open Studios and my residency.
What I’m working on:
My primary focus in the studio has been my Swarthmore Calendar Commission. It’s due in the middle of September, but since I’m traveling, I’ll be submitting the final digital file of the painting by the end of this month. This means that I have to finish the painting quite soon in order for it to dry so I can get it professionally photographed before the end of this month.
I started a sixth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series as part of my live painting demonstration at the Filoli Historic Gardens Art Walk two weekends ago. I haven’t worked on it since my live painting demo since I’ve been focusing on the Swarthmore Calendar commission. Similarly, the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ has been on hold. I’m hoping that I can show the first four paintings in this series during SF Open Studios at the end of September. I still have to sign and varnish those paintings, so they’re not ‘officially’ complete yet, but they’re almost there.
I’m working on a fourth abstract watercolor painting, with a slightly different color palette. This one is a little larger, 18”x24”. I’m also hoping to have six abstract watercolor paintings, total, complete for display at SF Open Studios. I ordered some frames for these watercolor paintings, so I’m excited to put them all together.
Outings
Last Friday, I participated in South First Fridays in San Jose in a couple of different ways:
I did manage to paint a bottle for LocalColor’s 99 Bottle Exhibition and the opening reception for the show was on Friday. I didn’t have a chance to actually visit the opening reception, but I was excited to see the new gallery space LocalColor secured when I dropped off my bottle.
I was asked to be the featured First Fridays artist at SoFA market, a food hall on 1st Street in San Jose, so I framed all of my available fine art giclee prints and now they’re on display at SoFA market. They should be up there for over a month and all available for purchase, so you should check them out if you’re in the area.
I spent my actual time during South First Fridays tabling with genARTS and connecting with the artists who were visiting the various museums and arts events for South First Fridays. I had a good time catching up with my artist friends and also helping with a workshop we were hosting.
That’s all that I’ve been working on for now. I don’t have as much in person events coming up this month beyond hosting a very casual open studio for Second Saturdays on the Alameda this upcoming Saturday. I’m really looking forward to uninterrupted and quiet studio time. Hopefully, by the next update, I’ll have worked on some more paintings. That’s all for now!
End of July Check-in
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Things have been busy, so I’m just going to get right into the update.
What I’m working on:
I’m almost done with the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series, but I had to put it aside this week to prioritize a couple of other things. I’m doing a live painting demonstration at the Filoli Art Walk on Saturday this weekend. I thought it would be best to work on a new painting, so I’m starting a sixth seashell painting. I have a couple of compositions picked out when I was first planning the series, so I sketch one of them out on canvas. I thought it’d be more interesting to see the beginning steps of the painting process during the live demo so the audience can see more of a change in the three hours that I have for the demonstration.
I completed three 16”x20” abstract watercolor paintings and started working on another version of these paintings on a larger panel. It’s still been quite hot in California, so I’ve been spending my mornings in the studio and then my afternoons at home. At home, I’m continuing to work on these watercolor paintings.
I’m part of a project called the “99 Bottles” which is a community art project organized by LocalColor, a San Jose based arts non-profit. I’m painting a bottle that will be featured in LocalColor’s new gallery space. I’ve only just found a bottle to paint on and have been brainstorming ideas. I’ll have to get working on it though, because it’s due at the end of the month.
I’m also working on the Swarthmore Calendar Commissioned painting. This is what I’ve been spending most of my studio time working on to make sure I hit the draft and final deadlines of the project.
Outings:
I just got back from a 5 day trip in Seattle last Thursday. In Seattle, I visited the aquarium, Seattle Art Museum, Chihuly Garden and Glass museum, Bellevue Botanical Gardens, and the Belluvue Art Museum. I spent a lot of time looking at artwork and sketching outdoors and had a great time!
The opening reception for genARTS’s 4th annual Experimental Exhbition: Boundaries at NUMU. It was a very well attended reception and I had a great time talking to all the exhibiting artists that were able to come. It was really fun seeing people come to the exhibition that I co-curated and hearing what people thought of the collection of works as well as the layout. I’ll be giving a couple of tours for the exhbiiton in the coming months, so the work isn’t completely over, but it has been a really rewarding experience so far.
