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!
