Beginning of May Check-in
I’m a little delinquent on my biweekly check-in schedule, partially due to lack of motivation and partially due to not making time for my computer work. May is Silicon Valley Open Studios month, and I am participating in two weekends (May 10&11 and May 17&18) again this year. I spent five days in the studio last week trying to wrap up paintings in time to show during open studios and will probably spend five days a week in the studio this week and the upcoming weeks to make sure I stay on top of everything.
What I’ve been working on:
Olympic National Park Painting
Oceanscape for Museum Group Exhibition
I’m in the break period of the small sunrise sunset paintings. I’m in the middle of working on five paintings (I’ve completed a total of seven paintings already), but they need time to dry before I continue working on them to work on the details. The overall composition is in place, but when I keep trying to adjust the painting while the entire thing is covered in wet paint, it tends to get muddy with the colors melding together in a way I don’t want. At this rate, I’m hoping to have a few more of the paintings finished in time for the last weekend of Open Studios (May 17 & 18).
I decided to start another large painting (4’x5’) based on a photo taken during one of the hikes I took in Olympic National Park last year. I feel like it has a really strong composition and foundation. I started the painting not realizing the number of deadlines I have coming up, so I have to put it on pause, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to it and putting in the details.
Regarding upcoming deadlines, my group exhibition at the New Museum Los Gatos is coming up with an opening on July 11th. I know that today is the first day of May and July is two months away, but I’m working on a new painting to show in the exhibit and I have to take into account the time it takes for paint to dry (at least 2 weeks), varnish, and delivering the artwork ahead of the opening. I started my first large painting (4’x5), I think late last year, of an oceanscape and decided I wanted this painting to be a part of the exhibition. I’ve been working on it exclusively this week, but I came to a point of complete frustration with this specific painting and have to rethink what I’m going to do. It may be easier to completely start the painting over from scratch rather than try to fix it. I’m taking a break from painting today, because I need to give myself some space to think about a different way to approach the problem.
On top of all of this, I’ve also started a new commissioned painting (commissions are still open for a fall delivery BTW). I’m also excited to work on this painting once I overcome my exhibition painting, because it’s a really sentimental landscape. I’ve done a few sketches so I feel really ready to paint, and I’ll probably start putting down the base layers after Open Studios.
I know in my last post I shared that I’ve been feeling tired and overwhelmed and yet here I am with a bunch of competing deadlines and projects. Since my last post, I feel less tired, but probably the same amount of overwhelmed. However, I feel quite a bit more positive. I think I’ve done a better job of prioritizing what work I want to do, accepting that I can’t do everything at once. I’m also working on not feeling guilty about the work that I choose not to do or don’t make the time to do.
Over the last 2-3 weeks I have spent time practicing compositional studies via sketches in my studio and plein air painting of my friend’s lemon tree. I realize that the compositional sketches don’t take more than an hour, and they’re a great way for me to warm up. I also went to my friend’s house twice to practice plein air painting, putting into practice the skills I’m learning from the compositional sketches. Again, these don’t take that much time, and it’s a good way for me to get out of my studio into fresh air.
As I mentioned, things come in phases, and I’m trying to hold onto the positive feelings and motivation that I have right now. I definitely did have an exasperating and frustrating afternoon yesterday once I realized my ocean painting wasn’t working, but I have to move on and move forward. By my next update, I’ll have done at least one weekend of Open Studios, and hopefully I’ll have made progress on all of my projects. Thanks for all of your support and motivation!
