Middle of March Check-in
It’s been a busy two weeks since my last check-in! I forgot to mention in my last update, but I’m in the process of moving studios! I’m moving down the hall into a larger space with more storage area that opened up, and it’s been a process of painting the new studios walls and moving all of my things. I’ll be fully moved in by the end of the month, and meanwhile I’ve still been painting.
What I’ve been working on:
I tried something new by working on these line drawings of coffee plants, which was partially inspired by my time listening to my friend Rayos talk about his mixed media art practice for his Guest Artist presentation with the Art Docents of Los Gatos. I initially wanted to collage a line drawing of coffee plants, using these colorfully printed coffee bags I’ve been collecting, but I got really invested in the line drawing. And when I tried collaging around the drawing, it felt too busy. Plus I really disliked the process of cutting and collaging, which was useful to learn. So I’m keeping the line drawings as they are for the finished product. It was nice to create something as an experiment and to make just for myself.
I think I’m deciding that Morning Swim is finished. It’s at a point where there are little details that I want to keep touching up, but I also just want to move on from the painting because I’m not sure how much each little adjustment is going to affect the overall painting. All I need to do now is photograph the painting so I can submit it and a few others to a juried show that has a deadline coming up next week.
I started reworking the painting of Tunnel View in Yosemite that I “finished” last January. It had been hanging on my walls in my old apartment before I moved, and I just moved it into my studio earlier this year. I always felt like it needed more work, but since it was always sitting at home, I never took the time to work on it. I’ve been more inspired to work on paintings of views from the National Parks that I’ve visited over the past few years, and I thought that reworking this one would be a good start. I started sketching out a few more compositions of other National Parks, so I have quite a few ideas. So this may be the next collection of big paintings. (And I know that I’m still in the middle of creating small works [6”x6”] of coastal sunrises and sunsets, but I’m learning to just go with what is inspiring me in the moment because I know I can always go back to previous concepts/ideas.)
I finally varnished most of the paintings in the Ocean Arrangements collection (I forgot to varnish the biggest one because I put it away). I’m really excited to show them in my new studio because I have the wall space for all of them to be displayed at once. I think they’re going to look really good together.
I’ve also been applying to a bunch of art calls and other art opportunities. It feels like all of the deadlines for art shows and residencies fall on the same few weeks in late March and early April, so I’ve been spending a decent amount of time working on my computer.
Outings
Last weekend, I visited my friend Christina Kent’s opening reception for her solo show in Studio Gallery SF. It was really inspiring to see all of the work she’s prepared over the last year for the solo show (20+ works!). She created a range of small and very large paintings that had me thinking about working in an even larger format. I think her largest painting was 48 x 72 inches! So I’ve been thinking about this more for a series of National Park paintings.
I also spent two more full days at elementary schools supporting the Guest Artist program of the Art Docents of Los Gatos. It’s always really great to see children be inspired to make artwork and I’m really glad that I was able to help support the program!
Those are my big updates for now. I’ll be traveling to Sequoia and Death Valley National Parks at the end of the week and into next week with a friend. I’m looking forward to visiting both parks; it’ll be my first time visiting Sequoia and my second time to Death Valley, but my friend hasn’t been to either. I always look forward to my nature/hiking trips, because they give me time and space to relax and come up with new painting ideas. So I will be working hard this week to wrap up a bunch of loose ends so I can fully enjoy my trip! I hope all is well with you. And as always, thanks for following along!
