Watercolor Dirtbag
April was a busy month for me as I gear up for my move! Plein Airpril I attempted a plein air theme month but didn’t do it as much as I had planned. My first three weeks of plein air sketches can be found in my weekly reports (week 1, week 2, week 3). After … Read more
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
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.
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
I was so excited to do my personal art retrospective for 2023 that I didn’t think to look back on the blog itself! I started in December 2021, so the blog is pretty much exactly 2 years old.
I’ll do an annual retrospective in another post, but here’s my look at just the month of December. Having finished my National Parks project in November, I took the month of December officially off challenges to do whatever. That said, I still ended up doing some challenges, as a treat – including finishing Magrish’s 3-week … Read more
I started painting in 2021, painted a lot more in 2022, and painted still more in 2023! This year, I’m especially grateful for the art friendships I’ve made – thanks to everyone who hangs out in my Discord! (Comment or DM me – @billyidyll on Instagram – if you want to be included!)
I started November with a trip to Vancouver and a bunch of small travel sketches. Upon returning home, I hustled to finish my U.S. National Parks project. On another quick trip over the border to Toronto, I added a few more travel sketches. I also started #magrish_challenge_sky for my second year. I rounded out the … Read more
In 2023, I challenged myself to paint at least one scene from each of the 63 US National Parks. I started in February, with a mini gouache of Big Bend as a sort of proof of concept, then began working my way down an alphabetical list. I finally finished with Zion in late November. You can find them all on my National Park Collection page (I’ve also included several in this post!)
This was a great opportunity to learn – not only about technique and about the parks themselves, but about my own preferences as an artist. Here’s what I discovered.
I spent most of October refining my Autumn Palette and painting foliage indoors and out! Plus, I updated my “Billy Idol with paintbrush” logo, and I did a tutorial from Molly Hashimoto.