I was walking the trail by Abbotts Lagoon with my family. I stopped to look around and take in my surroundings, and I was taken with this scene: the muted hills in the distance, the mystery of a white structure far off, the peaceful sound of the wind rustling the grasses at my feet.
Read entry →Wrapping up six weeks of painting, plus a progress check on the final piece
It's the last day of my residency, and the painting is progressing really well. The overall bones of the painting are all in place.
Self-made artist residency · day 22
It's day 2 of the final week of my residency and my final project is a 15" x 30" painting of a scene in Inverness, CA. On Day 1, I designed the composition, drew the outlines of the big shapes, laid down an underpainting, and blocked in the background and mid-ground.
Self-made artist residency · day 21
When I crafted the plan for this residency, I designed it to consist of 2 main phases. During the first phase, I would explore nature, study color and light, and practice painting what I saw directly in front of me. During the second, and final phase, I would take everything I learned during Phase 1 and apply it to a finished studio painting.
Self-made artist residency · days 19–20
For day 19, it was gloomy/rainy out and I decided to make it a studio day. I realized that the fast pace required to deal with changing light conditions was making it hard to work on areas I wanted to improve. While I was having a blast painting outside, I felt I could really benefit from moving a bit slower and focusing in the studio.
Self-made artist residency · day 18
For day 18, I only had a half day planned so I hoped to work on a 6x8 study in the Diablo Foothills again. I had so much fun when I was there on Day 2 that I wanted to see what it would be like under different lighting conditions.
Self-made artist residency · day 17
For day 17, I planned to spend the day in Benicia, CA, painting the bay views along the shoreline. Unfortunately, while driving up there, visibility dropped steeply when I started approaching the area with surrounding fog in every direction. After consulting satellite photos, it seemed to just be affecting that small region:
Self-made artist residency · days 14–16
For day 16 of my painting month, I'm back in the Bay Area and planned to paint at Black Diamond Mines Regional Park and Markham Nature Park.
Self-made artist residency · day 13
For day 13 of my painting month, I planned to make 2 paintings in Sedona, AZ. There are so many places to paint in Sedona that it’s almost overwhelming. In the end, I decided to paint Cathedral Rock and Coffeepot Rock.
Self-made artist residency · days 11–12
For day 11, I only had time for a quick 6x8 painting. Since I was in Albuquerque, NM with my family, I took a quick trip to the Sandia Mountains to paint a scene there.
Spending six weeks plein air painting in CA and AZ
Happy New Year! I have some exciting plans for this year. To kick things off, I'm taking a month(ish) off from my normal day job to focus on making art.
My oil painting art practice was born this year. I painted for the first time in January and consistently practiced throughout the year. While I have long had a creative drive in me, it had previously been passive and casual – now I'm focused on dedicating time to get better.
Earlier