End of November Check-in
It’s hard to believe that it’ll be December in a little over a week. I’m slowly getting back into the rhythm of going into the studio regularly, but it’s still been a bit challenging. I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather or the short days, but I’ve been working from home a lot recently.
What I’m working on:
I am pretty much finished with my painting of the Cuttyhunk Island oyster ponds. I think this painting has been a signal to transition my focus of my paintings from minute details to broader landscapes and dynamic skies. It inspired me to look through all of the photos on my phone and collect the ones of skies with interesting clouds, colors, and shapes. I’m planning on painting a collection of smaller framed works that focus on dynamic shapes and colors based on the sky, so hopefully more will come soon on this project!
I’m making progress on my last close-up seashell painting. I need to work on the highlights and shadows, but overall, I think it’s pretty much there!
Since I’ve been working from home a lot, I painted another abstract watercolor painting on one of the two remaining aqua board panels I had ordered for the project. It’s a nice way to think about color and work on something different from the oil paintings I typically do. I was able to finish the painting this week, so I just have to varnish and frame it.
Overall, I’m trying to work on fewer projects at a time. I’ve been reading Slow Productivity by Cal Newport and the first principle is “Do fewer things”. So I’m trying to put that into practice by actively working on fewer projects. I have a lot of ideas and unfinished things I want to work on, but I’m trying to remind myself that I can get to the other projects once I finish the ones that I’ve decided to work on now. Focusing on fewer things has alleviated some mental and logistical burden that I usually feel when I’m trying to accomplish too many things at once.
One more thing that I wanted to share this week is that I can officially share my commissioned painting for Swarthmore College’s 2025 calendar. I was commissioned this painting over the summer, and last week the calendars have been officially mailed out. It’s really exciting to see my artwork in print and to know that so many people will be able to see my work. It was also really neat to see a couple of my alum friends’ artworks featured in the calendar. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to create a painting for my school’s calendar and share a meaningful place to me through art.
Beginning of November Check-in
In the last two weeks, I've begun to settle back into my regular schedule of going into the studio to paint. With all of my time out of the studio, I’ve had some difficulty finding motivation to paint again and being able to stay focused for long periods of time, so I started a new painting with little expectations and it’s helped me find my rhythm again.
What I’m working on:
I finished painting my Heart Sculpture for the SF General Hospital Foundation’s 2025 Hearts in San Francisco Project and it’s been picked up and out of my studio! You can see the finished sculpture here: https://www.margaretluoart.com/portfolio/public-artwork I’m excited to see where they put my heart in the city!
The new painting I started is of the oyster ponds on Cuttyhunk Island. I decided to make time for this painting and it’s already almost complete. I have a couple of final details and touch-ups to add, but it’s turning out really nicely.
Now that I’m feeling a bit better about painting, I’m going to work on the last painting of the series of close-up seashell paintings. I’m still hoping to finish this collection by the end of the year!
I’m in a museum group show at NUMU next year with two of my artist friends, and we’re in the inspiration collection and testing phase of a collaborative artwork. One of our inspiration gathering projects is to take polaroid photos of things that inspire us. It’s been a fun exercise and we’re testing out a miniature version of our collaborative artwork!
I also updated my website, which was long overdue. If you want to check it out, you can here: https://www.margaretluoart.com/ Let me know what you think and definitely let me know if there are any glaring issues!
Outings
Last Friday I visited my friend Yuting Wang’s opening reception for an exhibition she put together at her studio’s exhibiting space. Yuting is a watercolor figure painter, but in her exhibition she included some installation artwork that she’s been working on this year. It was really inspiring to see the different aspects of her creative practice while also learning how she organized and put together this show. It can be quite hard to find places to exhibit and present your work, so it was great to see how Yuting created an opportunity for herself to show her new artwork in an exhibit that she curated with antoher artist. It gave me some inspiration and motivation to think about ways I can exhibit my artwork, so I’ve been brainstorming how I will release my collection of close-up seashell paintings when the collection is complete. So hopefully more to come about this!
I went on a really long hike this past weekend in a county park that had a trail with redwoods to take in the fall weather and to also take polaroid photos for my group show. The picture turned out great and the woods are adding a different perspective of inspiration for the show. I’ve taken photos during my trips of the ocean and tides and of the desert, so I feel like I’m getting a large range of visuals that will hopefully help us create something interesting!
That’s all for now! With the cooler weather and shorter days, I do feel like I’m slowing down a bit for the year. My studio is having an open studios event this weekend, so I’ll be spending tomorrow cleaning up my studio. Overall, I’m enjoying the slower pace and trying to rest a bit more. I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for following along!
End of October Check-in
It’s been two months since my last update, so this check-in is long overdue. I’m back home in the Bay Area and trying to settle into a regular schedule after two months of on and off traveling, with the SF Open Studios event thrown in between. I’ll share some highlights from the last two months.
I started out with a slightly longer than a week-long artist residency on Cuttyhunk Island during the first week of September. I was really inspired by my time at the residency by talking to the other residents, the residency staff, and taking in the last days of summer on the island. I created a small number of plein air paintings with water-soluble oil paints, a new medium for me. I also took hundreds of photos of the island, beaches, oyster ponds, and sunsets, so I have a couple of paintings that I want to start working on once I get back into the studio.
Right after my residency, I traveled to Olympic National Park for a 10 day trip with friends. We did a lot of hiking and catching up. We hiked through forests, up on mountain ridges, and to beaches. Even though we did a lot of physical activity on this trip, the trip felt very restful.
The weekend after my return from Olympic National Park, I participated in Weekend 2 of San Francisco’s Open Studios. Honestly, I felt pretty tired before the weekend even started from all of my traveling, so I didn’t feel very enthusiastic about driving up to the city and participating in the event. I think I made the most of the energy levels that I had, but I think this may be my last year participating in the San Francisco Open Studio event. Now that I have a studio space in San Jose, I think it makes more sense to conserve my energy by keeping my studio visits local to my studio space.
Shortly after Open Studios, I traveled to Sedona, AZ with some family for a little less than a week. It was a big contrast weather wise, coming from cool, fall weather in Olympic National Park in Washington to a desert with a heat wave with 90-100 degree weather in Arizona. We visited both the Petrified Forest National Park and the Grand Canyon during our trip. All of the landscapes we saw from Phoenix to Sedona to each of the National Parks were so unique, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to take another trip back to Sedona in the future.
