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!