I think that’s all for now. I feel like I have a lot to do before the end of the month with the art demonstration and draft of my commission due. I’m hoping that August will be a little less busy and I’ll be able to spend more time in the studio just painting. Thanks for following along, and I hope all of your summers are going well!
Beginning of July Check-In
Hi everyone! I hope you all are staying cool during the summer! It’s been really hot in California recently with multiple sequential days of over 95°F weather, so I’ve been spending a lot of time indoors keeping cool. A couple of new things are upcoming that I’m excited to share with you in my update.
What I’m working on:
I’m working studiously on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. This one has a lot more details than the fourth painting in the series, so it’s taking a bit more time, but I’m really happy with how it’s coming together. Since I’ve been focusing on this painting in the studio, I’ve taken a break from the large detailed ocean wave painting I started last month to help me stay focused.
Since it’s been quite warm these last few weeks, and my studio building doesn’t have central air (we have an AC unit in our studio unit), I’ve spent more time at home. This has given me a lot of time to work on my abstract watercolor series and I’m working on the third painting in this series. This series is both quite different from the oil paintings I’ve created, but thematically similar and visually flows from what I’ve been working on.
Outings
I spent the majority of my day yesterday at the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) figuring out the layout for the exhibition I’ve been the volunteer curator for. As a volunteer with genARTS, I’ve had the opportunity to work on this exhibition that will be on view at NUMU from July 19th to October 6th. This is the first exhibition that I’ve curated and I’ve learned a lot about the process and work that goes into putting together a juried exhibition.
I also have a few new opportunities that I wanted to share!
I’ve been commissioned by my undergraduate institution, Swarthmore College, to create a painting of a location on campus for their 2025 calendar. Every year, Swarthmore sends out a physical calendar to alums, students, and parents of students. In the past, the calendar has featured photographs of locations and buildings around the campus, but next year they’re going to use artworks from alums, faculty, and staff in the next year’s calendar, including mine! I’ll be sharing more updates as I work on this commission.
I’ve been accepted into my first artist residency at the Cuttyhunk Island Artist Residency! It’s a week-long residency from September 3-10th on Cuttyhunk Island, MA. I’ll be spending the week with 11 other artists and learning from a guest artist and guest scientist. I’m really excited to be attending this residency to have the opportunity to paint the ocean and coastal landscapes as well as learn from the other artists.
This month, I’ll be giving a live painting demonstration at the Filoli Historic Garden’s annual Art Walk. I’ll be one of the many artists scheduled to provide live art demonstrations during the weekend-long event; I’ll be painting from 4-7pm on Saturday, July 20th. This will be my first live painting demonstration in oil painting, but it’s not a class where I’m teaching oil painting techniques. I’ll be sharing my painting process and inspiration with art admirers who come to the Art Walk. I’ve visited Filoli previously, and I’m really looking forward to painting in the gardens. I’m not quite sure what painting I’ll be working on yet, but I’m considering starting a 6th painting in the Ocean Arrangements series to demonstrate. I do have to prepare a painting that is in different stages of progress to help highlight the different parts of my painting process, so I’ll have to get working on that soon.
That’s all for my update this week. A lot of exciting things are happening. My focus for this month is to spend more time in the studio painting. I have quite a bit of traveling coming up in September and October, so I want to paint as much as I can. I’m also traveling to Seattle this weekend for a 5 day trip, so let me know if you have any recommendations for my time there. Thanks so much for following along!
End of June Check-in
Happy summer! It’s been almost three weeks since my last update and a lot has happened. I went on a trip to Lake Tahoe last week, and it was a great time to take a proper vacation from work. Before my trip, I painted my first mural during Viva Calle San Jose; it was a great time painting live and talking to the other muralists and artists who were painting during the event. And then when I came back from Lake Tahoe, I painted my first Utility Box mural on the corner of 11th and Reed Street in San Jose. With the help of some friends, we finished painting the utility box in one day, and I’m really happy with how it came out! I’ll be posting YouTube videos of the process of both murals soon. With these murals complete, I’m back in the studio working on a couple of projects
What I’m working on:
I’m still working on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. I’m working on the detailed parts of the coral and seashells, so it’s all really coming together nicely. I probably won’t finish this painting by the end of the month, like I had thought, and I’m working towards finishing it by the end of July.