And then to wrap up all my travel, less than a week after my trip to Sedona, I traveled to the east coast for a wedding and to see family. It was good to spend time with family and enjoy a week of unseasonably warm weather for fall on the east coast.
I don’t have any other travel plans for the rest of the year, and I’m looking forward to spending quality time in the studio to work on a bunch of ideas I got over the last two months. Since I’ve been gone for a while, I also have to reorient myself on what I was working on before I left, because I know that I’m in the middle of a couple of projects.
What I’m working on:
I was awarded a commission from the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation to paint a Heart Sculpture for their 2024 Hearts in San Francisco Project. I was able to start painting the sculpture after my Sedona trip, but I need to wrap it up in the next few weeks. I’ve been sharing a few updates on my Instagram stories, and it’s coming along well.
I’m still not finished with my close-up seashell paintings, so I want to wrap up this collection before the end of the year. I’ll get back to working on these paintings once I finish painting my Heart Sculpture, and then hopefully I’ll be able to share all the paintings before the end of the year.
Now that we’ve entered fall, I want to get out to do some more plein air painting with the cloudy weather on the coast. I’ve prepared a number of panels for plein air painting, so now I just need to find the time to get out there and paint.
I also have a specific scene of Cuttyhunk Island that I want to paint in the studio. I was able to paint a small plein air version of the painting, and I want to see it on a larger scale. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to start that painting, but it’s on the back of my mind. Hopefully, by writing it here, it’ll encourage me to find time to work on it.
I think that’s it for my long overdue update. Today’s my first day back home, so I’ve been trying to organize myself and get myself into the right mindset to get back into the studio. I haven’t been able to paint much over the past month, so it feels a bit daunting to get back into the studio, but the deadline for the Hearts of San Francisco project is a good motivator. I’ll be back in the studio tomorrow and will hopefully have a lot of good quiet time in there to work. I hope you all are staying safe and doing well. Thanks for following along and reading through until the end!
End of August Check-in
It’s already the end of the month, and my two months of travel are quickly approaching. I’ve been trying to wrap up a couple of paintings in the studio before I leave for my residency and then Olympic National Park shortly after. Then I’ll hopefully have things in order for when I return at the end of September for SF Open Studios. I’ll be showing my work at Miro Studios on September 28th and 29th. And then right after that, I’ll be traveling to Sedona with my family and then visiting the East Coast during the first half of October. So I’m about to kick off two months of travel very soon!
What I’m working on:
I finished my commissioned Swarthmore Calendar painting and it’s currently with my photographer. I’ll be sending over a digital copy of the painting soon!
I’m rotating between three of the seashell paintings in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series. I feel like I’m almost done with the collection. I put all the paintings next to each other and I’m touching up a few of the paintings while I finish the sixth painting to make sure they all fit with each other. I feel like I’ve fully explored this subject for now and I’m ready to work on a different kind of painting or series. I’m not sure when I’ll officially release the collection of paintings, but I’m working to make that happen this year!
I finished the fourth abstract watercolor painting last week. I haven’t started another one because I wanted to focus on my oil paintings, so I probably will only have the four paintings ready for SF Open Studios. I spent some time researching how to finish and seal the watercolor paintings, because the process is a bit different with a water-based medium compared to oil paintings. I tested a couple of things I found researching how to varnish watercolor paintings on a couple of watercolor paintings on paper I did for The 100 Day Project that worked well. I’m just waiting for a couple of cooler weather days because the process does require me to spray some UV varnish, which I do outdoors and the temperature does affect the drying process.
I’m also preparing some thrifted frames for a few plein air paintings I did this month. I’ve been testing out different types of framing for some panels I painted during plein air sessions. I’ve had to sand down the thrifted frames because they’re in different states of repair and have tested out finishing them with oil or staining. I’m hoping to have a few of these framed paintings ready for SF Open Studios. I also am bringing both panels and oil painting paper with me to my artist residency, and it’s nice to know that I have the possibility of framing my paintings from my residency when I come back.
I think that’s all that I’ve been working on for now. I haven’t prioritized creating videos for my YouTube channel, even though I have a lot of videos that I want to create and share. I’m scheduling some time this week to focus on that, so hopefully I’ll have more videos up on my channel coming soon. I’ve also procrastinated a bit on a couple of applications for other artist opportunities, so I’ve set aside some time for that this week as well, since many of the deadlines are while I’m at my residency. I want to finish that work before I leave, so I can focus all my time and energy being present at the residency.
That’s all for now! Thanks for following along. If you have any recommendations for Olympic National Park or Sedona, please let me know!
Beginning of August Check-in
I have a reminder set on my phone to write up my bi-weekly check-in, and for the last few months, I’ve always been surprised when the reminder pops up on my phone because I don’t realize that two weeks have passed. I’ve been saying this a lot recently, but it’s been a busy time in the studio. I’m hoping to slow down a bit in August and really focus on painting before I do a bunch of travel in September and October. My artist residency at Cuttyhunk Island starts at the beginning of September and is a little over a week long. And then I’m off to Olympic National Park in Washington for 10 days, and I’m back at the end of September for SF Open Studios. So I’m hoping to not do too much in August beyond painting in the studio and preparing for Open Studios and my residency.
What I’m working on:
My primary focus in the studio has been my Swarthmore Calendar Commission. It’s due in the middle of September, but since I’m traveling, I’ll be submitting the final digital file of the painting by the end of this month. This means that I have to finish the painting quite soon in order for it to dry so I can get it professionally photographed before the end of this month.
I started a sixth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series as part of my live painting demonstration at the Filoli Historic Gardens Art Walk two weekends ago. I haven’t worked on it since my live painting demo since I’ve been focusing on the Swarthmore Calendar commission. Similarly, the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ has been on hold. I’m hoping that I can show the first four paintings in this series during SF Open Studios at the end of September. I still have to sign and varnish those paintings, so they’re not ‘officially’ complete yet, but they’re almost there.
