Middle of November Check-in

It has accidentally been a month since my last check-in. For the last few months, it feels like time is hurtling past me. I don’t particularly enjoy the feeling and I want things to slow down a bit. My days have been feeling full; I’ve been busy and productive in the studio, which is probably why the days seem to be flying by.

What I’ve been working on:

• I’ve completed painting my commission and received final approval from the client! The last step is varnishing, which I’m saving to do until the last minute to give the oil paint as much time as possible to cure. I’ll be installing the painting the week of Thanksgiving. It was a really fun process creating the painting and I can’t wait to finally install it.
  I’ll also be opening my commissions up again in the new year; it’s nice to have a commission or two to work on during the year. I always end up learning something from the process.

• I currently have six paintings inspired by my trip to China in various stages. I think three of them are finished, one is almost there, and the two others need a little bit more work. I’ve been working small for these paintings, using 8”x10” canvases. I decided to paint one of the paintings on a larger scale with a different ratio on a 18”x24” canvas. The bigger scale has been a bit more challenging. I also went with a different ratio because there were some compositional issues that I wanted to address.

• I also started a new painting based on a reference photo I took from my Joshua Tree trip with friends back in 2022. I painted my first Joshua Tree painting back in 2023, and I’m really noticing how much my painting has improved in the sense that I’m able to accomplish what I want much quicker. I’ve spent about four painting sessions on this particular painting, and I think I’m almost finished with the painting.
  I was also flipping through my sketchbook and found a bunch of compositions I sketched based on reference photos from my various national park trips that I wanted to paint eventually. I have a bunch of painting projects like this that I plan out and sketch. Hopefully, I do find time to paint them, but I often feel like I get distracted with other projects. I guess they will all happen if I think they’re important enough, and it’s reassuring to know that I always have more ideas.

Outings

• I successfully participated in the Arts Los Altos Live Painting event two weekends ago and finished a 5’x4’ painting in 3 hours. The painting also found its forever home at the event! It was a fun but also stressful experience; I’m not a fast painter and I used acrylic paints for the quick dry time. I lived by the motto “done is better than perfect” for the event.

I think that’s all for now. I’ll be undergoing a small procedure at the end of this week/this weekend, so I’m hoping to get as much painting done as possible before then. And then it’ll be Thanksgiving soon enough. Thanks for following along with the updates. I hope your fall is going well!