I’ve started my largest oil painting to date with a detailed ocean wave painting on a 36”x48” canvas. I ordered some larger paint brushes to help me work on this painting because I realized that the brushes I currently have are too small to effectively paint on this canvas. It’ll be a change for me to work with 1 inch to 3 inch paint brushes, but I’m looking forward to learning some new painting techniques.
I’ve started a new abstract watercolor series on a few medium-sized WaterMedia boards. This idea came out of the 100 day project watercolor sketches I made during the challenge. I wanted to create a series of larger scale abstract watercolor paintings, so I’m looking forward to seeing how these turn out.
Outings
I had a small opening reception for my paintings that are exhibiting at the Sunnyvale Senior Center last Friday. I generally prefer smaller opening receptions because it gives me the chance to have proper conversations with my friends and visitors about my artwork.
In the middle of July, I’ll be traveling to Seattle for the first time. I’m tagging along my partner’s work trip, so I’m looking forward to catching up with some friends who live in the city and visiting the museums and galleries there. If anyone has Seattle recommendations, let me know!
That’s my update for now. I’ve been volunteering a lot of my time as Vice Chair for genARTS, so my vacation in Lake Tahoe was a nice way to take a break and refocus my energies on painting. I’m hoping to spend more time in the studio creating and painting. I had a few new ideas for painting series that I want to get to, but I know that I should finish my current paintings before starting even more new ones.
Beginning of June Check-in
Happy June everyone! It’s been a busy two weeks since my last update with family visiting and a lot of projects underway. It’s continuing to be quite busy, so I’m just going to jump right into what I’ve been working on.
What I’m working on:
Last Friday, I dropped off 10 of my paintings at the Sunnyvale Senior Center as part of The City of Sunnyvale’s Exhibition of art in Public Places. I’m excited to have my work showing in new places and it’ll be on display until July 10th.
This upcoming Saturday, I’ll be painting a live mural with Together We Create 408 as part of the Viva Calle San Jose event. It’ll be the first time I’m painting a mural of my own design and the first time I’ll be painting live, so I’m both excited and nervous. I’m to paint an 8’x8’ mural within about 5 hours and I’ll have some help. I’ve just finished sketching out my design and had some help with coming up with a plan of how I break up the painting. I’ll be purchasing paint and supplies in the next few days, so hopefully I’ll be ready.
I’m also still preparing for my ArtBox project with the City of San Jose to paint a pair of utility boxes. We have hit a bit of a snag with confirmation of payment, which includes a deposit for me to be able to purchase supplies, so I haven’t been able to move forward with buying the paint and additional supplies that I’ll need for the project. I’m hoping we’re able to work through this quickly, since the project needs to be completed by June 30th. I’ve already scheduled out a few days for me to work on this project, but I won’t be able to get started until this issue is sorted out.
I’m working on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. The painting process has become pretty swift with all of the practice I’ve been able to do with the previous four paintings. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to finish this painting given all of the mural work I’ll be doing soon, but it is likely that I’ll be able to finish it by the end of this month.
I’ve also been preparing and organizing some more in-person events. I’ve been working with some business close to my studio to revitalize the area, so every second Saturday of the month, I’ll be opening my studio, along with other artists, for people to visit and see our studio space and artwork.
Outside of my personal arts practice, I’ve been really busy with volunteering with genARTS, the volunteer organization based in Santa Clara that supports local emerging artists. I’ve stepped up as Vice Chair of the organization in addition to curating this year’s Experimental Exhibition. I’ve been doing a lot of work to help restructure our organization and secure funding for our programming in the background while also tabling each first Friday of the month in Downtown San Jose alongside the museums on 1st Street. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been a great way for me to engage with my local arts community.
Outings:
I’ve had family visiting me for the last few days and we’ve been doing a little bit of traveling and site-seeing. We went down to Point Lobos, one of my favorite places, to do some tidepooling and hiking. We were able to see seals and otters, which was really nice! We also took a day to go up to SF and visited the SFMOMA, which I haven’t had the chance to visit since moving here. I have visited before the pandemic during a trip out to SF before I had lived here.