I’m working on a fourth abstract watercolor painting, with a slightly different color palette. This one is a little larger, 18”x24”. I’m also hoping to have six abstract watercolor paintings, total, complete for display at SF Open Studios. I ordered some frames for these watercolor paintings, so I’m excited to put them all together.
Outings
Last Friday, I participated in South First Fridays in San Jose in a couple of different ways:
I did manage to paint a bottle for LocalColor’s 99 Bottle Exhibition and the opening reception for the show was on Friday. I didn’t have a chance to actually visit the opening reception, but I was excited to see the new gallery space LocalColor secured when I dropped off my bottle.
I was asked to be the featured First Fridays artist at SoFA market, a food hall on 1st Street in San Jose, so I framed all of my available fine art giclee prints and now they’re on display at SoFA market. They should be up there for over a month and all available for purchase, so you should check them out if you’re in the area.
I spent my actual time during South First Fridays tabling with genARTS and connecting with the artists who were visiting the various museums and arts events for South First Fridays. I had a good time catching up with my artist friends and also helping with a workshop we were hosting.
That’s all that I’ve been working on for now. I don’t have as much in person events coming up this month beyond hosting a very casual open studio for Second Saturdays on the Alameda this upcoming Saturday. I’m really looking forward to uninterrupted and quiet studio time. Hopefully, by the next update, I’ll have worked on some more paintings. That’s all for now!
End of July Check-in
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Things have been busy, so I’m just going to get right into the update.
What I’m working on:
I’m almost done with the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series, but I had to put it aside this week to prioritize a couple of other things. I’m doing a live painting demonstration at the Filoli Art Walk on Saturday this weekend. I thought it would be best to work on a new painting, so I’m starting a sixth seashell painting. I have a couple of compositions picked out when I was first planning the series, so I sketch one of them out on canvas. I thought it’d be more interesting to see the beginning steps of the painting process during the live demo so the audience can see more of a change in the three hours that I have for the demonstration.
I completed three 16”x20” abstract watercolor paintings and started working on another version of these paintings on a larger panel. It’s still been quite hot in California, so I’ve been spending my mornings in the studio and then my afternoons at home. At home, I’m continuing to work on these watercolor paintings.
I’m part of a project called the “99 Bottles” which is a community art project organized by LocalColor, a San Jose based arts non-profit. I’m painting a bottle that will be featured in LocalColor’s new gallery space. I’ve only just found a bottle to paint on and have been brainstorming ideas. I’ll have to get working on it though, because it’s due at the end of the month.
I’m also working on the Swarthmore Calendar Commissioned painting. This is what I’ve been spending most of my studio time working on to make sure I hit the draft and final deadlines of the project.
Outings:
I just got back from a 5 day trip in Seattle last Thursday. In Seattle, I visited the aquarium, Seattle Art Museum, Chihuly Garden and Glass museum, Bellevue Botanical Gardens, and the Belluvue Art Museum. I spent a lot of time looking at artwork and sketching outdoors and had a great time!
The opening reception for genARTS’s 4th annual Experimental Exhbition: Boundaries at NUMU. It was a very well attended reception and I had a great time talking to all the exhibiting artists that were able to come. It was really fun seeing people come to the exhibition that I co-curated and hearing what people thought of the collection of works as well as the layout. I’ll be giving a couple of tours for the exhbiiton in the coming months, so the work isn’t completely over, but it has been a really rewarding experience so far.
I think that’s all for now. I feel like I have a lot to do before the end of the month with the art demonstration and draft of my commission due. I’m hoping that August will be a little less busy and I’ll be able to spend more time in the studio just painting. Thanks for following along, and I hope all of your summers are going well!
Beginning of July Check-In
Hi everyone! I hope you all are staying cool during the summer! It’s been really hot in California recently with multiple sequential days of over 95°F weather, so I’ve been spending a lot of time indoors keeping cool. A couple of new things are upcoming that I’m excited to share with you in my update.
What I’m working on:
I’m working studiously on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. This one has a lot more details than the fourth painting in the series, so it’s taking a bit more time, but I’m really happy with how it’s coming together. Since I’ve been focusing on this painting in the studio, I’ve taken a break from the large detailed ocean wave painting I started last month to help me stay focused.
Since it’s been quite warm these last few weeks, and my studio building doesn’t have central air (we have an AC unit in our studio unit), I’ve spent more time at home. This has given me a lot of time to work on my abstract watercolor series and I’m working on the third painting in this series. This series is both quite different from the oil paintings I’ve created, but thematically similar and visually flows from what I’ve been working on.
Outings
I spent the majority of my day yesterday at the New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU) figuring out the layout for the exhibition I’ve been the volunteer curator for. As a volunteer with genARTS, I’ve had the opportunity to work on this exhibition that will be on view at NUMU from July 19th to October 6th. This is the first exhibition that I’ve curated and I’ve learned a lot about the process and work that goes into putting together a juried exhibition.
I also have a few new opportunities that I wanted to share!
I’ve been commissioned by my undergraduate institution, Swarthmore College, to create a painting of a location on campus for their 2025 calendar. Every year, Swarthmore sends out a physical calendar to alums, students, and parents of students. In the past, the calendar has featured photographs of locations and buildings around the campus, but next year they’re going to use artworks from alums, faculty, and staff in the next year’s calendar, including mine! I’ll be sharing more updates as I work on this commission.
I’ve been accepted into my first artist residency at the Cuttyhunk Island Artist Residency! It’s a week-long residency from September 3-10th on Cuttyhunk Island, MA. I’ll be spending the week with 11 other artists and learning from a guest artist and guest scientist. I’m really excited to be attending this residency to have the opportunity to paint the ocean and coastal landscapes as well as learn from the other artists.
This month, I’ll be giving a live painting demonstration at the Filoli Historic Garden’s annual Art Walk. I’ll be one of the many artists scheduled to provide live art demonstrations during the weekend-long event; I’ll be painting from 4-7pm on Saturday, July 20th. This will be my first live painting demonstration in oil painting, but it’s not a class where I’m teaching oil painting techniques. I’ll be sharing my painting process and inspiration with art admirers who come to the Art Walk. I’ve visited Filoli previously, and I’m really looking forward to painting in the gardens. I’m not quite sure what painting I’ll be working on yet, but I’m considering starting a 6th painting in the Ocean Arrangements series to demonstrate. I do have to prepare a painting that is in different stages of progress to help highlight the different parts of my painting process, so I’ll have to get working on that soon.
