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.
Paintings
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.
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
Plein Airpril Begins
Inspired by Sarah Burns, I decided to try Plein Airpril this year! This is a month of daily plein air practice. I’ll be blogging a little differently this month, too! Normally I write posts ahead and schedule them to appear 3 times a week. In order to track my Plein Airpril progress, I’ve instead cleared the runway for April. Let’s see if I manage to do more realtime blogging of my progress. I expect that each entry will be shorter, but with more in-the-moment notes.
Blues and Browns Only
While Johnny Thomas’ sky challenge is still ongoing – I dip in and out occasionally – over the last six weeks he set the limited Blues & Browns Only challenge (#bluesandbrownsonly), painting a series of six reference photos using only shades of blue and earth tones.
I was eager to take on this challenge to stretch myself to see the chromaticity in earth tones. Historically I’ve preferred brighter colors, but my appreciation for more subtle colors has been trending slowly upward. Could this challenge convince me to finally become an earth color person?
Monthly Retrospective: February 2024
I painted less than usual February, due largely to a surgery recovery which sapped my energy for a few weeks. However I bounced back enough to do some paintings that I really enjoy.
Monthly Retrospective: January 2024
I got started on some long term goals this month! TOTAL: 17 (16 WC, 1 gouache) Supplies notes: Unless otherwise noted, I used Arches 140lb/300gsm natural white cold-press paper. After doing a lot of experimenting, I think this is my default “good paper.” The Paintings Click on the image to open a large version in … Read more
Nature Spot Challenge, January 2024
Lisa Spangler (@sideoats) ran the Nature Spot Challenge a second time in January 2024, and I participated again! I really enjoyed the first Nature Spot Challenge last year, so I was pleased to do it again. I managed to do one every day for the first two weeks of the month, but in the back … Read more