In a week in a half, I’ll be taking a long weekend trip up to Lake Tahoe. We also haven’t visited Lake Tahoe since moving here. I’m hoping to use that time to completely unplug, because I haven’t been able to do that for a while, even though I had planned to this week while I have people visiting. There’s just been a lot of things happening at the same time, so I’ve had to do a lot of administrative and planning work even though I haven’t been in the studio.
I think that’s it for my update. There are quite a few things on my mind, but hopefully things will clear up and move forward over the next few weeks and I’ll be able to take some time off during my trip to Tahoe. I hope you all are doing well!
Mid-May Check-in
Hi everyone! I hope everyone’s May is going well. It’s been an exciting time in my studio and art business. I’m writing this check-in in between meetings, so it’s probably going to be a quick one!
What I’m working on:
I think I’m at the finishing touches of the fourth seashell painting in the collection of ‘Ocean Arrangements’ paintings. I’m looking back at my previous updates and I’ve just realized that I’m painting these pieces faster as I have more under my belt. And to be fair, this fourth painting is less complicated than the first three. I have one more painting that I have prepped to round out this collection. I may come back to this collection, but I think that five paintings is a nice number for now. Because I have been very focused on this collection of paintings, I’ve been coming up with a bunch of new ideas for other series of paintings that I want to get started on.
I’ve been selected to paint a mural in San Jose. I’ll be painting a pair of utility boxes, which the City of San Jose has fondly called ‘Art Boxes’. My sketch of the mural has been approved, so the next step is getting my supplies: I need to purchase exterior house paint, paint brushes, drop cloths, among other supplies that I don’t usually use inside my studio. I’m planning to paint my mural in the beginning of June, across a few days, during the morning hours to hopefully avoid the summer heat and sun. This will be the first mural that I’ve designed, so I’m really looking forward to painting it!
I’m really behind in the #100dayproject, but I am committing to catching up and completing 100 watercolor paintings/sketches. Even though it’s been hard to keep to this habit for 100 days in a row, this has been a great opportunity to paint with watercolors again and experiment with some new projects. The last day of the project is May 27th, so we’re in the home stretch.
Finally, the thing that has taken up the majority of my energy the last two weeks: Silicon Valley Open Studios. I had a great time showing my work in Los Altos and San Jose in back to back weekends. I met so many people who enjoyed my artwork, and I had a great time speaking to people about my background in becoming an artist and my artistic practice. Meeting and talking to people about my work is one of my favorite parts of creating artwork and being an artist, so I’m really glad that I was able to spend two weekends doing that.
Outings
Last Friday, I went out plein air painting with my former co-worker turned full-time artist friend around Mori Point outside of San Francisco. It was a great time catching up and painting together. We both paint in oils, but we have two very different styles, so it was cool to see how our paintings turned out side by side. She also created a YouTube video of our experience, and you can watch it here!
And then both of my weekends have been occupied by Open Studios, which I also consider an outting. This was a really rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to more opportunities where I can share my art with people.
I think that’s all for now. I have family visiting in the middle of next week, and I’m going to be using that time to rest and take a break from painting and business work. I have a couple of deadlines for art calls, residencies, and grants coming up at the end of May, so I’m hoping to also finish that work before my family visits, so I can truly take a much needed break! Thanks for reading and following along!
Beginning of May Check-in
Hello! I hope everyone’s May is starting out nicely. Spring is in full swing here in the Bay Area and the nice weather is making me excited for the in-person events that I’m participating in this month. Here are my updates since last week:
What I’m working on
I finished the third seashell painting in the collection of paintings that I’m tentatively calling ‘The Ocean Arrangements’ because they’re paintings of seashells, seaweed, coral, and other sea wrack that has been arranged by the tides. I’m currently working on the fourth painting. I originally had wanted to make seven paintings for this collection, but I think I’m going to aim to finish five paintings. I have the fifth painting planned out and the canvas prepped. I’ve been working on this series of paintings since December and I think it’s time to switch to another series of paintings once I finish the fifth painting to find something else that inspires me.