That’s all for my update this week. A lot of exciting things are happening. My focus for this month is to spend more time in the studio painting. I have quite a bit of traveling coming up in September and October, so I want to paint as much as I can. I’m also traveling to Seattle this weekend for a 5 day trip, so let me know if you have any recommendations for my time there. Thanks so much for following along!
End of June Check-in
Happy summer! It’s been almost three weeks since my last update and a lot has happened. I went on a trip to Lake Tahoe last week, and it was a great time to take a proper vacation from work. Before my trip, I painted my first mural during Viva Calle San Jose; it was a great time painting live and talking to the other muralists and artists who were painting during the event. And then when I came back from Lake Tahoe, I painted my first Utility Box mural on the corner of 11th and Reed Street in San Jose. With the help of some friends, we finished painting the utility box in one day, and I’m really happy with how it came out! I’ll be posting YouTube videos of the process of both murals soon. With these murals complete, I’m back in the studio working on a couple of projects
What I’m working on:
I’m still working on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. I’m working on the detailed parts of the coral and seashells, so it’s all really coming together nicely. I probably won’t finish this painting by the end of the month, like I had thought, and I’m working towards finishing it by the end of July.
I’ve started my largest oil painting to date with a detailed ocean wave painting on a 36”x48” canvas. I ordered some larger paint brushes to help me work on this painting because I realized that the brushes I currently have are too small to effectively paint on this canvas. It’ll be a change for me to work with 1 inch to 3 inch paint brushes, but I’m looking forward to learning some new painting techniques.
I’ve started a new abstract watercolor series on a few medium-sized WaterMedia boards. This idea came out of the 100 day project watercolor sketches I made during the challenge. I wanted to create a series of larger scale abstract watercolor paintings, so I’m looking forward to seeing how these turn out.
Outings
I had a small opening reception for my paintings that are exhibiting at the Sunnyvale Senior Center last Friday. I generally prefer smaller opening receptions because it gives me the chance to have proper conversations with my friends and visitors about my artwork.
In the middle of July, I’ll be traveling to Seattle for the first time. I’m tagging along my partner’s work trip, so I’m looking forward to catching up with some friends who live in the city and visiting the museums and galleries there. If anyone has Seattle recommendations, let me know!
That’s my update for now. I’ve been volunteering a lot of my time as Vice Chair for genARTS, so my vacation in Lake Tahoe was a nice way to take a break and refocus my energies on painting. I’m hoping to spend more time in the studio creating and painting. I had a few new ideas for painting series that I want to get to, but I know that I should finish my current paintings before starting even more new ones.
Beginning of June Check-in
Happy June everyone! It’s been a busy two weeks since my last update with family visiting and a lot of projects underway. It’s continuing to be quite busy, so I’m just going to jump right into what I’ve been working on.
What I’m working on:
Last Friday, I dropped off 10 of my paintings at the Sunnyvale Senior Center as part of The City of Sunnyvale’s Exhibition of art in Public Places. I’m excited to have my work showing in new places and it’ll be on display until July 10th.
This upcoming Saturday, I’ll be painting a live mural with Together We Create 408 as part of the Viva Calle San Jose event. It’ll be the first time I’m painting a mural of my own design and the first time I’ll be painting live, so I’m both excited and nervous. I’m to paint an 8’x8’ mural within about 5 hours and I’ll have some help. I’ve just finished sketching out my design and had some help with coming up with a plan of how I break up the painting. I’ll be purchasing paint and supplies in the next few days, so hopefully I’ll be ready.
I’m also still preparing for my ArtBox project with the City of San Jose to paint a pair of utility boxes. We have hit a bit of a snag with confirmation of payment, which includes a deposit for me to be able to purchase supplies, so I haven’t been able to move forward with buying the paint and additional supplies that I’ll need for the project. I’m hoping we’re able to work through this quickly, since the project needs to be completed by June 30th. I’ve already scheduled out a few days for me to work on this project, but I won’t be able to get started until this issue is sorted out.
I’m working on the fifth seashell painting in the ‘Ocean Arrangements’ series of paintings. The painting process has become pretty swift with all of the practice I’ve been able to do with the previous four paintings. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to finish this painting given all of the mural work I’ll be doing soon, but it is likely that I’ll be able to finish it by the end of this month.
I’ve also been preparing and organizing some more in-person events. I’ve been working with some business close to my studio to revitalize the area, so every second Saturday of the month, I’ll be opening my studio, along with other artists, for people to visit and see our studio space and artwork.
Outside of my personal arts practice, I’ve been really busy with volunteering with genARTS, the volunteer organization based in Santa Clara that supports local emerging artists. I’ve stepped up as Vice Chair of the organization in addition to curating this year’s Experimental Exhibition. I’ve been doing a lot of work to help restructure our organization and secure funding for our programming in the background while also tabling each first Friday of the month in Downtown San Jose alongside the museums on 1st Street. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been a great way for me to engage with my local arts community.
Outings:
I’ve had family visiting me for the last few days and we’ve been doing a little bit of traveling and site-seeing. We went down to Point Lobos, one of my favorite places, to do some tidepooling and hiking. We were able to see seals and otters, which was really nice! We also took a day to go up to SF and visited the SFMOMA, which I haven’t had the chance to visit since moving here. I have visited before the pandemic during a trip out to SF before I had lived here.
In a week in a half, I’ll be taking a long weekend trip up to Lake Tahoe. We also haven’t visited Lake Tahoe since moving here. I’m hoping to use that time to completely unplug, because I haven’t been able to do that for a while, even though I had planned to this week while I have people visiting. There’s just been a lot of things happening at the same time, so I’ve had to do a lot of administrative and planning work even though I haven’t been in the studio.
I think that’s it for my update. There are quite a few things on my mind, but hopefully things will clear up and move forward over the next few weeks and I’ll be able to take some time off during my trip to Tahoe. I hope you all are doing well!
Mid-May Check-in
Hi everyone! I hope everyone’s May is going well. It’s been an exciting time in my studio and art business. I’m writing this check-in in between meetings, so it’s probably going to be a quick one!
