This is a recap of the twenty-second day of my self-made artist residency. 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.

This is a recap of the twenty-first day of my self-made artist residency. 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.

This is a recap of the seventeenth day of my self-made artist residency. 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:

This is a recap of the sixteenth day of my self-made artist residency. Days 14 and 15 were travel days as I drove back to the Bay Area. 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. Black Diamond Mines Regional Park…

This is a recap of the thirteenth day of my self-made artist residency. 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. Cathedral Rock i got a tip from one of the other painters in my workshop (who happened to live in Sedona) that the best place to paint Cathdral Rock is off the Baldwin Trail in South Sedona.

This is a recap of the eleventh day of my self-made artist residency. Note: the twelfth day was a travel day 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. Sandia Mountains Something I learned after painting there, is that the Sandia Mountains start right after the Rockies end.

This is a recap of days 6-10 of my self-made artist residency. For days 6-10 of my painting month, I attended a workshop in Mesa, AZ at the beautiful Sahuaro Lake Ranch. Image courtesy of SaguaroLakeRanch.com The workshop For starters (and for better or for worse), this workshop was not about creating beautiful paintings of the breathtaking landscape. This landscapes focus was on creating color studies – accurate value and temperature representations of the scenes in front of us.

This is a recap of the fifth day of my self-made artist residency. For day 5 of painting month, I went up to Point Reyes, CA and made a painting at Heart’s Desire Beach. I planned to also go to Point Reyes Lighthouse but I ran out of time. I’ll add that to my list of future locations to paint.

This is a recap of the fourth day of my self-made artist residency. For day 4 of painting month, I decided to take a half day since I have a big drive tomorrow (Point Reyes National Seashore, CA) and an even bigger drive on Sunday (Arizona). I planned to paint at Old Borges Ranch in Walnut Creek, CA. Old Borges Ranch…

This is a recap of the third day of my self-made artist residency. For day 3 of my painting month, I planned to paint at Sycamore Grove Park and Lake Del Valle, both in Livermore, CA. Sycamore Grove Park Sycamore Grove Park is an incredible park. It was my first time going and I'll definitely be going back. I arrived around 8:30am and moved quickly so I could take advantage of the morning light.

This is a recap of the second day of my self-made artist residency. For day 2, I planned for a shorter day, just doing a single painting at Diablo Foothills Regional Park. Diablo Foothills Regional Park Sitting at the edge of Walnut Creek, this is an understated park with a beautiful view of Mount Diablo. I quickly found the view I wanted to paint, but I struggled a lot with the composition.

This is a recap of the first day of my self-made artist residency. For day 1, I planned to paint Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero, CA and Mori Point in Pacifica, CA. Pigeon Point Lighthouse Pigeon Point Lighthouse is located in Pescadero, CA, which is roughly an hour and a half drive. I wanted to beat the morning rush hour traffic so I left the house at 5:15am.

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. I've been referring to this period as a "Self-Made, At-Home Artist Residency" which is both an oxymoron and a mouthful, but it does get the point across. Starting January 6 and going until February 10, I'll be spending my working days making art in some way.

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 previou…