Kolbie Blume’s fourth challenge occurred way back in September, but I never posted a retro! Luckily, I did take notes on most of the paintings at the time. So here’s a better-late-than-never loved & learned.
Billy Idyll
Artist Palette Profiles: Poppy Balser
I recently started a series of classes with Poppy Balser, a celebrated Canadian artist based on the Nova Scotia coast who works in oil and watercolor. Balser uses a very limited palette!
Plein Airpril Week 3 Report
While I certainly have not made an effort to paint outside every day, I’ve still painted a few more times.
What’s in my palette? (April 2024)
I’ve already shared different palettes in January and February of this year, but this time I’m serious! (I think.) I’m reducing my tube collection, not just what’s dry on my palette, because I am moving cross-continent next month and trying to get down to a “suitcases” level of stuff! That’s right, you heard it here first folks: after spending the last year touring various Canadian cities to find my favourite, I am officially moving to Vancouver.
So which paints are making the cut to come with me?
Spring Triad Variations
In Seasonal Triads, I landed on a triad of Quinacridone Magenta (PR122), Imidazolone Lemon (PY175), and Cobalt Turquoise (PG50) for my spring triad. But this isn’t the only one I tried. Here are my spring triad outtakes. Because I changed the colors one-at-a-time, they provide an object lesson in how subtly one color change can change the triad.
Seasonal Triads
Awhile back, I proposed green mixes for all four seasons, based on my observations of foliage in the Northeast US. Recently I thought, hey, I’m two-thirds of the way to a triad there, why not just fit a red to each of those? So I did. Here are my seasonal triads!
Pinks Revisited
Last year, I made a post exploring different pink colors I could make with my paints. My palette has changed a lot since then and it’s cherry blossom season again, so I decided to give it another shot.
Plein Airpril Week 1 Progress Update
We’re a week into Plein Airpril and I’ve already hit a snag: I didn’t do two days because of heavy freezing rains. Welcome to spring!
Here are my first six anyway (covering the first 7 days of April + bonus March 31).
Monthly Retrospective: March 2024
We pause our coverage of Plein Airpril to take a look back at March. If I thought February was a light month for me, March was even lighter, as I became distracted with a bunch of stressful life stuff. I often find that painting is the first thing to go when I’m overwhelmed, which is … Read more