What I’m working on:
I think I’m at the finishing touches of the fourth seashell painting in the collection of ‘Ocean Arrangements’ paintings. I’m looking back at my previous updates and I’ve just realized that I’m painting these pieces faster as I have more under my belt. And to be fair, this fourth painting is less complicated than the first three. I have one more painting that I have prepped to round out this collection. I may come back to this collection, but I think that five paintings is a nice number for now. Because I have been very focused on this collection of paintings, I’ve been coming up with a bunch of new ideas for other series of paintings that I want to get started on.
I’ve been selected to paint a mural in San Jose. I’ll be painting a pair of utility boxes, which the City of San Jose has fondly called ‘Art Boxes’. My sketch of the mural has been approved, so the next step is getting my supplies: I need to purchase exterior house paint, paint brushes, drop cloths, among other supplies that I don’t usually use inside my studio. I’m planning to paint my mural in the beginning of June, across a few days, during the morning hours to hopefully avoid the summer heat and sun. This will be the first mural that I’ve designed, so I’m really looking forward to painting it!
I’m really behind in the #100dayproject, but I am committing to catching up and completing 100 watercolor paintings/sketches. Even though it’s been hard to keep to this habit for 100 days in a row, this has been a great opportunity to paint with watercolors again and experiment with some new projects. The last day of the project is May 27th, so we’re in the home stretch.
Finally, the thing that has taken up the majority of my energy the last two weeks: Silicon Valley Open Studios. I had a great time showing my work in Los Altos and San Jose in back to back weekends. I met so many people who enjoyed my artwork, and I had a great time speaking to people about my background in becoming an artist and my artistic practice. Meeting and talking to people about my work is one of my favorite parts of creating artwork and being an artist, so I’m really glad that I was able to spend two weekends doing that.
Outings
Last Friday, I went out plein air painting with my former co-worker turned full-time artist friend around Mori Point outside of San Francisco. It was a great time catching up and painting together. We both paint in oils, but we have two very different styles, so it was cool to see how our paintings turned out side by side. She also created a YouTube video of our experience, and you can watch it here!
And then both of my weekends have been occupied by Open Studios, which I also consider an outting. This was a really rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to more opportunities where I can share my art with people.
I think that’s all for now. I have family visiting in the middle of next week, and I’m going to be using that time to rest and take a break from painting and business work. I have a couple of deadlines for art calls, residencies, and grants coming up at the end of May, so I’m hoping to also finish that work before my family visits, so I can truly take a much needed break! Thanks for reading and following along!
Beginning of May Check-in
Hello! I hope everyone’s May is starting out nicely. Spring is in full swing here in the Bay Area and the nice weather is making me excited for the in-person events that I’m participating in this month. Here are my updates since last week:
What I’m working on
I finished the third seashell painting in the collection of paintings that I’m tentatively calling ‘The Ocean Arrangements’ because they’re paintings of seashells, seaweed, coral, and other sea wrack that has been arranged by the tides. I’m currently working on the fourth painting. I originally had wanted to make seven paintings for this collection, but I think I’m going to aim to finish five paintings. I have the fifth painting planned out and the canvas prepped. I’ve been working on this series of paintings since December and I think it’s time to switch to another series of paintings once I finish the fifth painting to find something else that inspires me.
I’ve been playing catch up with the #100dayproject by completing three or four paintings at a time because I haven’t been diligent about painting them on a daily basis anymore. I had a feeling this was going to happen with such a long running daily project, but I want to make sure I complete 100 paintings by May 27th, which is day 100!
I’m participating in two weekends of SIlicon Valley Open Studios: this weekend (May 11-12) in Los Altos and next weekend (May 18-19). I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for the event like packing up my paintings and prints, making sure I have labels for all my paintings, and planning out my booth set up. It’s been a lot of work, but I think I have a plan for a booth set up that I’m going to stick with for a while so I won’t have to rebuild the wheel each time I do an in person event this year. The preparation is exciting though because I’m really looking forward to showing my work at these events.
Outings
This past Friday, I volunteered with a local arts organization at a First Friday event in San Jose. At this event, we provide an opportunity for emerging artists to sell their work and share opportunities for emerging artists for professional development and to apply to art calls. It’s been a good way for me to bridge my previous work experience to help local emerging artists gain some business and professional development skills. It’s also been a great way for me to engage with my local arts community and I’m planning on continuing to volunteer and participate in these events.
Those are the main updates for the last two weeks. The next two weekends are busy, but once the open studio events are over, I’m planning on continuing my plein air painting. I also have tentative plans to visit Lake Tahoe, which I’ve never been to before despite now living in the Bay Area for almost three years. So if you’ve been to Lake Tahoe and have any recommendations, please share them! That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
End of April Check-in
Hi friends! It’s been a busy month, so I want to jump right into the updates.
What I’m working on:
I’m wrapping up the third seashell painting that I’ve been mentioning in my previous updates. I want to use this painting for an art call that’s due this Friday. The deadline has been helpful in keeping me focused on this painting. I normally don’t like to paint until the last minute for a deadline, but I had a little bit of poor planning in the middle of the project with other projects that I was working on, so this is just where we are. The bright side of this is that I won’t spend an inordinate amout of time nitpicking and fixing little details that are bothering me and will just have to be happy with what I’m able to complete by Friday.
I’m still going strong with the #100dayproject, althought I am looking forward to when it’ll be over. I am glad that I gave myself space to explore watercolors and try some new things out, but I do think I really want to focus on my oil paintings for a while. I was able to explore a couple of watercolor projects, which I think was the main goal of this challenge, so I feel like it has been a success.
I’m still posting videos every other Wednesday to my YouTube channel. I have a new video coming out in a few hours. It’s a timelaspe of me painting Flash Flood Warning, a landscape of Joshua Tree National Park that was accepted to the California Nature Art Museum’s 2023 California National Parks: Stories of Water Exhibition and awarded an honorable mention. What’s cool about this video is that I was able to collaborate with my brother because he produced the background music for it!
Outings
I was able to go plein air painting again since my last update. We went to the coast one weekend and I was able to paint a couple of coastal landscape paintings. I did enjoy the process, so I’m hoping to find some more time on the weekends to do a few more coastal paintings before it gets too warm out.
