Beginning of September Check-in
I’ve fallen into the habit of writing only one check-in a month, and I’m hoping that I can get back onto my biweekly schedule since so much occurs in a month.
What I’ve been working on:
I installed my paintings for the 50|50 exhibition at the Sanchez Art Center two weekends ago, and I think they look great together. Due to my tight schedule, I wasn’t able to see all the paintings together on a wall, so seeing them come together in a cohesive way felt very rewarding. The show opens this Friday, with a two day fundraiser, and I’m excited to see how they are received. If you want to check them out for yourselves, the paintings are on my website: https://www.margaretluoart.com/50-50
I’ve also made significant progress on my commissioned painting. I’m waiting on some feedback, since I’m at the final stages of the painting, and I want to make sure the painting has aligned with the client’s vision.
For my group exhibition Ebb & Flow at New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU), I’ll be participating in the musuem’s 60th anniversary community celebration on September 7th by leading a paint by numbers painting for the community to contribute to and paint. Chieko and I have also been working with the museum staff to develop a workshop that we’ll host in early October.
I also found some time to finish the last five sunrise/sunset 6”x6” paintings that I started earlier this year and probably last touched in April/early May. This completes the 12 paintings I had intended for this series. The first seven served as examples for my application to the 50|50 show, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do a deep dive into creating so many sunrise/sunset paintings, but I think these last five paintings close the chapter on this kind of painting for now.
I had mentioned in my previous post that I had been hired to install two small murals in Oakland’s Chinatown, but due to a variety of issues with scheduling and coordination, these murals will no longer be installed. While I’m bummed about not being able to paint these murals, I am quite grateful to have some time back to work on all the paintings in my studio.
Finally, I’ve started on a new series of paintings inspired by the photos I took on my trip to China. It’s a bit of a turn in the subjects of my paintings: I’m painting cityscapes and figures. I think I’ve finished one painting and am working on a second one. I’m hoping to attend more figure drawing sessions to continue to improve my technical skills and practice drawing.
September is the beginning of a significantly less busy period for me. I’m really thankful and happy that I had a very busy and eventful summer, but I have been looking forward to these less filled months. I’ll be traveling in two weeks to Bali for a friend’s wedding, so I hope to maintain the momentum I have in painting until then. That’s all for now. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!