I’ve been playing catch up with the #100dayproject by completing three or four paintings at a time because I haven’t been diligent about painting them on a daily basis anymore. I had a feeling this was going to happen with such a long running daily project, but I want to make sure I complete 100 paintings by May 27th, which is day 100!
I’m participating in two weekends of SIlicon Valley Open Studios: this weekend (May 11-12) in Los Altos and next weekend (May 18-19). I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for the event like packing up my paintings and prints, making sure I have labels for all my paintings, and planning out my booth set up. It’s been a lot of work, but I think I have a plan for a booth set up that I’m going to stick with for a while so I won’t have to rebuild the wheel each time I do an in person event this year. The preparation is exciting though because I’m really looking forward to showing my work at these events.
Outings
This past Friday, I volunteered with a local arts organization at a First Friday event in San Jose. At this event, we provide an opportunity for emerging artists to sell their work and share opportunities for emerging artists for professional development and to apply to art calls. It’s been a good way for me to bridge my previous work experience to help local emerging artists gain some business and professional development skills. It’s also been a great way for me to engage with my local arts community and I’m planning on continuing to volunteer and participate in these events.
Those are the main updates for the last two weeks. The next two weekends are busy, but once the open studio events are over, I’m planning on continuing my plein air painting. I also have tentative plans to visit Lake Tahoe, which I’ve never been to before despite now living in the Bay Area for almost three years. So if you’ve been to Lake Tahoe and have any recommendations, please share them! That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
End of April Check-in
Hi friends! It’s been a busy month, so I want to jump right into the updates.
What I’m working on:
I’m wrapping up the third seashell painting that I’ve been mentioning in my previous updates. I want to use this painting for an art call that’s due this Friday. The deadline has been helpful in keeping me focused on this painting. I normally don’t like to paint until the last minute for a deadline, but I had a little bit of poor planning in the middle of the project with other projects that I was working on, so this is just where we are. The bright side of this is that I won’t spend an inordinate amout of time nitpicking and fixing little details that are bothering me and will just have to be happy with what I’m able to complete by Friday.
I’m still going strong with the #100dayproject, althought I am looking forward to when it’ll be over. I am glad that I gave myself space to explore watercolors and try some new things out, but I do think I really want to focus on my oil paintings for a while. I was able to explore a couple of watercolor projects, which I think was the main goal of this challenge, so I feel like it has been a success.
I’m still posting videos every other Wednesday to my YouTube channel. I have a new video coming out in a few hours. It’s a timelaspe of me painting Flash Flood Warning, a landscape of Joshua Tree National Park that was accepted to the California Nature Art Museum’s 2023 California National Parks: Stories of Water Exhibition and awarded an honorable mention. What’s cool about this video is that I was able to collaborate with my brother because he produced the background music for it!
Outings
I was able to go plein air painting again since my last update. We went to the coast one weekend and I was able to paint a couple of coastal landscape paintings. I did enjoy the process, so I’m hoping to find some more time on the weekends to do a few more coastal paintings before it gets too warm out.
With open studios coming up next month, I’ve been trying to prepare for them by making sure I have prints of my paintings. I’m also considering creating greeting cards for my floral paintings. I’m hoping this provides people an accessible way to buy my art. I’m balancing preparing for these shows with still applying to gallery and museum art calls, which helps me get my artwork in front of more people. There’s quite a number of art calls with upcoming deadlines, and I want to try to apply to as many as I can with the paintings that I have. I also have a lot of new ideas for another series of paintings and am trying to figure out when I’ll be able to start working on those projects. I would like to finish five paintings in my seashell series; the last two paintings of the series are prepped and planned. I just have to remind myself to stay focused on a small number of projects and that the projects do take a while to complete.
I think that’s it for now. I hope you all are doing well, and I’ll see you in the next check-in!
April Check-in
Hi everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the warm spring weather. In the Bay Area, the weather has been fluctuating between high-70s and low-60s, but spring is definitely here. I’ve spent the majority of the last two weeks working on paintings in the studio. Event season is quickly approaching so I’m trying to spend as much time as possible painting before that happens.