With open studios coming up next month, I’ve been trying to prepare for them by making sure I have prints of my paintings. I’m also considering creating greeting cards for my floral paintings. I’m hoping this provides people an accessible way to buy my art. I’m balancing preparing for these shows with still applying to gallery and museum art calls, which helps me get my artwork in front of more people. There’s quite a number of art calls with upcoming deadlines, and I want to try to apply to as many as I can with the paintings that I have. I also have a lot of new ideas for another series of paintings and am trying to figure out when I’ll be able to start working on those projects. I would like to finish five paintings in my seashell series; the last two paintings of the series are prepped and planned. I just have to remind myself to stay focused on a small number of projects and that the projects do take a while to complete.
I think that’s it for now. I hope you all are doing well, and I’ll see you in the next check-in!
April Check-in
Hi everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the warm spring weather. In the Bay Area, the weather has been fluctuating between high-70s and low-60s, but spring is definitely here. I’ve spent the majority of the last two weeks working on paintings in the studio. Event season is quickly approaching so I’m trying to spend as much time as possible painting before that happens.
What I’m working on:
I’m still painting the third seashell painting; I think I’m a little halfway done with it.
I’m over halfway through the #100dayproject. Today marks day 52 of the challenge. Hopefully I can stick it through the second half!
I was inspired by my #100dayproject paintings and started to paint some larger watercolor paintings that also remind me of wetlands.
I painted my first plein air painting of the season. I went to the bay/wetland area in Alviso and painted during sunset. It ended up being a really windy visit and I did my best to paint well while also holding onto my painting and keeping my hands warm. I’m hoping to do more plein air painting this month.
I think I did a better job of focusing on a smaller number of things these last two months. Because of this, I’ve made a lot of progress on my seashell painting. But I also know I have a long way to go, so I’m going to try to maintain my focus. I also have a number of in-person events coming up:
What’s upcoming:
Saturday, April 13: I’m hosting an opening reception in my new studio space for my ‘California Highway One: Finding Home’ collection. I’m excited to be able to share the eight paintings in the collection together!
May: I’ll be participating in two weekends of Silicon Valley Open Studios (May 18th - May 19th & May 25th - May 26).
May 29th - July 10th: My artwork will be exhibiting at the Sunnyvale Senior Center as part of the Artwork in Public Places Exhbiiton program. I’m really excited that my work has been accepted into this program and am looking forward to installing my paintings in this space.
If you’re in the Bay Area and want to visit, more details can be found on my Events page!
That’s all for now! Thanks for following along 🙂
End of March Check-in
Happy Spring everyone! I’ve just returned from a trip home on the east coast and am getting back into my regular working schedule. It was good to take a break from the studio and work in general. I had a number of various deadlines for grants and applications that I worked on before I left from my trip, so last week I did very little work. Now that I’ve been back home for a few days, I have started painting again and have some more applications that are due at the end of the month/early April that I am wrapping up.
What I’m working on:
I finally finished painting the cherry blossom flower painting! It’s the fourth flower painting in this collection of paintings. I initially planned to do ten of these kinds of paintings but I’m thinking about sharing these four as a set. I want to make some greeting cards out of these paintings because I think they look really nice together.
I’m continuing to work on the third seashell painting. I think I’m also finally done with the first two paintings in this series, but I’m going to wait on sharing these paintings until I’m further along with the whole series. My current plan is to create seven of these collections to make a series and I’ve painted the underlayer for two more in the series.
I’m still painting my watercolor paintings for the #100dayproject challenge. The intention for these paintings was (and still is) to have fun and no expectations from them. This has worked out really well, and I happened to get a watercolor painting series idea that I think I’ll explore a bit more with my daily paintings to help me fully form the idea. Hopefully more to come on this!
I’ve been editing some longer videos for my YouTube channel (subscribe if you haven’t already!). I have a number of videos recording my painting process for a few paintings and I thought it would be nice to share some timelapses.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I have more applications to work on for public art opportunities, calls for art, and grants that are due in the next two weeks. I’ve been trying to set aside time in the evenings to work on these; I spend my mornings in the studio and don’t bring my computer with me so I can focus on paintings. This has helped with some work life balance, but I always want to paint more than work on my applications.
Since April is next month, it’s time for the Plein Airpril challenge. I don’t intend to do this as a daily challenge since I’m already doing the #100dayproject daily challenge, but I still want to paint en plein air. I have a plan to go out to the coast every Saturday in April to paint some plein air paintings, so I’m excited to share updates of how this goes!
While on my break, I’ve been thinking about how I can focus on a single project better. I like to bounce from project to project and have a lot of different ideas that I want to explore. I do a good job of starting projects and testing out new ideas, but feel like I struggle with sticking to one thing and seeing the project to completion in a timely manner. I have made more concrete plans about painting the additional paintings for my flower collection, so I’m hoping this helps. I do think I need to make a more concrete timeline for my projects. I like working in collections but I also like to bounce between collections. I also like to share all my paintings in a cohesive collection at once, so it feels like it takes quite some time before I share my paintings. I’m working on figuring out a balance between my working style and being able to share my paintings, so I’m open to any and all recommendations! Thanks for reading my update and I look forward to your suggestions!
Mid-March Check-in
This week has been a bit busy as I wrap some things up before I travel back to the east coast to visit my family for a week. It’s interesting now, because the majority of my work has to be done in person compared to having a job that revolves around the computer. It’s a good change, but it makes me really aware of when I’m taking time off for travel or when I’ll be away from my paintings.
What I’m working on:
I’m working on a third seashell painting. The first two in that stage where I’m trying to figure out what minor touch-ups and changes I feel like I need to make as I spend time away looking from them.
I’m almost done with the cherry blossom flower painting that I’ve been working on and off again. I think it’ll be done by the end of the month, I’m just working on the background of the painting now.
We’re over a quarter of the way through the 100 day project. It’s been fun painting with watercolors and I’m enjoying the mini experiments I do with these paintings each day. I think I have a habit around painting these in the morning. Watercolors are also something I can travel with, so I’ll be continuing the challenge while I’m out of town!
I’ve spent a lot of time this week writing for the various applications of grants and art calls that I want to apply to. It’s been a little difficult transitioning from working on the computer for a few days in a row to painting. I’m hoping that I can finish a lot of additional computer work while I'm home so I can focus on painting the rest of the month when I return from my trip.
