This weekend I finished up ten small studies that had been in progress for awhile.
I am almost finished with a 48″ x 36″, and I started a new 30″ x 24″. When those are done, I have plans ready for three more 30″ x 24″s and two 12″ x 12″s. After that, I have ten 8″ x 10″s primed and waiting, with vague ideas about what’s going on them, but no specific sketches yet. And then, I have three 32″ x 32″ canvases I just finished stretching, that still need to be primed. If you weren’t counting, that’s 20 paintings in the works!
Here is a work-in-progress this week–one of my large-scale oil paintings on a birch panel.
Work in Progress in art studio of Cedar Lee
And here is a peek at several small acrylic studies on paper, almost finished, with many more in progress. As you can see, I’ve added cherry trees in full bloom to the studies of autumn trees I posted last week.
Works in Progress in art studio of Cedar Lee
So what’s up? My 33rd birthday is approaching, and to celebrate, I’ll be throwing a sale this summer! This is not only to celebrate nearly a third of a century of life, and to show gratitude to so many people who support my work–although it is those things. In deciding to throw a sale, I also intended to light a fire under myself, as the concrete deadline forces me ramp up my studio production. This is a sort of experiment to see just how much I can do in a short time.
I am under a self-imposed deadline, that I fear I won’t be able to meet, to paint a LOT of pieces! This is how I feel when I look at my constantly-expanding to-do list:
But at the same time, I’m really excited about all this new work! Some of the pieces I’m working on are to be kept secret, to be revealed on the sale’s opening day in June. I am terrible at keeping secrets about my art, so we’ll see how that goes.
Besides painting my heart out day and night, I’m currently attempting to keep my website and Facebook page updated, running my artist’s critique group which meets monthly, communicating with my galleries, writing a book for emerging artists that I hope to finish within the year, lesson planning for the children’s art classes I’ll be teaching this summer, and so on. I am somehow doing these things while caring for a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old solo for more than 40 hours a week. What?
But how can I complain? This is what your 30s are all about, right? Work hard, play hard, and live fully. I have my health and still have so many more paintings in me.
But, I promise a vacation is coming up soon!