What I’m working on:
I’m still painting the third seashell painting; I think I’m a little halfway done with it.
I’m over halfway through the #100dayproject. Today marks day 52 of the challenge. Hopefully I can stick it through the second half!
I was inspired by my #100dayproject paintings and started to paint some larger watercolor paintings that also remind me of wetlands.
I painted my first plein air painting of the season. I went to the bay/wetland area in Alviso and painted during sunset. It ended up being a really windy visit and I did my best to paint well while also holding onto my painting and keeping my hands warm. I’m hoping to do more plein air painting this month.
I think I did a better job of focusing on a smaller number of things these last two months. Because of this, I’ve made a lot of progress on my seashell painting. But I also know I have a long way to go, so I’m going to try to maintain my focus. I also have a number of in-person events coming up:
What’s upcoming:
Saturday, April 13: I’m hosting an opening reception in my new studio space for my ‘California Highway One: Finding Home’ collection. I’m excited to be able to share the eight paintings in the collection together!
May: I’ll be participating in two weekends of Silicon Valley Open Studios (May 18th - May 19th & May 25th - May 26).
May 29th - July 10th: My artwork will be exhibiting at the Sunnyvale Senior Center as part of the Artwork in Public Places Exhbiiton program. I’m really excited that my work has been accepted into this program and am looking forward to installing my paintings in this space.
If you’re in the Bay Area and want to visit, more details can be found on my Events page!
That’s all for now! Thanks for following along 🙂
End of March Check-in
Happy Spring everyone! I’ve just returned from a trip home on the east coast and am getting back into my regular working schedule. It was good to take a break from the studio and work in general. I had a number of various deadlines for grants and applications that I worked on before I left from my trip, so last week I did very little work. Now that I’ve been back home for a few days, I have started painting again and have some more applications that are due at the end of the month/early April that I am wrapping up.
What I’m working on:
I finally finished painting the cherry blossom flower painting! It’s the fourth flower painting in this collection of paintings. I initially planned to do ten of these kinds of paintings but I’m thinking about sharing these four as a set. I want to make some greeting cards out of these paintings because I think they look really nice together.
I’m continuing to work on the third seashell painting. I think I’m also finally done with the first two paintings in this series, but I’m going to wait on sharing these paintings until I’m further along with the whole series. My current plan is to create seven of these collections to make a series and I’ve painted the underlayer for two more in the series.
I’m still painting my watercolor paintings for the #100dayproject challenge. The intention for these paintings was (and still is) to have fun and no expectations from them. This has worked out really well, and I happened to get a watercolor painting series idea that I think I’ll explore a bit more with my daily paintings to help me fully form the idea. Hopefully more to come on this!
I’ve been editing some longer videos for my YouTube channel (subscribe if you haven’t already!). I have a number of videos recording my painting process for a few paintings and I thought it would be nice to share some timelapses.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I have more applications to work on for public art opportunities, calls for art, and grants that are due in the next two weeks. I’ve been trying to set aside time in the evenings to work on these; I spend my mornings in the studio and don’t bring my computer with me so I can focus on paintings. This has helped with some work life balance, but I always want to paint more than work on my applications.
Since April is next month, it’s time for the Plein Airpril challenge. I don’t intend to do this as a daily challenge since I’m already doing the #100dayproject daily challenge, but I still want to paint en plein air. I have a plan to go out to the coast every Saturday in April to paint some plein air paintings, so I’m excited to share updates of how this goes!
While on my break, I’ve been thinking about how I can focus on a single project better. I like to bounce from project to project and have a lot of different ideas that I want to explore. I do a good job of starting projects and testing out new ideas, but feel like I struggle with sticking to one thing and seeing the project to completion in a timely manner. I have made more concrete plans about painting the additional paintings for my flower collection, so I’m hoping this helps. I do think I need to make a more concrete timeline for my projects. I like working in collections but I also like to bounce between collections. I also like to share all my paintings in a cohesive collection at once, so it feels like it takes quite some time before I share my paintings. I’m working on figuring out a balance between my working style and being able to share my paintings, so I’m open to any and all recommendations! Thanks for reading my update and I look forward to your suggestions!