Outings
This is kind of an outing, but I helped one of my artist friends paint a mural on an electrical box in San Jose. I had never done this before, so it was a great experience learning the whole process of painting a mural while spending a lot of time with my friend. From this experience, I think that I’d like to paint my own mural in the future!
This is a brief update since I still want to wrap up some things before I fly out (tonight!). I’m enjoying my new studio space and it feels like I’m going ‘into the office’ again for my painting. It’s been nice to have separation between my painting time and at home time, plus I’m happy to have more space back in my apartment. That’s all for now!
End of February Check-in
And with that, we’re at the end of the shortest month! A lot has happened in the last 2 weeks and I’m excited to share my updates. The big update is that I moved into my first studio space outside of my apartment over the weekend! I’m subletting a corner of a larger studio space that is part of a group of studio spaces called Alameda Artworks in San Jose. I’m really excited to be a part of this artist community. I’ve been going into the studio the past few days and the other artists who have come in have been very welcoming. In addition to being my new workspace for my oil painting, I hope to use my studio as a place where people can come and visit me to see my paintings and what I’m working on. So if you’re in the Bay Area, send me a message so I can invite you into the studio to check it out!
What I’m working on:
I keep going back and forth on whether the 30”x40” seashell painting is actually done. I keep touching up parts of it. The 24”x18” seashell painting is in a similar stage; it’s almost done but I want to add in some finer details.
As I wait for parts of my seashell paintings to dry, I am going to work on my smaller flower paintings. I think I’m getting tired of seeing this painting not finished, so it’s time to work on it again. I’m reading my last blog post and I’m laughing at myself when I talk about trying to focus on fewer things at a time. I think this will always be something I work on.
I have done all 11 days of the “100 day project” since the start of the challenge on February 18th. I’ve been painting small watercolor paintings. It’s been a really fun opportunity for me to get back into watercolor painting and painting in a carefree way without expectations of the outcome.
Not directly related to painting, but I’m continuing to work on a lot of applications and art calls. I have been doing some grant writing for myself as well as applying to a number of art calls. I think I have three or four deadlines coming up, so that’s something else I have been trying to prioritize.
Outings:
This past weekend, I went on a gallery tour with a few artist friends to check out exhibitions at a number of gallery spaces in SF. I think it was a great way to talk about art with my artist friends as well as see the different types of gallery spaces in the city. I feel like I also got a lot of ideas from the different exhibits I saw, so it was an inspiring and motivating trip.
This weekend, I will be taking that trip to Point Reyes that I wasn’t able to do a few weekends ago. I’m looking forward to spending some time resting and recharging. I’m hoping to wrap up a number of things in the studio before I go so I won’t be thinking too much about the work I want to do.
I think that’s it for this update. I’m about to head to my new studio to go paint for a while. It’s kind of crazy to think that I have my own studio space a year and half after pursuing art full-time. It’s an exciting time!
Mid-February Check-in
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and dry. It’s been quite rainy here and I’ve been hearing reports of snow from my friends and family on the east coast. This month has felt both slow and fast; I feel like I’ve been making slow progress on my paintings, which makes time feel slow, but then the days fly by quickly.
What I’m working on:
I finished the 30”x40” seashell painting that I mentioned in my last update, after making a few adjustments to the background. With that painting finished, I started another one in the series. This painting is 24”x18” inches and follows the theme of macro seashells on the shore. I’m hoping to paint seven paintings in this series and I have them planned out in my sketchbook. They’re quite detailed paintings and overall larger than my previous paintings, so each one is taking quite a bit of time.
I’m taking a pause on my smaller flower paintings. I am trying to be better about focusing on one project at a time in the hopes that focusing will allow me to paint them well and a little bit faster. I’m not sure if it’s working, but I think focus will be good for me. That being said, I’m hoping to participate in a “100 day project” challenge that is starting on February 18t. This is a challenge where the goal is to create something small for 100 days to build a creative habit. I’ve been thinking about painting some small watercolor paintings for this challenge as a way to try something new-ish (I started out painting with watercolors before oil painting). Right now, I don’t plan on doing anything with these paintings beyond having fun and experimenting, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. I also have a few accountability buddies who will be doing the challenge with me to help us all make it to 100 days!
I also have a number of individual grant applications and art calls that I’m working on that are due this month and in the beginning of March. So it’s probably a good thing that I’m focusing on one big painting, because I am spending a lot of time and energy on other opportunities. I am learning how to have a bit more balance in my day to day by having enough variety in my activities but trying not to do too much at once. I don’t think I’ve found the right balance yet, but it’s something I’m thinking about!
Outings
Two weekends ago, I visited a couple of galleries and a friend’s opening reception at the San Jose CIty College art gallery. It was a great opportunity to see what my friends have been working on and talk to them about their inspiration and projects. It made me realize that I should probably take more opportunities to visit exhibits and see other people’s work. Last month, I had spent a lot of time at home/in the studio working on my projects and I think I had begun isolating myself without realizing it. So I think moving forward, I want to have one day a month where I visit multiple galleries/exhibits to see other people’s art and talk to other artists about their work. It helps give me perspective on what I’m working on and makes me feel more connected to the artist community around me.
I didn’t end up going to Point Reyes this past weekend because the rental I was planning to stay at lost power from the winter storms we’ve been having over the last month. The trip is rescheduled for early March. Instead, I went down to Santa Cruz and visited some tidal pools during the low tide of the King Tide this month. The low tide goes out further than usual during the King Tide, so you’re able to see a number of sea creatures in the tidal pools.
That’s all for my update this week. Let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas relating to finding balance between having variety in your activities/pursuits and not trying to do too much at once - I would love any advice!
Beginning of February Check-in
Happy February everyone! The month is kicking off with a lot of activity and I’m excited to share what I’ve been working on.
What I’m working on:
I thought I had finished my 30”x40” seashell painting shortly after my last update, but after spending some time away from it, I realized I’m not happy with the background. So I’m back to working on this painting and hopefully I’ll get to a place where I’m happy with the whole thing.
