Middle of October Check-in
Hello from New Jersey! I’m on a quick trip to the east coast for a baby shower and to see family and I had a little bit of free time in the morning for an update.
What I’ve been working on:
I’m still on the finishing touches of the commissioned painting. There’s one or two areas that still need touching up; it’s a balance of painting and waiting for the paint to dry to make sure I get the right effect and look. But we’re almost done!
I’ve mostly completed three paintings inspired by my trip to China. I say mostly because I always want to keep tweaking and changing small things. It’s always been hard for me to decide if I’m ever finished with a painting. I have two other paintings in progress and have a couple more ideas based on reference photos that I think will be added to the series.
I’m continuing to attend the weekly figure drawing sessions on Thursday afternoons, trying to improve my figure drawing skills. They’re three hour sessions and the time passes quickly. The same model holds a long pose across two weeks for a total of six hours (with breaks) for us to draw. It’s been nice to have a regularly scheduled session outside of my house or studio to work on a new skill.
While I’m traveling, I’ve been trying to plan what I’ll paint for the Arts Los Altos’s Live Painting Art Battle Fundraiser. I have a rough idea of the subject, but I need to make a few sketches of a full composition to make sure it looks good. I feel like time has been hurtling past me and that it’ll be November soon enough.
Outings
This past week held many art events for me. The organization I volunteer with held the opening reception for its annual exhibition last Friday, the new art collective at the Ocean Blue Vault in Half Moon Bay held an opening for its fall session on Saturday, and on Sunday I deinstalled my 50|50 paintings from the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica. I learned that a few more of my sunrise/sunset paintings solds throughout the duration of the show! I’m also glad to have the remaining paintings back in my studio; I feel like I didn’t have much time seeing the paintings together, so I’ll be putting them up in a new configuration in my studio.
That’s all for now. It’s been relatively quiet and I’m feeling quite productive in the studio. I did bring computer work with me on my trip home. I’m hoping to catch up on that work while away from the studio, so once I’m back home, I can focus on painting. Thanks for reading. I hope your fall is off to a great start!