I started a 18”x24” seashell painting that will fall into the same collection as the aforementioned painting. I blocked in the major shapes and have the first layer of painting; I plan on getting back to this painting once I’m happy with the 30”x40” painting.
I also started painting my smaller flower paintings again. I started these paintings in the middle of last year and took a long break from them. I now have three finished paintings in this series and am working on a fourth one. I have been painting these smaller paintings as a break from the larger paintings.
In terms of applications and art calls, I submitted a painting to the art call I mentioned in my last update. There are also two grant opportunities for emerging artists in the Bay Area that have been announced that I plan on applying to. I don’t expect much from my applications, but I think it’s a good experience and learning process to apply to these different opportunities provided to artists.
Outings
This past week I attended a four day figure drawing workshop at an atelier in the Bay Area from Friday to Monday. It was an intensive workshop and I learned a lot from it. I’ve never taken a figure drawing class nor a four day long workshop, so it was a brand new experience. Even though I don’t draw figures, I think that a lot of the ideas and ways of thinking when approaching figure drawing will be applicable to what I do when I paint my landscapes.
In a few weeks, I’ll be taking a weekend trip to the Point Reyes National Seashore to take a break and hopefully be inspired for some future paintings. I had visited the area when I first moved to California, and I’m looking forward to visiting again!
That’s it for my check-in. It’s been raining a lot here recently and I’m starting to get used to the California winters. I hope you’re staying warm and dry!
Mid-January Check-in
January has been off to a busy start. With my resolutions and goals in place, I feel like I have a lot of motivation to work towards them. I’ve also been working on setting boundaries in terms of who and what I say yes to as well as making sure I give myself time to rest and have fun outside of painting and business related work. One way I make sure I have rest and recharge time is setting aside Saturdays as completely work free days and Sundays as paint only days if I decide that I want to work on Sunday.
What I’m working on:
I’m still working on the 30”x40” seashell painting. I’m focused on painting the background, which is sand grains. Lots and lots of sand grains. They’ve been taking a lot of time, but I find them very relaxing to paint. I’ve also been listening to audiobooks while painting, so I find that the time passes quickly when I am working on this.
I posted my first Youtube video! You can watch it here. I’m working on my second video of the month and started planning out some future videos. If you have suggestions of what my future videos should be about, let me know!
I (re)-found an annual art call for a local gallery that is due at the end of the month. I’m going to submit one of my paintings from the California Highway One series that I worked on during the past year and am currently working on the artist statement for the application. Something else that I want to do by February is put the paintings from the California Highway One series up on my website portfolio. I ended up painting 9 paintings in the collection and have been sharing a few of them on my Instagram, and I want to share them on my website as well.
Outings
This past weekend, I went to Davis to see my friend Christina’s solo show Day to Night at the Pence Gallery. The show’s opening reception was this past Friday, and I really enjoyed seeing her work in person as well as talking to her about what it was like to prepare her first solo show. I found her and her work very inspiring!
This update is a quick one. I want to get back to painting my seashell painting. Also, let me know if you want to see something new or different in my bi-weekly updates. They’ve really become a check-in for what I’m currently thinking about and working on, but I’m open to suggestions! Until the next check-in, I hope you are staying warm during these winter months!
First Check-in of 2024!
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday season and feel refreshed for the new year. I spent the majority of the last two weeks resting and spending time with family and friends. I feel excited and ready for what 2024 will bring. I have two resolutions and a couple of art-related goals. My resolutions are:
Work out 20 minutes 20 times a month all months of the year. This is based on the Garmin monthly badge; I just want to be more consistent about exercising (and tracking the exercise) this year.
Read 50 books in the year. Last year, my resolution was to read a book a month and I ended up reading 41 books total, so I think that this is achievable. I also finally joined GoodReads to track my books.
My art-related goals are:
Paint 60 paintings. I painted 62 paintings last year; 30 of them were smaller daily paintings for Plein Airpril, so I think this is a good stretch goal.
Release 3 collections. I released 2 collections last year, so I figured it’d be a good goal to do one more.
Apply to 10 art calls. I applied to 4 art calls last year. I also have a number of art calls lined up that I want to apply to this year, so I think this is another good stretch goal.
Participate in 3-5 in person events. I only participated in one weekend-long in-person event last year. I have a schedule lined up for the events I’d like to participate in this year: some of them require an application process and some of them are open studio events that all artists can participate in.
Post 2 YouTube videos a month. This is my biggest reach goal. I have been posting on YouTube shorts, but I’d like to post proper videos on my YouTube channel. You can subscribe follow along to see if I stick to my goal here!
So now I’ve shared my art-related goals to almost every social media platform I own and now it’s in email and a blog post. Hopefully that’s enough commit devices 😂
And now for a quick update…
What I’ve been working on:
I finished the 30”x40” Yosemite painting, wrote up my artist statement (which went through editing, thank you to those who gave me feedback!), and submitted my application to the art call (That’s 1/10 on my art call goal). I’m really happy with how the painting turned out, and I’ll hear back in about a month.
I painted a 30”x40” ocean painting. I actually painted over the stormy ocean painting that I submitted to another art call at the end of 2023, which didn’t get accepted. I kind of knew that the artwork wasn’t going to be accepted because as I looked at the painting more and more, I started to really dislike it. So I gave the canvas a new life as a different painting and I’m much happier with the painting it is now.
I am back to working on the 30”x40” seashell painting. I’m hoping to submit this painting to an art call that’s due February 9th. I was actually hoping to submit a collection of 10 paintings to the art call. I had heard about the opportunity back in October, so I thought that I’d have enough time to paint 10 paintings. I was also thinking that I’d paint a collection of National Park paintings for the collection of 10 paintings, but I was inspired to paint these seashells, and I also didn’t plan my time out accordingly to ensure I’d be able to paint 10 paintings by February 9th. I think a big theme of 2024 will be balancing the different opportunities and prioritizing what I want to do. So now, for this specific opportunity, I’m probably going to submit 1 painting to the art call.
I’ll wrap up my check-in for now. I’m really looking forward to what 2024 has to bring and the things that I have planned for. I know that not everything is going to go according to plan, so there’s a lot of flexibility in my plans for different opportunities and events to come up. I’d love to hear if you have any resolutions or goals for 2024 and would love to have more accountability buddies!